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ARM, the British chip architecture firm responsible for powering the vast majority of mobile phones and tablets, will soon have a new CEO: Simon Segars, currently the company’s president. Warren East will retire at the end of June.

East, 51, has been CEO at ARM since 2001, although he has been at the firm since 1994 (he was originally head of ARM’s consulting business, then business operations chief, then COO). Segars, 45, has been at the company even longer – since 1991, shortly before Apple incorporated the ARM6 design into its Newton PDA. Like East, Segars is an engineer who evolved into sales and business development roles.

Both men are largely responsible for turning ARM, once a mere spinoff of Acorn Computers, into what it is today: Intel’s nightmare. For not only does ARM dominate in the mobile device, which is in itself supplanting Intel’s desktop base, and in embedded processors, but it is even squaring up to the x86 crowd in the server space.

Here’s ARM chairman John Buchanan:

“Warren has transformed ARM during his time as CEO. In 2001 ARM had one processor product line found mainly in mobile phones. Now ARM provides the broadest portfolio of technologies in the industry, used by more than 300 semiconductor customers in nearly 9 billion chips last year.

“During Warren’s tenure the company has received royalties for over 40 billion ARM-based chips. As CEO he has created a strong platform for growth and consistently created value for shareholders even in a challenging external environment. On behalf of the Board, and the wider ARM team, deep thanks are due to Warren for his passion, service and leadership.”

So, will the leadership change affect ARM’s strategy? Right now ARM is safe in its mobile stronghold, although Intel’s efforts there are not the joke observers once suspected they might be – Intel’s mobile processors are surprisingly capable when it comes to raw performance and power efficiency, although ARM still edges ahead in the graphics department.

We can glean a strong sense of continuity from the words of East and Segars themselves. According to East, the two men “share a global perspective and belief in the ARM approach to partnership and collaboration”. Segars said East’s “vision of the ARM business model and commitment to the ARM partnership has been inspirational and has created a tremendous platform for future growth”.

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Wacom’s Cintiq line of drawing tablets is the cream of the crop when it comes to digital graphics editing and creation, and the 12WX long reigned as an impressive entry-level option for those with limited budgets and/or available work space. But the 12WX is over five years old, and both display and drawing tablet tech has advanced, which is why it’s excellent news that Wacom is introducing the all-new Cintiq 13HD today.

The 13HD has more in common with the recently-launched and larger 22HD and 24HD tablets than the outgoing 12WX; it features 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity on its 1920×1080 HD LED 13-inch display, versus just 1024 on the 12WX, which had a maximum resolution of 1280×800. The 13HD crams as many pixels as the 22HD boasts into a screen that’s 40 percent smaller, resulting in a much higher pixel density for crisper text and image rendering.

The Cintiq 13HD also comes with an integrated stand, which locks in at four viewing angles, including flat, 22 degrees, 35 degrees and 50 degrees, and can be used on either a hard flat surface like a desk or your lap. It’s the only Cintiq that’s really lap-appropriate, in fact, so if you’re looking for something with relative portability this is the way to go.

Wacom will begin selling the Cintiq 13HD direct from its own online store and through select partners at the beginning of April, and it will retail for $999.95. That might sound like a lot to pay for a drawing tablet that still requires either a Mac or PC to work, but it’s a bargain compared to the $2,000 you’ll pay for the next-level-up 22HD. I owned the 12WX myself, and was a huge fan, so I can’t wait to get one of these in for testing closer to launch.

Remember that Wacom has also teased a standalone drawing tablet to be unveiled later this year, so combined with this 13HD release, which has been hotly anticipated in the digital arts community, the company is shaping up to have a very big year indeed.

Open-source Windows file management tool DropIt 5.0 has been released. Also available as a 64-bit build and in portable form, DropIt allows users to process folders and files quickly via drag-and-drop, with up to 15 different actions (including move, copy, send by mail and upload) supported.

Version 5.0 improves the way DropIt handles relative paths, tweaks the main context menu and Options windows and promises better performance, minor feature additions and a number of bug fixes.

Once installed or launched, DropIt displays a floating icon on your desktop. Drag a file on to this icon, and DropIt will ask you what you want to do with it: 15 actions are supported, including copying or moving the file to a specific location, opening it in a particular application, attaching it to an email, copying it to the clipboard or changing specific properties.

DropIt can make any of these actions the default for your files based on their properties: name, size, date, properties, content or regular expressions. You can save sets of associations in profiles and then associate a profile with a particular folder, allowing you to place files in folders and wait for DropIt to automatically process them for you at a specified time.

After a short period, you can even drag an entire folder packed full of different files on to the DropIt floating icon and the program will automatically process them according to whatever filters and actions you’ve defined.

What’s New

Version 5.0 represents a major update, with a number of improvements and new features. Top of the list is the fact that relative paths in destination folders are now relative to each loaded file.

Additions include %Counter% and %UserInput% abbreviations for adding file enumeration and customized input when processing files. A Duplicate button has also been added to the Associations context menu to allow new associations to be created using existing ones as a template.

Filtered text is now highlighted in HTML lists, and support for creating PDF and XLS lists has also been added to the program. Users can now set different HTML themes for each new Create List association created.

Folders can now be processed as files if required, and a list of loaded items is now displayed in the Processing window. Users can now define a minimum size when scanning folders, and profiles can be exported via the context menu.

