AMD to Revive Athlon II and Sempron Product Lines with New Llano APUs

Earlier this year we reported that AMD plans to retire its longstanding Athlon II and Sempron brands completely from the processor market, but it now seems like the Sunnyvale-based company is interested in giving these names a new lease of life with the introduction of new chips based on the Llano architecture.

This information was provided by the CPU-World website, which noticed four new Athlon II and Sempron processors in Biostar's CPU support list for socket FM1 motherboards.

The first chips that we encounter are the AMD Athlon II X4 631X and X4 641X, which, just as their name suggests, pack four processing cores.

These are clocked at 2.6 GHz and 2.8 GHz, respectively, while the TDP of both CPU models is listed at 100W.

The two other chips to make their appearance, the Sempron 198X and Athlon II 221X, are dual-core processors with a TDP of 65 Watt and operate at 2.5GHz and 2.8GHz, respectively.

According to their part numbers, these last two chips come equipped with 512KB Level 2 cache per core, while their more powerful quad-core brothers have their cache increased to 1MB per core.

Judging by the designations used for the Athlon II series processors, these chips will only be released into the OEM market. No information regarding pricing or availability was made public until now.

By the end of this year, AMD is expected to launch five other Llano APUs, including the top of the line A8-3870 Black Edition chip that will feature an unlocked multiplier, 3.1GHz quad processing cores with 4MB of Level 2 cache memory, an integrated dual-channel DDR3-1866MHz controller, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics.

Currently, depending on the feature set, Llano accelerated processing units are branded as “A-Series” or “E-Series” parts, while the upcoming desktop Bulldozer processors will be released into the FX-Series.

AMD's First Bulldozer Processors to Arrive on September 26 - Report

 Hot news for AMD Lovers.. get Bulldozer on September?
Suppositions regarding the launch date of AMD's Bullodzer processors seem to never reach an end, a new report making its way on the Web suggesting the Sunnyvale-based company will introduce the first Opteron chips based on this architecture on September 26.

This latest news comes via the PCMag publication, which has received the information from a source familiar with AMD's product roadmap.

Bulldozer is AMD's next-generation high-performance CPU architecture that was designed from the ground up in order to eliminate some of the redundancies that come with traditional multi-core designs.

As a result, the chip uses a modular construction, each module being comprised of two 128-bit FMA floating point units, which can be combined into one 256-bit FPU, two integer cores with four pipelines each, and as much as 2048KB of L2 cache.

Just like the 8MB of L3 cache, the Level 2 memory will also be shared between the modules.

All the chips will support AMD's Turbo Core technology, offer native DDR3-1866 memory support, and one or more Hyper Transport 3.1 links, while Opteron 6200-series CPUs will also pack a quad-channel memory controller.

Server processors will be split into two product families, Valencia and Interlagos, the first packing a six or eight core design while the latter can feature 12 or 16 processing cores.

From the information that is available at this point in time, we know that AMD's initial Opteron server processor lineup will include at least four processors, two of these featuring a 16 cores, one packing 12 computing cores, while the last one is an eight-core chip.

Their speed will range between 2.1 and 2.8 GHz, while maximum Turbo Core frequencies can reach 3.9GHz, depending on the chip.

The launch date of the first FX Series desktop Bulldozer processors is not yet known, but rumors suggest these should arrive in September or October of this year.

Acer's Aspire 7250 Is Powered by AMD's E-300 and E-450 APUs

Even though AMD isn't expected to officially launch the E-300 and E-450 accelerated processing units until September of 2011, the chips have already started to make their appearance in various notebooks, and one such device is the Acer-built Aspire 7250.

We talked about AMD's E-450 APU before in a series of other articles detailing notebooks that will be powered by this processor, but the E-300 is a somewhat more mysterious appearance.

The chip itself isn't all that different from the rest of AMD's E-series accelerated processing units and was designed to come as a bridge between the single core E-240 and the dual-core E-350, both launched in January of this year.

As a result, the APU includes dual processing cores based on the Bobcat architecture clocked at 1.3GHz (300MHz lower than the A-350) which are paired together with a Radeon HD 6310 integrated GPU running at 488MHz (492MHz in the E-350), all fitted inside a 18W TDP.

Customers who want to go for the Aspire 7250 will have the option of choosing between this APU and the E-350 or E-450.

