Intel’s New Core M Processors Will Bring Thin, Fanless Convertible Notebooks This Holiday

Intel has launched its Core M processor line at IFA 2014 this year, and is announcing a number of key launch partners that will be shipping Intel M-based convertible notebooks starting this holiday season. The new M chips allow users to build much thinner designs, since they’re incredibly energy-efficient and can run cool enough that they don’t require a heat-fighting fan in the chassis.

Typically, even in devices designed to be super thin and portable like the Intel Core-powered Surface Pro 3, there’s a fan (no matter how well-engineered, quiet and efficient) that still takes up plenty of room and makes some noise. Acer’s new Chromebook 13 offers a fanless design, but it also runs on an Nvidia Tegra K1 processor that was originally designed for mobile, and it runs Chrome OS, not full-fledged Windows.

New 2-in-1 devices from OEMs including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Toshiba are hitting store shelves beginning this holiday season that offer both full Windows, with performance that, while it isn’t what you’d get out of Intel’s top-of-the-line current generation Core processors, still beats the heck out of the performance on top-level models from just a few years ago.

It also offers a huge advantage in terms of battery draw, delivering up to eight hours of continues video play. Plus, as mentioned, the absence of a need for a fan means that OEMs can build much thinner cases for their devices – some are even thinner than 9mm, which is slimmer than a AAA battery, Intel notes, and small compared to even today’s slimmest laptops, and the MacBook Air at its meatier end.

Slender devices might make it easier for Microsoft to embrace the touch-friendly part of Windows 8, but it also looks to be de-emphasizing that part of the OS with Windows 9, so we’ll see if that affects the design direction of OEM hardware.

Build Your Own Awesome Personal 3D Avatar with Avatara

Do you use social networks and want to build your own awesome 3D avatar? Maybe you want to send someone a cute cuddly image of yourself (kind of)? Or maybe you have your own ideas of what you would do with an Avatar… Well look no further than Avatara which I discovered from the MakeUseOf directory . You can create 3d avatars out of pre-set up templates or create your own from scratch. To start, visit Avatara’s homepage . You will see this screen: Click Get Started to umm, get started! That will take you to this screen: You see that you can build your own Avatar using an uploaded head shot like the Obama one above (just an example, guys). Or roll with one of their awesome avatars. I chose to start with a blank avatar by clicking Start with a blank avatar at the bottom of the screen. That takes you to here: I clicked on the filter at the top and told it to filter out everything but male characters and then I saw this: I rolled with Buck and continued. You need to click Select...

Fun Tools to Translate Your Name into Japanese Calligraphy

Japanese calligraphy is an artistic writing style of the Japanese language. Its Chinese origins can be traced back to the twenty-eighth century BCE. Calligraphy found its way into Japanese culture in 600 CE and is known as the karayo tradition. For Westerners, calligraphy is forever fascinating. However, it takes years to learn how to properly draw the signs. Two basic principles must be known to understand Japanese writing: there are different writing styles and different alphabets. Kaisho for example, is a writing style most commonly used in print media. Tensho on the other hand is used in signatures. Other writing styles are Reisho, Gyosho and Sousho. The alphabets include Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Katakana is used for writing foreign words. It can also serve to highlight words, in analogy to capital letters as we know them from the Roman / Latin alphabet (Romaji in Japanese). Each Kanji character has a meaning of its own, while Hiragana or Katakana characters merely repres...

Boom, the startup that wants to build supersonic planes, just signed a massive deal with Virgin

Have you heard about Boom? Boom is a relatively new startup that’s aiming to build something pretty crazy. They’re not building an app… or a social network… or even some new gadget for the Kickstarter crowd. Boom wants to build planes. Really, really, really fast planes. Specifically, they’re trying to design and build a supersonic passenger plane that goes 2.2x the speed of sound. If all goes to plan, they’ll be able to shuttle people from New York to London in 3.5 hours, and SF to Tokyo in 4.5. Sound crazy? I wouldn’t disagree. It’s worth noting that the company is in the very early days for something as intensive, massive, and hugely expensive as designing and producing a passenger aircraft. They’re still working on their first prototype, and hope to fly it by late next year. But it’s also worth noting that the team behind the plane has some serious talent in its blood: the company’s 11 employees have collectively contributed to over 30 aircrafts — having worked on thin...

Kiran Upadhyay

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