12/17/11

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review

Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review:


All quiet on the Windows 7 tablet front? Well, no, but we haven't exactly seen many shots fired lately. Sure, HP recently refreshed the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, but for the most part, products like this have been eclipsed by excitement around Windows 8. Of course, Redmond's tablet-friendly OS won't ship for another year, so for now tablet makers are releasing Windows slates with little fanfare. Not Samsung, though. While its mobile team has dug its heels into the consumer tablet market with devices like the Galaxy Tabs 10.1, 8.9 and 7.0 Plus, its PC division is taking a different tack. The Series 7 Slate PC was built by the same team behind the striking Series 9 laptop, making it one of the slickest business tablets we've ever beheld. It rocks an 11.6-inch display that handily dwarfs pretty much everything else out there. It runs a Core i5, not Atom, processor, and is offered with a custom dock and Bluetooth keyboard. The Series 7 Slate isn't just a rare Windows 7 tablet; it's also one of the most memorable. But are all of those things worth the $1,099 starting price? Could be, but we can think of a few caveats. Allow us to explain.

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Samsung Series 7 Slate PC review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Microsoft acquires VideoSurf, promises to bring better video search and discovery to Xbox Live

Microsoft acquires VideoSurf, promises to bring better video search and discovery to Xbox Live:


Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed, but Microsoft announced today that it has acquired the content analytics firm VideoSurf, and it's being crystal clear about where it will be putting it to use: Xbox Live. VideoSurf, for those not familiar, is a company that specializes in computer vision technology, which lets it "tag" individual frames of videos in real time and deliver better search and discovery services. Earlier this year, it released an Android application that basically amounts to Shazam for video. As for its plans for Xbox Live, Microsoft says that it will integrate the technology across the platform "over time," and that it will "augment the Xbox 360 ecosystem and evolve search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox Live." The official press release is after the break.
Continue reading Microsoft acquires VideoSurf, promises to bring better video search and discovery to Xbox Live
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