Meet Kuratas, the $1.35 million mech of your dreams

If you’ve watched Transformers far too many times, then this story is for you. Got a spare $1 million under your couch? Then you could be the proud owner of Kuratas, the 4.5 ton diesel-powered monstrosity that will make your the envy of your neighborhood. That is, after your blow it all up.

Built by Suidobashi Heavy Industries, the mech has enough room inside to house a human pilot, along with driving controls and mechanisms to control the robot’s gigantic arms. Best of all, the robot is weaponized, and comes with such fun accessories as a gatling gun that’s activated by smiling. Yes, this thing makes Dr. Evil look like one of the Carebears.

Watch the utterly hilarious instructional video below, and start saving up!

Google Nexus 7 Tablet Review

Google and it’s partners have been trying really hard for some time now to bring a tablet that can match the success of the iPad. However, the only tablet that managed to get decent sales besides the iPad was Amazon’s Kindle Fire that, despite being based on Android, makes no mention of it and has it’s own App Store giving Google nothing really in return. While the iPad continues to gain market share, Google has something else to worry about as well- the upcoming Windows 8 RT towards the end of this year and the number of tablets it will bring with it. It will become increasingly difficult for Google to compete in the tablet space and thus, at this year’s I/O event, they released the Google Nexus 7 making one final attempt at the tablet market before they get hammered from all sides. Let’s find out if the Nexus 7 is a device that can help Google stay in the tablet game.

Packaging

The Nexus 7 comes packaged is a compact little box that is about the same size as the tablet. Bundled with the Nexus 7 is your bare essentials- the USB charger plug that is rated at 2A, a USB cable, a headset and finally some warranty information. The following is an unboxing video we did for the Nexus 7

Build Quality and Design

On the PC side of things, ASUS is one of the best partners to have as a manufacturer and they have done a pretty good job of putting together the Nexus 7 for Google. The seven inch tablet measures 198.5 x 120 x 10.5 mm and feels very sturdy in your hands. At 340g, the Nexus 7 is considerably lighter than the iPad however, it feels slightly a tad bit heavier for it’s size and design.

Google continues to follow on their design reference by adding no buttons on the Nexus 7 on the front. All you see is a big slab of glass that certainly makes the unit look elegant. The right side features a power button as well as volume keys while the bottom has your USB port and a 3.5mm audio jack. The back side has a rubberized finish giving you a good grip. Interestingly, Google does not equip the Nexus 7 with a camera on the back so the only one you have is a 1.2 megapixel version of the front above the screen suited for Skype and Google Hangouts.

Specs and Comparison and Benchmarks

Google has done a pretty good job of equipping the Nexus 7 with the latest/greatest as far as specifications are concerned. The following table compares the Nexus 7 to the new iPad as well as the Transformer Pad TF300T.

Coming to the performance, the Nexus 7 score 3649 in Quadrant compared to the Transformer Pad at 3550. While the Nexus 7 proved to faster in CPU and memory performance, it’s IO performance was lower than the Transformer Pad. 2D and 3D performance was similar.

Screen UI and Apps

While the Nexus 7 fares really well with build quality, specifications and benchmarks, it is the screen that I found a bit disappointing mainly because I’m not a big fan of 7” screens and think that they are a bit on the smaller side for a tablet- especially considering that phones are rapidly approaching 5” sizes and, in the case of Samsung’s Galaxy Note, crossing that line. On a 7” screen, reading an e-book is fine but things like browsing the web, reading a magazine or playing a game just don’t have that same visual impact. If you don’t mind the smaller 7” screen and prefer it to bigger sized tablets then the you’ll certainly find the Nexus 7 an appealing tablet- the screen may be a bit small but it has good pixel density of 216ppi and color output although it is a tad bit on the reflective side.