No matter the processor chosen, the notebook can however be configured with up to 8GB of DDR3 system memory as well as with various hard drive options ranging in capacity from 320GB to 750GB.

A DVD burner also comes as a standard feature, while the rest of the specifications list includes a 2-in-1 card reader, a 0.3MP webcam, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and fast Ethernet connectivity, HDCP and VGA video outputs as well as a multi-gesture touchpad.

The CineCrystal screen used in the Acer Aspire 7250 measures 17.3-inch in diagonal, has a 1600x900 pixel resolution and delivers 220-nits of brightness, while the included 6-cell battery pack provides up to 4 hours of use.

No information regarding pricing or availability of the AMD E-450 and E-300 powered Aspire 7250 notebooks has been disclosed.

New Acer Iconia Tab Soon Arrives at Rogers

Another piece of tablet news has emerged, this once from Acer's IT camp, though it is more of a rumor involving the Iconia Tab instead of an actual announcement, not that all other tablets haven't seen their own share of leaks.

It looks like not a day goes by without at least one leak, rumor or press release regarding one of those things called tablets.

Since their emergence last year, such products have been eating away at the market share of netbooks and laptops overall.

Even just today, Sony's S1 and S2 slates made the news, as did Toshiba's Thrive tablet for getting a much needed update.

Now, it is Acer's Iconia Tab that has garnered some attention, courtesy of Rogers, whose lineup will soon grow to include it, much like it already has the LG Optimus Pad and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

For those that do not remember, the Acer Iconia Tab is one of the multiple slates based on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 platform.

Based on the ARM architecture, the SoC (system-on-chip) has two cores, each of which operates at a clock of 1 GHz.

The 10.1-inch display has a native resolution of 1,280 x 800 pixels, while the rest of the feature set is at least partially similar to that of rival products (memory card reader, USB, WiFi, etc.).

Also, again like rival products, the Iconia Tab has two webcams, one at the front (2 megapixels) for video chats and the like, plus a stronger one (5 megapixels) at the back, for photo and video shooting.

The product should enter Rogers' product collection sometime during the ongoing third quarter or in the fourth quarter, or so reports say.

  Considering that October is expected to bring NVIDIA's Kal-El Tegra 3 and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 2, sooner is more likely than later.

Intel's Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge-E Base Clock Overclocking Options Unveiled

 At the end of last week, some rumors came out to suggested that Intel will introduce a new method of overclocking with Ivy Bridge processors which relies on a series of base clock speeds, and it now seems like this method will also be employed for the high-performance Sandy Bridge-E CPUs.

In all fairness, base overclocking is not an entirely new process as this resembles pretty much the method that overclockers had to use in the Pentium II and Pentium III days, when they didn't had a fully adjustable FSB, but instead were forced to rely on a series of predefined clock frequencies (66MHz, 100MHz, 133MHz).

This time however, once a base frequency has been set this can be further fine-tuned by as much as 5% in either direction.

What this means is that selecting a 100MHz BCLK would allow enthusiasts to modify this speed between 95MHz and 105MHz, providing them with greater flexibility in their overclocking endeavors.

The number of base clocks supported will depend fully on the processors that is being used, and VR-Zone has found out that in the case of Ivy Bridge users will only get two such clock speeds, 100MHz and 133MHz.

While it is still better than the almost completely locked multiplier of the current Sandy Bridge processors, it goes without saying that this method still doesn't offer the flexibility which characterized the previous Nehalem CPUs.
To make matters worse, a slide uncovered by the same publication goes on to suggest that not even chips built using the high-performance Sandy Bridge-E architecture won't come with a fully unlocked BCLK.

Just like for Ivy Bridge, Intel will also use a predefined series of base clock frequencies, but this time these will include more options, VR-Zone suggesting support for 100, 125, 166, 200 and 250 MHz BCLK speeds.

Finally, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this one plays out, but in the end Sandy Bridge-E may not become the beast of an overclocker that everybody expected it to be.

AMD Confirms Eight-Core FX-Series Bulldozer CPUs Will Cost Around $300

After many rumors and suppositions, AMD has finally unveiled the approximate retail price of their upcoming high-performance eight-core FX-Series processors. Just as expected, these will cost around $300, which is about the same as the pricing set by Intel for its Sandy Bridge flagship, the Core i7-2600K.

