Apple Decided to Copy Samsung for a Change
Apple’s 2017 iPhone, a device which may very well be called the iPhone 8, is shaping up to be the game-changing device iPhone owners have been hoping for. Aside from reports that the iPhone 8 will feature a curved OLED display with an embedded home button, we’ve now heard more rumblings that the device may include an iris-scanning feature as well.
According to a translated report from the Chinese-language site MoneyDJ (via Digitimes), Apple has already begun placing orders for “iris-recognition” chips for its 2017 model iPhone.
Xintec is expected to enter mass production for iris-recognition chips in 2017, which will boost the backend house’s revenues for the year, the report cited market watchers as saying. New orders for iris-recognition sensors include those for the chips that will be embedded in the 2017 series of iPhone, the watchers were also quoted in the report.
Iris scanning technology, isn’t new to the smartphone world, but perhaps Apple’s implementation will actually make the feature practical as opposed to merely a cool technology that no one uses. Should this rumor pan out, it will be interesting to see how Apple positions the iris-scanning feature alongside Touch ID.
It’s also worth mentioning that reputed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this year suggested that Apple was keen on adding new biometric sensor technologies to the iPhone. Specifically, Kuo said that Apple was working on an iris-scanning solution that would enable users to authenticate themselves (and perhaps transactions) with their face and/or eyes. To this end, Apple earlier this year acquired a Emotient, a company whose software is able to analyze and identify a particular face and even varying expressions and emotional states w

AMD Takes Biggest Jab at Intel in Years with Zen Processor
AMD CEO Lisa Su introduces Zen.
Advanced Micro Devices is touting its Zen next-generation microprocessor core as something that will allow the company to compete with larger rival Intel in the area of enthusiast and gamer PCs, as well as servers.
Lisa Su, chief executive of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AMD, showed off working versions of the chip on August 17 last during an event at the San Francisco St. Regis Hotel, not far from the Intel Developer Forum. AMD says the “breakthrough performance” of Zen can challenge Intel’s fastest processor to date — the 10-core Broadwell-E processor. The company says the chip will go into new kinds of thin laptops, high-end game computers, and data center servers.
“This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime projects,” Su said.
AMD’s first two chips based on the Zen cores are the eight-core (16-thread) Summit Ridge desktop processor and a 32-core (64-thread) Naples processor for servers. The Summit Ridge chips are expected to debut in the fourth quarter, while Naples is expected to debut in the first half of 2017, followed by laptop chips in the second half of 2017. Of course, that gives Intel plenty of time to catch up, said Martin Reynolds, an analyst at Gartner who remains cautious about AMD’s claims w

HP’s Pavilion Wave PC is Made to be Pretty and Powerful
HP’s Pavilion Wave is showing the PC of the future, and it looks a lot like...a stereo speaker. Or maybe a very high-tech flower vase. Power users, hug your hulking full-tower close, because the PC world is a-changing.
That’s actually the point. Announced on 3 August at IFA in Berlin and due to ship September 16 for $530 and up, the Pavilion Wave doesn’t want to skulk under your desk like a traditional tower PC would, boxy and ugly and alone. It wants to be out with its peeps, involved in everyday activities, maybe even running your music tracks or streaming the Saturday night movie choice.
Despite its small size, the Pavilion Wave is designed to handle all that, plus your mainstream productivity applications, and even some gaming. HP hopes the Pavilion Wave will catch the eye of consumers who’ve fled conventional computers by offering them lots of power in a pretty, friendly package.
A speaker wrapped in a PC
The package is noticeably smaller than the typical PC, because apparently we’re living in less space. According to HP, the size of the average American home is 40 square feet smaller. This statistic doesn’t jibe with the alarming McMansion trend in my suburban neighborhood, but a quick check of U.S. Census and EPA data confirms that nationwide there’s actually a steep rise in the construction of multifamily housing, much of it one-bedroom rental apartments.
The Pavilion Wave is a computer and a speaker and a tasteful tabletop object. That’s where the Pavilion Wave fits in. Look at it: It’s basically a mini-mini-mini-tower (about 6.81 x 6.62 x 9.25 inches), sculpted in a softly triangular shape with a tasteful, tweedy fabric cover. There’s barely a front or a back, unless you count the column of ports along one apex as the de facto rear view.
The Pavilion Wave does closely resemble a speaker, and that’s not entirely coincidental. A mono audio unit is nestled in the center, while the PC’s components surround it.
Then there’s the sound coming in, whether you’re chatting via Skype or issuing voice commands to Cortana. Dual noise-cancelling microphones built into the Pavilion Wave are designed to grab your voice even if you’re sitting on the sofa while the PC’s on a desk or shelf in another part of the room.
Hardware & Accessories.
HP’s Pavilion Wave wants to blend into your home and your lifestyle. Now let’s look inside. Note that you can’t officially open the Pavilion Wave—you choose your configuration (if buying through HP.com) or buy a pre-built SKU and that’s all you get, with no future upgrading available. Sorry, builders. In any case, the video above shows you how HP packed the PC components around the central speaker.
It was no small feat to fit everything in there and cool the Pavilion Wave adequately. One side of the unit houses the motherboard, CPU, GPU, and SSD. The hard drive occupies the second side. Thermals and heat pipes takes up the third side, conducting air across cooling fins on the top.
Depending on the model, the configuration options include Intel 6th-generation (Skylake) quad-core CPUs, ranging from core i3 all the way up to core i7. You can load 4GB to 16GB of DDR4 memory. Storage options include traditional hard drives up to 2TB and hybrids with, for instance, a 1TB HDD and 128GB SSD.
The Pavilion Wave can drive two screensup to 4K resolution w