Coming to the UI, I feel that Google is still experimenting with the design and layout for their tablets as the Nexus 7 doesn’t offer a true tablet experience found on other tablets but is somewhat of a mix between the phone interface and the tablet interface. Powered by the latest Android 4.1 OS Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7, for example, does not have a landscape oriented home screen and uses an enhanced “Phone” homescreen instead of the tablet homescreen which makes it a bit annoying especially when you’re switching between landscape oriented apps and the home screen. These things are probably “fixable” with a custom ROM but I hope Google addresses it with an update.

Usability and Battery Life

One of the best features that Google introduced in Jelly Bean is Google Now that is wonderful at finding things around you such as places to check out, public transportation timings, weather and traffic. However, these things require a data connection which, unfortunately, the Nexus 7 cannot provide at all times. I mentioned earlier that I’m not a big fan of 7” tablets but they could probably work well as a travelling companion. However, the lack of 3G capabilities on the Nexus 7 don’t allow you to use it as one. One could argue that you could use your phone’s hotspot capabilities but that’s not the point and either ways, considering the amount of battery that a portable hotspot consumes, I would definitely not like my phone to be used as one when I’m out for a few hours.

Coming to battery life, the Nexus 7 comes equipped with a 4325mAh battery that, according to Google, should give you eight hours of battery. In my non-scientific tests, I found the battery to last more than that and was easily getting over nine hours without any issues.

Conclusion

The Google Nexus 7 is currently selling for AED 1,200 for an 8GB unit which is a bit on the higher side considering that same unit sells for US$200 (AED 740.) At US$200, the Nexus 7 is a steal if you are ok with a small 7” sized tablet and is, without doubt, the best tablet to get. However,at AED 1,200, it is much closer to the iPad 2 which is currently selling for around AED 1,500 and with a larger screen and more tablet like interface, I think is a better buy.

Dell announces new Precision Mobile Workstations

Press Release: Dell today announced the next generation Dell Precision mobile workstations for engineering and design professionals who need uncompromising performance and dependability wherever their demanding work takes them. Film editors on movie sets, architects at construction sites, geophysicists in the field and many other mobile professionals can now run their graphics or compute intensive applications faster and more accurately regardless of the location.

Dell continues to build on its workstation portfolio with two new systems, the Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 – the world’s most powerful 15-inch and 17-inch mobile workstations. The M4700 is Dell’s 15-inch mobile workstation with exceptional portability and performance and the Dell Precision M6700 provides fixed workstation capability and higher performing graphics with a 17-inch display. The popular Covet Edition is back on the 17-inch version, featuring a brilliant Phoenix Red color finish for extra appeal and edge to edge Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 for brighter images and increased resilience and protection.

The Dell Precision M4700 and M6700 incorporate the latest Intel Core i5, i7 and Extreme Edition processors with Turbo Boost Technology for optimal performance and an extensive choice of professional graphics including the NVIDIA Quadro K-series GPUS and AMD FirePro graphics. The M6700 is the first and only to offer AMD FirePro M6000 with PCIe x16 Gen 3 for fast data throughput.
Additionally, Dell provides DDR3 SDRAM with up to 32GB¹ of system memory and 1600MHz of memory speed and up to 16GB¹ of 1866MHz memory, the fastest memory available on a mobile workstation, for high performance and fast access to large data sets. They also offer an optional SATA3 512GB solid state drive (SSD).

Both systems come with outstanding expandability in the form of RAID 0/1/5 and three storage devices with up to 1.8TB¹ of total storage in the M4700 and up to four storage devices with up to 2.8TB¹ of total storage in the M6700. That means not only can Dell Precision mobile workstations deliver graphic-intensive designs fast, but also can store them locally no matter where they are.
Delivering on the promise of a true desktop replacement, the M4700 and M6700 offer a wide array of ports which enables users to connect to a greater number of formats and devices without carrying around multiple dongles, increase storage and connect to more displays. The I/O ports include two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 and one eSATA / USB combo ports and three integrated video ports – one VGA, one HDMI and one DisplayPort 1.2. The new workstations also have quiet dual fans and cooling solutions for the CPU and graphics to enable long periods of high performance without overheating and an easy ejectable primary hard drive caddy for customers working with large volumes of data or sensitive data and need to remove or swap out hard drives frequently.