This information was found in the “Terms and Regulations” section of AMD's recent FX Giveaway competition, that offers five eight-core FX-Series CPUs as prizes.

“Top tier prizes: Five (5) AMD FX series eight-core processors. Approximate Retail Value: $300 USD each,” reads the competition's official rules.

In comparison, Intel's fastest desktop processor based on the Sandy Bridge architecture, the Core i7-2600K, also retails for just a bit over $300, which seems to suggest that performance should be about equal.

From what we do know at this point in time, the FX-8150P should be AMD's most powerful FX-series chip as it features four Bulldozer processor modules for a total of eight computing cores, 8MB of Level 2 cache as well as 8MB of Level 3 cache.

The chip will sport a base frequency of 3.6GHz, which can be increased up to 4.2GHz thanks to the Turbo Core technology, and its TDP is set at 125W.

AMD plans to launch this processor together with three other chips, including another eight-core model that is known as the FX-8100, which packs similar specifications with the FX-8150P.

However, the FX-8100 will feature lower clock speeds, 2.8GHz base and 3.7GHz maximum Turbo, to allow AMD to drop its TDP to 95W.

The two other AMD Bulldozer CPUs expected to launch are the FX-6100 and FX-4100, which sport six and four processing cores, respectively.

Both of these include 8MB of L3 cache as their older siblings, but feature less L2 cache and lower clock speeds.

No information regarding the pricing of the six and quad-core processors is available at this point in time. The release date is also unknown, but most rumors place it in September or October of 2011. (via Insiders)

AMD 16-Core Interlagos Server CPUs to Begin Shipping in August

In the company's latest conference call with financial analysts, AMD has confirmed that its high-performance Interlagos server processors, which can sport up to 16-core and are based on the Bulldozer architecture, will start shipping next month with availability expected by the end of the year.

"Interlagos, which is our server-based product, will begin shipping initial production next month," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of products group at AMD, during a conference call with financial analysts, reports Xbit Labs.

AMD's Interlagos processors are based on the company's high-performance Bulldozer architecture and will have either 12 or 16 processing cores, while also featuring a series of improvements that should increase their performance when compared with the current Opteron 6100-series CPUs.

The chips will also feature support for AMD's Turbo Core dynamic overclocking technology, a configurable TDP, and come with advanced power saving technologies.

Interlagos CPUs features a multi-chip design (the processor is built by joining together two six or eight core Valencia dies) and are compatible with the existing G34 socket.

"We expect to begin shipping our first server platform featuring the Bulldozer this quarter. The Interlagos platform is our first server offering optimized for today's cloud datacenters,” said Thomas Seifert, AMD's interim CEO.

“The [Bulldozer] architecture excels at compute-intensive and HPC workloads, where it will deliver up to 35% performance improvements compared to our current offerings.

“Customer excitement for Interlagos is high: all of our major customers are expected to introduce servers based on the new platform this year. We are committed to the server market and are focused on returning the business to a growth trajectory,” he added.

One of the first machines to include the new server CPUs will be built by Cray and is expected to arrive in the second half of this year. The XK6 pairs AMD's multi-core processors with Nvidia's Tesla 2000-series compute boards.

The AMD representatives haven't disclosed any information regarding the release date of the Valencia server processors, or about the desktop version of these Bulldozer CPUs. However, a recent FX-Series advertising movie seems to suggest the latter will arrive on September 19.

AMD FX-Series Bulldozer Processors May Launch on September 19

 Great news for AMD Lovers! If You want to get AMD FX-Series Bulldozer Processors..
At this year's Comic-Con conference, AMD unveiled its new marketing campaign for the Scorpius platform and FX-Series processors, which seems to suggest that the company's next-generation high-performance desktop CPUs will arrive on September 19.

About 15 seconds into the advertising movie for this platform, in the bottom left corner of the image, a computer is shown that has the text “ember 19th” written on it, followed by what appears to be some operating frequencies.

While the “ember 19th” label could also mean that AMD plans to launch these processors in November or even December, at the 2011 Computex fair the company said that we should expect to see the first Bulldozer desktop chips in August or September of this year.

From the information that is available at this time, we know that AMD's initial batch of FX-Series processors will be comprised out of four chips.