Two options, considered redundant, have been removed: “Check moved/copied files integrity” and “Enable associations for folders”.

Improvements have been made to the performance of various actions as well as the Options dialog and context menu, while the Compress action now merges items added to existent archives.

Also improved are the process that loads all dropped files at the beginning and support to Import profiles from the context menu.

DropIt 5.0, DropIt 5.0 64-bit and DropIt Portable 5.0 are all available now as free, open-source downloads for PCs running Windows XP or later.

Photo Credit: Liv friis-larsen/Shutterstock

Early this morning, Google announced a massive expansion of Chromebook distribution, including new countries and more Best Buys in the United States.

“Starting Tuesday, the Acer, HP and Samsung Chromebooks will begin rolling out in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands”, Caesar Sengupta, Google product management director, says. “To help improve computing for organizations, we’re rolling out Chromebooks to businesses and schools in these same countries as well”.

Over the next couple weeks, Google will double the number of U.S. Best Buy locations carrying Chromebooks to 1,000. The company sets up discrete displays inside the electronics stores, staffed by Google employees. Perhaps Chromebook Pixel will show up, finally, as the search and information giant indicated last month.

Future Think

Retail expansion comes days after an executive shakeup raised the operating system’s profile and speculation about its priority over, or perhaps merger with, Android. Andy Rubin left his position running operations for the green robot. Sundar Pichai, who is responsible for Chrome and Apps, added Android to his responsibilities.

I’m not with those calling for or expecting a merger of the operating systems. Rather, I see Chrome’s profile dramatically rising — and so Chrome OS with it. The browser, as development platform, can co-opt operating systems like iOS, OS X or Windows, while also fronting Chrome OS. The browser is more natural fit for Google services and anchors them anywhere. Where do you consume most Google services and where is the most advertising revenue generated? From the web.

By contrast, Android, while hugely popular, is constrained by OEM partners like Samsung. Google delivers fresh features to Chrome and Chrome OS users about every six weeks. Android updates are less frequent and carriers and device manufacturers logjam dispatch. For example, Jelly Bean, which released in July 2012, makes up just 25.5 percent of the devices accessing Google Play in the 14 days before March 5.

While Samsung ships the newest Android on Galaxy S IV, the operating system is heavily customized and the electronics giant controls branding and user experience. Google commands the browser, Chrome OS and the user experience around both. The point: Executive changes and today’s retail expansion are clear signs of Google’s commitment to Chrome OS, not just the browser.

PC and Tablet Alternative

Something else: The traditional Windows PC or Mac is in trouble. Yesterday, IDC warned that first-quarter shipments would be far worse than previously predicted, falling in the double-digits. This follows one of the worst holiday quarters on record, even though Windows 8 launched in late October. Microsoft’s new OS isn’t lifting PC sales, and even Macs suffer — missing analysts fourth-quarter consensus by more than one million units.

Google offers something different, yet familiar. With the exception of Pixel, most Chromebooks are affordably-priced and, not coincidentally, sell for what buyers might pay for tablets, which analysts contend displace PC sales. Prices start as low as $199, offering many benefits associated with tablets — long-battery life and near-instant-on capabilities, among them — but offering keyboard, desktop browser, Flash support and many other benefits uncommon to slates. Chrome is familiar to anyone using the browser elsewhere.

Critics charge that Chromebooks aren’t good enough, because the browser can’t compete with desktop software and the computers require a persistent Internet connection. But someone must be buying these machines. Otherwise, why expand distribution? I gave up using a traditional PC in May of last year for a Chromebook, which is more than enough to meet my needs.

Circling back to Google possibly putting Chrome and Chrome OS ahead of Android, remember that Pixel has a touchscreen. Why shouldn’t there be a Chrome OS tablet in the near future — a device that tightly fits in the Google Play content ecosystem?

If you are interested in buying a Chromebook, Google offers additional info for each new country: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.

Photo Credit: Joe Wilcox

Not too long ago, Droid 4 owners could take part in a small soak test for a possible Jelly Bean update. Well, about a week later, it looks like Verizon is ready to push out that Jelly Bean update to the masses starting tomorrow, March 19th. The update will begin rolling out in phases, but it’s definitely good news for Droid 4 owners.

The update will contain the regular Jelly Bean goodness, including Project Butter and Google Now, but it’ll also feature a handful of device specific fixes and improvements, such as improved data connection and removal of some preloaded apps. No complaints there. So keep an eye out for that notification tomorrow, and let us know in the comments if your device gets the update.

source: Verizon

Come comment on this article: Verizon Droid 4 to receive Jelly Bean update this week

Amazon’s App Store is celebrating a birthday this week. It’ll be two years on March 22nd since Amazon brought their little creation into this world, and what better way to celebrate than by discounting piles of apps and games? Amazon will be running sales on certain apps through this weekend, discounting some stuff over 50% off. And there’s still the famous Free App of the Day, like always, so you’ll have plenty to pick from.

Right now, there’s some pretty big apps like Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, and OfficeSuite Professional 7, all of which are at least 50% off. So if you frequently use the Amazon App Store or own a Kindle Fire, you’re probably going to pick up a few extra apps and games this week.

source: Amazon

Come comment on this article: Amazon’s App Store turns 2 this week, celebrates with app sales