Industry Archives - VR World

Analysis, Apple, Business, Companies, Mobile, VR World, Wearables

Swiss Watch Sales In Trouble Due To Smart Watches

According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, there is a big shift happening on the watch market. Global global smartwatch shipments reached 8.1 million units in Q4 2015, compared with 7.9 million Swiss Watch shipments. This is the first time ever that smartwatch sales have outperformed Swiss watches on a global scale, giving us a great showcase of times to come. Cliff Raskind, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “We estimate global smartwatch shipments reached 8.1 million units in Q4 2015, rising a healthy 316 percent from 1.9 million in Q4 2014. Smartwatches are growing rapidly in North America, Western Europe and Asia. Apple Watch

Analysis, Android, Business, Companies, Mobile, Smartphones, Software Programs, VR World

World’s cheapest Android smartphone goes on sale for just $3.67

Today, a company named Ringing Bells launched a brand new smartphone. The device is called the Freedom 251 and it costs 251 rupees (about £2.50 or $4) – about the same as a Starbucks cup of coffe – in most cases. It comes with a one-year guarantee, and has surprisingly decent specifications – on paper at least. The Freedom 251 comes with a a 4-inch 960×560 display, a 1.3 GHz quadcore processor (manufacturer is yet unknown), it’s equipped with 1GB RAM and 8GB of internal memory. It comes with a micro SD card supported up to 32GB and it features a 1450mAh battery. For those Rajastan selfies, there’s a a 3.2-megapixel

AMD, Business, Companies, CPU, Hardware, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobile Computing

AMD Increases Notebook Market Traction And Exposure

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) announced increasing momentum for the 6th Generation AMD PRO A-Series mobile processors, based on the introduction of two new HP notebook design wins, new large-scale enterprise deployments, and the expansion of HP adoption of AMD FreeSync™ technology in its notebooks and displays. The 6th Generation AMD PRO A-Series processors, which efficiently integrate extensive AMD CPU, graphics, security, and video processing IP into a single SoC design, will now power two new HP 600 series ProBooks. The HP ProBook 645 14-inch and HP ProBook 655 15.6-inch notebooks allow businesses to equip their workforces with widely configurable and extremely cost-effective HP notebook PCs, enabling

Analysis, Apple, Companies, Google

Google surpasses Apple as world’s most Valued Company

Google, or Alphabet as its parent company, raked in a nice $21.3 billion in total sales and adjusted profits of $8.67 for its every Class A share. With total sales up 18 percent over the previous year, the company’s revenue/earnings are looking rather impressive overall. For Alphabet, there were several key areas in where the company grew its value and revenue. The advertising rose by 17 percent compared to the same period the year before, giving the company a nice revenue bump during that period. Immediately after the announcement, shares rose 1.22 percent to hit $752 per share in normal trading resulting in a market capitalization of

AMD, Companies

AMD Reveals World’s First Hardware-Virtualized GPU Product Line

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) this week revealed the world’s first hardware virtualized GPU products — AMD FirePro™ S-Series GPUs with Multiuser GPU (MxGPU) technology. AMD’s ground-breaking hardware-virtualized GPU architecture delivers an innovative solution in response to emerging user experiences such as remote workstation, cloud gaming, cloud computing, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). In the virtualization ecosystem, key components like the CPU, network controller and storage devices are being virtualized in hardware to deliver optimal user experiences, but prior to today the GPU was not hardware virtualized. AMD MxGPU technology, for the first time, brings the modern virtualization industry standard to the GPU hardware. What does this mean?

AMD, Business, Companies, VR World

Report: AMD Cuts 500 Jobs To Save Costs

Advanced Micro Devices, a chip designer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California (and Austin, Texas), is cutting 500 jobs to cut costs (5% of its global workforce). The move is expected to bring the headcount down to under 9,000 employees, right in about the same number of employees as one of its competitors, NVIDIA Corporation. For anyone familiar with the processor market, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The company has been struggling to make competitive products over the past couple of years, with even highly innovative products often not being in stock due to low availability. The chip maker is struggling to keep up with its main competitors, with Intel currently