Two of these will feature an eight-core design, while the others with get six, and respectively four, computing cores. The new chips will be called FX-8150, FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100, the first number in their designation revealing the processor core count.

Their base clock speeds will range between 2.8GHz and 3.60GHz, but with Turbo Core active the operating frequency can reach up to 4.2GHz. Depending on the number of cores L2 cache size can reach up to 8MB.

All the Bulldozer processors that are scheduled to be launched in Q1 2012 are based on AMD's Zambezi 32nm core, carry 8MB of shared L3 cache, an integrated DDR3 1866MHz dual-channel memory controller, sport an unlocked multiplier and are compatible with AM3+ motherboards.

Pricing hasn't been revealed, but AMD has previously confirmed that their fastest FX-Series processor will retail for $320.

The full marketing video for AMD FX-Series processors and the Scorpius platform is available after the break. (via SweClockers)

AMD Shipped More Than a Million A-Series 'Llano' APUs

 During a recent conference call with analysts, AMD said that it had shipped more than one million A-Series accelerated processing units in the second financial quarter of 2011 and that it expects demand to grow rapidly in the next quarter.

"We shipped more than one million A-series APUs in the second quarter. Based on strong demand signals and SKU assortment for the second half of the year, we expect Llano ramp to outpace the Brazos ramp," said Thomas Seifert, interim chief executive officer at AMD, who was cited by Xbit Labs.

AMD started shipping the first A-Series APUs to notebook makers at the beginning of April and their official launch followed on June 15.

Right now, AMD's notebook APU range comprises seven models that feature two or four processing cores, integrated Radeon HD 6000 graphics, 2MB or 4MB of Level 2 cache and their base frequencies range between 1.4GHz and 2.1GHz.

AMD's most powerful processor in this series is called the A8-3530MX and packs four computing cores, with a base frequency of 1.9GHz, as well as Radeon HD 6620G integrated graphics.

This features no less than 400 shader processors clocked at 444MHz and OEMs have the option of pairing together with select discrete graphics cards in a Hybrid CorssFireX mode for added graphics performance.

On June 30, Llano made its debut in the desktop space, but this time, AMD's lineup includes only two APUs, the A8-3850 and the A6-3650.

All the Llano chips also include a dual-channel memory controller, a PCI Express controller and select models support the Turbo Core dynamic overclocking technology.

According to estimates provided by sources familiar with AMD's plans, the company expects FM1 APUs to account for around 45% to 50% of the company's total processor shipments in the third quarter of this year.

AMD Starts Promoting Optimus-Like Dynamic Switchable Graphics Technology

AMD has recently uploaded a series of videos to their YouTube channel to promote the company's dynamic switchable graphics technology for notebooks that behaves in a similar way with Nvidia's well-established Optimus tech.

Dynamic switchable graphics was designed by AMD in order to increase notebook battery life and it seamlessly swaps between the integrated GPU and the discrete graphics card installed inside the system based on the applications run.

The decision regarding which GPU needs to be used for a specific task appears to be taken by the AMD Catalyst driver, but users can also customize these settings to create their own custom list of applications that require discrete graphics.

At the hardware level, the technology works by allowing the dedicated GPU (dGPU) to enter into an advanced energy saving mode, which has a power draw of around 150mw.

When a graphics heavy task is detected by the Catalyst Control Center, the dGPU is taken out of the power saving mode and used for rendering the images.

These are pushed to the screen via the display engine of the iGPU using a technique called CrossDisplay by AMD. The switch is almost instantaneous and adds just 150ms to the application start process.

From AMD's product page for the technology, we know that this is currently supported by the Radeon HD 6300M and HD 6400M graphics card series and that it requires either an AMD “A” series APU or an Intel processor.

Right now, we don't know which manufacturers have opted for using AMD's dynamic switchable graphics technology in their notebook and which models currently support it.

On the other hand, Nvidia's Optimus, that was introduced back in 2010, is used by a wide variety of laptops from all the major computer manufacturers.

AMD to Release Unlocked A8-3870 Llano APU in Q4 2011

AMD come with new technology, increased features, increased  clock speed and it will cecome AMD's fastest APU.

In the fourth quarter of this year, AMD is expected to update its A-Series desktop APU series with a chip that is also based on the Llano architecture, but it comes with an unlocked multiplier to allow for higher overclocking.