Specifically designed for customers doing color-critical work, Dell’s mobile workstations offer a variety of brilliant WLED and IPS RBG LED display options with a wide spectrum of colors including more than 100 percent Adobe color gamut. The M6700 will also be the first mobile workstation to offer optional 10+ finger multi-touch in the coming months. Another first on the M6700 is NVIDIA 3D Vision Pro, a combination of wireless active shutter glasses, an integrated RF communication hub, and advanced software. The technology automatically transforms various CAD/CAM/CAE, DCC, seismic visualization, life sciences and other applications into full stereoscopic 3D to improve the usefulness of the application, deliver better results and increase productivity. The M4700 and M6700 can power up to three simultaneous displays when undocked and up to five displays when docked and are compatible with the Latitude E-family dock.

It’s okay to take a pic of Bill Gates with an iPad

You would expect Bill Gates to throw a fit if you tried to take a picture of him using an iPad, right? Push you away, and smash your $600 tablet on the ground and trounce till it breaks, all the while seething with rage and anger, ready to pounce on anything that has a half eaten apple printed on it? But no, he is a better man than that, we guess.

When Gates was spotted by a group of fans in London, they gathered around him and politely asked him for a photograph. The only problem? They pulled out an Apple iPad to make it happen. While Gates remained calm and carried on with the posing, his wife Melinda Gates jested with a “You can’t use an iPad!” before adding that she was kidding and the photo can be taken.

The entire incident was taken on video and it is published below.

Yes, yes, it is a slow news day.

New iPhone 5 photos leak, confirm previous design?

We just covered some leaked shots of the new iPhone 5 from a Chinese case maker, and today we have some very solid photos of what the iPhone 5 looks like in the flesh. Somehow the Japanese website ilab got a hold of a (pre-production?) unit of the upcoming iPhone 5 and laid bare everything there is to it.

As you can see these images are in line with previous leaks, showing the new 4.0-inch screen, the presumably slimmer body, the new charging connector as well as the relocated 3.5mm jack to the bottom. For the most part the new iPhone 5 looks like the existing iPhone 4/ 4S, only stretched out to fit the larger screen. Not a surprising design choice given Apple’s usual methodology; their MacBooks and Air models certainly don’t change for a long while.

Going by the rest of the photos it seems that the phone was acquired straight from the production line, along with some spare parts given that ilab is a repair shop. I guess now all we’re waiting for are the confirmed hardware specs, which will undoubtedly be announced very soon when the phone is officially launched.

Google Nexus 7

Nexus 7 is powered by Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, the latest version of the world’s most popular mobile platform. With smarter notifications, beautiful new widgets and home screen customization that’s as easy as drag-and-drop – Android is faster and more intuitive than ever.

With over 9 hours of HD video playback, 10 hours of web browsing or e-reading and up to 300 hours of stand-by time, Nexus 7 is designed to go the distance. Whether you measure battery life in chapters read, levels completed, movies watched or minutes of backseat silence, you can spend less time charging and more time doing.

Nexus 7 was designed with gaming in mind. With heart pounding quad-core performance and sensors like a gyroscope and accelerometer – do a barrel roll then tilt, touch and tap your way to the top of the leaderboards while exploring over 600,000 apps and games available on Google Play.

Nexus 7 was built by ASUS and comes with a NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor, meaning everything is faster – pages load quickly, gameplay is smooth and responsive, and running multiple apps is a breeze. A 12‐core GPU delivers rich and immersive graphics while patented 4-PLUS-1™ CPU design gives you processing power when you need it, and battery saving efficiency when you don’t.

Check out our review to see what makes the Nexus 7 tablet so great.