Apple, Companies, iOS, Mobile Computing, News, OSx, VR World, Wearables

Apple iPhone 6S Pricing And Availability Information

After their launch event, Apple finally revealed availability and pricing for the all-new Apple iPhone 6S. While the device itself doesn’t bring a lot of new stuff, it clearly has a tight grip set on the mobile market. You do get the ‘optimized’ iOS9 upgrade (planned obsolescence), some minor styling changes and a more scratch resistant glass, improved aluminum case, changes to the front / rear camera and the way things are done on the phone. But for me as an example, this changes don’t do much to justify switching from the old to the new. The introduction of the 64-bit A9 chip will increase performance, but it is

Amazon, Android, Business, Companies, Operating Systems

Report: Amazon Will Forego Future Phone Development

According to a story on Wall Street Journal, Amazon will forego any further phone development. While not ruled out completely, the development of the next-generation Amazon phone is extended “indefinitely.” Sources of the paper say that a significant volume of Fire Phone engineers have been sacked, which marks the first round of layoffs in history of Lab126, Amazon’s secretive hardware division. The failure of Fire Phone (no longer available for sale) took Amazon in a direction of rethinking their hardware strategy. With the aformentioned device, even heavy subsidizing didn’t help – the phone wouldn’t sell even when the price was dropped from $199 – $0.99 in an effort

Auto, VR World

Porsche Reports Increased Sales In United States

Porsche Cars North America, Inc. (PCNA), importer and distributor in the United States, the authorized distributor of Porsche vehicles in North America reported increased sales throughout their overall product range. They have revealed June 2015 sales of 4,223 vehicles, which is the strongest June sales month in PCNA history. The Cayman model line is up 20 percent compared to the same month last year with the first Cayman GT4 deliveries taking place. Year-to-date, 25,138 Porsche vehicles have been delivered, up 10 percent compared year-over-year to 2014. This marks a strong month for the car manufacturer throughout their model range, further improving their status in the luxury

Auto, VR World

Volkswagen Of America Reports June Sales Gaining 5.6% Over 2014

Volkswagen reports strong June sales, namely the Volkswagen of America, Inc. (VWoA) today reported sales of 30,436 units delivered in June 2015. This marks another German car manufacturer who posted a strong June and thus creates a valid argument for a rising worldwide car market. For VW, the best seller was once again the Golf family that totaled 6,145 vehicles delivered to customers in the United States. “We continue to see strong results from the Golf family, delivering the best June in 15 years. Diesel also proved its strength this month with more than 24 percent of our sales,” said Mark McNabb, chief operating officer, Volkswagen of America.

Gaming, Opinion

Why Season Passes Are Ruining Gaming

Season passes and microtransactions are hugely profitable for publishers, but these schemes are profiting at the detriment of the gaming community.

VR World

ASE Cancels Its Plan to Sell Overseas Bonds

The world’s biggest integrated circuit packaging and testing services provider withdrew its plan to sell oversea bonds

Gaming, VR World

Patreon Pressured to Pull Sarkeesian Effect Documentary

The creative funding site Patreon is being pressured by users to pull a documentary project aimed at a controversial topic in media culture.

VR World

AnandTech Founder Joins Apple, But in What Role?

In the world of tech journalism and hardware reviews, AnandTech is considered as a leading source of breaking news and balanced reviews. Founded in 1997 by Anand Lal Shimpi, the site started out with a focus on motherboards, but then evolved along with the times. AnandTech has since branched out into covering and reviewing CPUs, video cards, notebook computers, mobile devices and, in the words of founder Shimpi himself, “anything that mattered.” Yesterday, Shimpi announced that he was leaving AnandTech, having served the site as publisher and editor for almost 18 years. Unlike most other high-profile departures in the media and technology industry, however, Shimpi said it was not

Analysis, Gaming

What AAA-Devs Can Learn From Indies and F2P

The playing field of the gaming industry is changing. In a market dominated by reboots and sequels, more and more gamers are turning to indie and free-to-play games (commonly abbreviated as F2P) — and as a result the industry is making a paradigm shift. Key companies like Activision and EA are finding F2P and indies as major competitors to their streams of AAA releases, and in order to stay on top, they’ll need to embrace these sectors. But why move to indies when AAA is still reigning the charts ? What are the benefits of diversifying to incorporate indie-like titles and free-to-play franchises? AAA games are