The new accelerated processing unit will be known as the A8-3870 and thanks to its 3.1GHz base frequency will become AMD's fastest APU, surpassing the current 2.9GHz clocked A8-3850.

Outside of the higher operating clock and unlocked multiplier, both of these chips will feature similar specifications as they sport quad processing cores with 4MB of Level 2 cache memory, an integrated dual-channel DDR3-1866MHz controller, and Radeon HD 6550D graphics.

This is AMD's fastest on-die GPU to be included in the Llano APU line and it packs no less than 400 stream processors that are running at 600MHz.

In spite of the increased clock speed, the A8-3870 will carry the same 100W TDP as the A8-3850 and A6-3650 APUs.

Even though the only way to overclock these APUs is to raise their FSB speed, current AMD FM1 motherboards are affected by a bug which falsely supports multipliers over those set by the manufacturer.

Increasing the multiplier for such a chip, results in both the BIOS and other third-party tools (like CPU-Z and HWiNFO) reporting wrong clock speeds, making some believe that the overclock was successful even though performance remains unaltered.

Until the A8-3870 is launched, AMD is expected to release four more A-Series desktop APUs. These will feature a 65W TDP, pack between two and four cores, range in speed between 2.1GHz and 2.7GHz and select models will feature support for AMD's Turbo Core technology.

In addition to the A8-3870, the fourth quarter of 2011 will also mark the introduction of the E2-3200, which will be the least powerful Llano desktop APU to be released by AMD. (via Donanim Haber)

iPhone 5 May Launch August 16, Job Listing Indicates

Apple has chosen Gekko Ltd. to hire people who possess advanced user experience of iPhone for “an exciting project” between 16th August - 29th October within “key retail stores”.

The job listing, spotted by Cnet.co.uk, should indicate that 16 August - 29 October is the timeframe during which Apple’s iPhone 5 should make its debut.

Cupertino may have avoided to post an ad on its Jobs at Apple site, knowing how the tech media has its eyes on that section 24/7 seeking clues as to what the Mac maker is up to next.

But that didn’t stop Gekko Ltd. from posting their own job advertisement that says “Our client, Apple … [is] seeking full time iPhone Sales Staff for an exciting project to work 5 days a week (Tuesday-Saturday) for the period 16th August - 29th October within key retail stores.”

Gekko is known to have worked with Apple before.

The ideal candidate will have experience of selling / promoting mobile phones. They should possess advanced user experience of iPhones and a passion and keen interest in Apple products, according to the list of requirements.

Thus person needs to be sales driven and target oriented, and must exercise great communication skills, as well as be enthusiastic, confident, and a reliable individual.

Responsibilities include:

· Work closely alongside both management and staff within the store to generate and grow iPhone sales to ensure sales targets are met.

· By providing a first class custmer service experience, delivering passionate and knowledgeable product sales demonstrations you will aim to capture the hearts and minds of potential customers, allowing them to see how our client’s products and services can fit in to their lifestyle.

· Integrate within the store’s team to build working relationships through training and motivational activities.

· Ensure the Apple area within the store is effectively merchandised to the standard required in order to create a strong retail presence.

· Complete comprehensive daily reports and provide valuable weekly insights into performance and potential opportunities within your designated store.

Perhaps one of the most important requirements, in order to be considered for the iPhone Sales Staff, the applicant must be able to “commit to the period of the campaign.”

This wording alone should indicate that Apple is planning something big in the August  - October timeframe, and if this isn’t enough indication for Apple’s plans to sell a hot new iPhone model, we don’t know what is.

Those who are accepted will begin a 4 day training course between August 9 - 12 in the London area.

WordPress.com Gets Three New Professional Themes

WordPress 3.2 has just come out, but if you prefer to have other people handle all of the minutiae, WordPress.com has something that might entice you, three fresh new themes available for your blog.

There's a new premium theme and a couple of free ones. They're designed to appeal to a wide range of needs, the premium theme, Lifestyle, is a magazine-type theme with plenty of features and customization options.

Matala on the other hand is a fun theme designed to add some color to your blog. Château, the third new theme, is a simple one, aimed at showcasing the content with elegant typography and a simple black and white color scheme.

"We are introducing Lifestyle, a new colorful magazine theme that comes with ten content-friendly, soft color schemes," WordPress.com announced.

"As a premium theme, customization is at the core of Lifestyle. Choose from multiple layouts and menus, breadcrumbs, header image, or custom background. This theme is a great fit if you publish magazine or news style content," WordPress.com explained.

Lifestyle is available for a one-time price of $75. Once you've paid, you get to use the theme as long as you maintain your blog.

"We’re excited to launch Matala, our newest theme. You might recognize this one — it was once the primary theme for ma.tt, Matt Mullenweg’s blog," WordPress announced the second theme.

"Matala’s bright colors and dynamic shapes are suggestive of designs seen in Talavera, a pottery tradition common in Puebla, Mexico," it explained.

As WordPress notes, that's the same team that WordPress creator uses on his blog, albeit a highly customized version. The theme first became available in the WordPress.org theme repository and has now been included in WordPress.com's collection.

"Château has been crafted with close attention to detail and typography. Its beautiful, minimalist look allows you to make your content the focal point of your blog," the site explained.

"Aside from a brilliant design, this theme offers many cool features that help you to personalize your blog," it added.

Château may look minimalistic, but there are plenty of ways you can modify it for your needs. There are two, monochromatic, color schemes, three layout possibilities and plenty of other options to give you the flexibility you want.

AMD Bulldozer FX-8130P and FX-8110 CPUs Available for Sale

Even though there is still some time felt until AMD's first desktop processors based on the Bulldozer architecture will make their appearance, a hardware Website from Singapore has already started selling the 8-core FX-8130P and FX-8110 CPUs.

The processors than went on sale are nothing more than engineering samples of the FX-8130P and FX-8110 based on AMD's B1 silicon revision.

As a result, the operating clocks may be lower than those of the final CPUs that AMD is expected to start retailing in August/September 2011, as these will use the newer B2 stepping.

In addition, overclocking could also be limited as engineering sample processors usually come with a locked multiplier.

According to previous leaks, the final version of the AMD FX-8130P is expected to feature eight processing cores with a base frequency of 3.8GHz, that can be increased up to 4.2GHz when Turbo Core kicks in. This is going to be AMD's only Zambezi FX processor to have a 125W TDP.

The second chip to be listed, the FX-8110, is expected to also feature eight computing core, but these will carry a base clock of 3.6GHz, a maximum Turbo frequency of 4GHz and will have a TDP of just 95W.

Apart from the four Bulldozer modules, the FX-8130P and FX-8110 also pack 8MB of Level 3 cache memory and an integrated dual-channel 1866MHz memory controller.

Both Zambezi processors will come as Black Edition parts, meaning they feature an unlocked multiplier for higher overclocking headroom.

Pricing for the AMD FX-8130P engineering sample CPU has been set at 600$, while the FX-8110 is sold for 500$.

The prices are higher than the ones uncovered by us a few months ago ($320 FX-8130P and 290$ FX-8110), but this is expected since the processors sold are engineering samples of two yet-unreleased products. (via WCCFTech)

New Windows Phone Devices on Shelves by Christmas

Last week, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, said at the Imagine Cup 2011 event that the company is gearing up for bringing the next Windows Phone devices on shelves before the end of the ongoing year, and mentioned Christmas as the reference point for their availability.

What this means is that users will be able to purchase the new Windows Phones during the holiday season, just as they did last year.

Basically, the new Windows Phone-powered handsets, running under the new flavor of the OS, codenamed Mango, will be on the market in the November-December time frame, just as previously expected.

Most probably, the same as last year, Microsoft will try to have the new devices ready for launch sometime in October, so that they would start shipping before the holiday season kicks off.

“Windows Phone. You know, a year ago we didn't have a phone in the market. Now, we're charging forward with Nokia. We have the second generation of our phones coming out this Christmas, and people are starting to do things they had never imagined before,” Ballmer stated.

“I love the applications that I saw for the Windows Phone from the people in this room, and the way you're pushing that device, and using that device. It was really exciting for me.”

The Redmond-based software giant unveiled the new Windows Phone Mango OS flavor not too long ago, promising a number of over 500 enhancements for its users.

When released, the new platform flavor would bring along improvements throughout menus and applications, as well as various performance enhancements and a great deal of new features.

The second generation Windows Phone devices will arrive on shelves from leading handset vendors like HTC, Samsung, LG, or Nokia. The Finnish company is the latest major manufacturer to have joined the Windows Phone party, and should begin shipping Windows Phone devices in volume next year.

Xperia neo and Xperia pro with Skype Video Calling

Japanese-Swedish mobile phone make Sony Ericsson is among the companies that offers devices supported by the newly announced video calling feature in Skype.

Two of the company's handsets were announced as being capable to place and receive Skype video calls at the moment, namely the Xperia neo and Xperia pro, and the vendor decided to come up with a demonstration of this capability.

Only four mobile phones were included in the list of supported devices for Skype video calling at launch, though more of them will be added in the not-too-distant future.

In the video embedded at the bottom of this article, you can have a look at Sony Ericsson's devices handling video calling and, by the looks of it, doing a great job.

What the new feature is all about is clear to every one. In addition to being able to speak to a contact on Skype through the use of a mobile phone, users can also see the other person courtesy of live video streaming capabilities that Skype just integrated with their Android application.

“As you probably saw last week, Skype announced that Skype for Android now supports video calling. We have recorded a short video featuring Xperia neo and Xperia pro which are two out of only four phones supported on the initial release,” Daniel Sandblom notes on the Sony Ericsson blog.

“I have to be honest that I haven’t used Skype video calling on a smartphone before, but it was surprisingly simple to make a call and the video quality was very good as well.”

One other interesting feature that is being demonstrated in the said video is the possibility to view the caller on the big screen of a TV.

“In the video you also catch a glimpse of the use case with connecting an Xperia pro to a big screen TV,” the blog post continues.

“To manage expectations, you will not get this in HD quality even though you connect through the HDMI connector, but still, this basically turns your Xperia into a mobile video conferencing system to carry around in your pocket.”

One thing that is certain is that, although the Xperia neo and Xperia pro were launched as mid-level devices, they can still offer features that many high-end smartphones cannot at the moment.

The Xperia neo is already available in various markets around the world, but the Xperia pro has yet to make an appearance on shelves. Some of the latest rumors on this suggested that it will not be out before the fourth quarter of the year.

Video Xperia neo and Xperia pro with Skype Video Calling

Samsung Hercules Possibly Arriving at T-Mobile USA on September 26th

Leaked in a recently T-Mobile roadmap, it appears that Samsung Hercules is in line with the release date specified in the document, September 26th.

Yet unannounced, the Samsung Hercules might be in fact a T-Mobile USA branded Galaxy S II, though there are several hardware discrepancies, such as the size of the touchscreen display.

Samsung Hercules received its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi certifications from Bluetooth SIG about three weeks ago under a different name, Samsung SGH-T989.

As we mentioned above, unlike the Galaxy S II that comes with a 4.3-inch display, the Samsung Hercules will be delivered with a slightly larger 4.5-inch capacitive multi-touch touchscreen Super AMOLED Plus display with 480 x 800 pixels resolution.

Furthermore, the device is allegedly equipped with an APQ8060 dual-core processor manufactured by Qualcomm and clocked at 1.2GHz speed.

In addition, the phone's processor is complemented by a next-generation Adreno 220 GPU (graphics processing unit).

Although the Samsung Hercules is tagged with category 24 HSDPA (42 Mbps) compatibility and category 6 HSUPA (5.76Mbps), it is unclear whether the handset will be delivered with AWS plus 850 / 1900 MHz compatibility for support on AT&T’s 4G network if the merger between the two carriers is completed.

Samsung Hercules is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread and features NFC support, but for the moment it lacks Isis mobile payment standard which might be included at a later date.

The handset packs 16GB of internal memory, 1GB RAM, as well as microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).

It also boasts an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and 1080 video capture capabilities, as well as secondary front-facing camera for video calls.

According to T-Mobile USA's leaked roadmap, Samsung SGH-T989, also known as Samsung Hercules is expected to be released on September 26th at a price that will be disclosed in due time.

Google+ Has Millions of Users, Adding More Every Day

It's been a couple of weeks since Google+ launched and, despite the limited availability, it seems that it has already gotten millions of users, this while struggling to keep people out, for most of that time.

There's no official hard number yet, it may be too early anyway, but Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt said that, while he does not have an exact number, there are now millions of Google+ users.

Ancestry.com founder Paul Allen put some science to work and came up with a rough estimate of 4.7 million users in the US alone.

His estimations also indicate that Google+ has gone from 1.7 million users, which it already had at the start of last week, to 4.7 million in just seven days.

The number looks very good, even for Google. The company launched Google+ in the beta stage and, while the core functionality and some cool features like Hangouts are already there, Google is still working on improving and tweaking the site.

It also has several more big features in the works and, if everything goes smooth, its other products will get more Google+ integration.

Since launch, Google has only enabled people to sign up freely a few times and for a limited time. Most people got in via invitations, which were also disabled at one point, or through their friends, who shared something with them.

At the same time, while Google made a big announcement, it hasn't really promoted the social network so far. This lower key approach seems to be working.

Last year, Google built Buzz, its previous big social product, into Gmail. While this ensured it tens of millions of users instantly, most people didn't like having Buzz shoved in their faces and the fact that the product itself was lacking didn't help.

With 5 million users already and with a growth rate that suggests it could get to ten times as much in no time at all, Google+ is faring well. That said, Facebook has 750 million users and growing. And, after two weeks of praises, some criticism of Google+ is starting to pick up steam.

Apple to Release iOS 4.3.4 to Patch JailbreakMe 3.0, PDF Vulnerability

Apple has confirmed plans to release an iOS update (likely designated iOS 4.3.4) soon with the purpose of patching a vulnerability that not only allows jailbreaks on its devices, but also opens the door to malicious hackers.

Jailbreak artist Comex has released JailbreakMe 3.0 this week with the purpose of enabling all iDevice owners, including iPad 2 users, to free their iOS-powered gadgets.

The hack leverages a vulnerability in the way iOS handles certain fonts in PDF files.

In a security bulletin issued recently, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security has warned that opening a malicious PDF file “is sufficient to infect the mobile device with malware without the user’s knowledge.”

Security expert Graham Cluley, of Sophos, said the same thing but in different wording. Their advice is simple: don’t jailbreak!

In light of these events, Apple has reportedly confirmed that its software engineers are busy coding the next iOS software update with the purpose of patching said PDF hole.

Apple spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd has confirmed to the media today that the company is “aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.”

Lloyd did not specify an exact release date for this new software release, but we can expect it to drop as soon as next week, given Apple’s ramped up efforts to thwart malware on its systems.

Recently, Apple has been faced with having to harden the security measures that keep OS X safe without the need of an antivirus application.

In Mac OS X 10.6.7, Snow Leopard, Apple introduced a tool that automatically updates known types of malware once every 24 hours.

iOS is still to be attacked by ‘malicious’ hackers (yes, there are also those who don’t act in bad faith), and we shouldn’t expect any security-centric features implemented in the next iOS update, or even iOS 5.

However, it’s only a matter of time before we hear of the first attacks targeting iPhones, and you can bet Apple will secure its iOS with twice the speed it did on the desktop front.

Ubuntu 11.10 Uses Thunderbird 5 as Default Mail Client

Starting with tomorrow's Alpha 2, the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system will feature the highly anticipated Mozilla Thunderbird 5.0 as default mail client.

We know that some of you Ubuntu lovers out there wanted Thunderbird as the default mail client for Oneiric, but there are many others that still love Evolution Mail, which at the moment is no longer installed in the current development version of Ubuntu 11.10.

Tomorrow, June 7th, Canonical will unleash for testing the second Alpha version of the Ubuntu 11.10 operating system, and you guys will have the pleasure of testing the new Mozilla Thunderbird 5.0 mail client.

We've already took Thunderbird 5.0 for a test drive in the yesterday's daily build of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) and we loved it

Mozilla Thunderbird 5.0 brings nice features, such as migration assistant, mail account setup wizard, one-click Address Book, activity manager, quick filter toolbar, tabs, message archive, Add-ons manager (just like the one in Firefox 5), smart folders, robust privacy, and phishing protection.

As you all know, the Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 release was supposed to arrive for testing last Thursday, June 30th, but it was rescheduled for July 7th. The final release will be available, as supposed, on October 13th, 2011.

See you again tomorrow, June 7th, for an in-depth article of the Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 development release, were we will unveil more of Oneiric's features.

Oh, and the good news is that Synaptic Package Manager is still there and it's at version 0.70

Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network, and professional technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other companies around the world. 
Ubuntu is the best!