Toshiba
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Toshiba accounting scandal may lead to CEO's ouster
Toshiba might be in for a rough, rough ride. Reuters sources claim that the tech giant is going to rack up the equivalent of $2.4 billion to $3.2 billion in charges due to "overstated profits" over the past six years. Investigators are still trying to determine whether or not executives played a role, and they won't reveal the extent of what went wrong until sometime next week. However, their findings may not matter much for CEO Hisao Tanaka -- he'll reportedly have little choice but to resign for letting this scandal happen on his watch. More than half of the board of directors may get the boot, too.
Toshiba's Windows 10 laptops all have a built-in Cortana key
Toshiba just unveiled its back-to-school laptop lineup, and while mainstream notebooks are normally a bit of a snooze, there's at least one detail that makes these worth a second look. Everything in the line, from the $395 entry-level model to the souped-up 4K editions, has a built-in keyboard button to launch Cortana in Windows 10. Just hit what appears to be a search key in the Function row, and you'll bring up Microsoft's voice assistant, which can respond to commands like "what's the weather?", "tell me a joke" and "sing a song". (With all due respect to Cortana voice actress Jen Taylor, you might want to skip that last one.) Toshiba is not the only PC maker that's chosen to add extra features related to Cortana, but the built-in hotkey is still pretty novel.
Toshiba's humanoid retail robot is ready to greet you
If you happen to be shopping in Japan sometime soon, don't be surprised if the first offer of help comes from a machine. Toshiba has just installed Aiko Chihira, a humanoid greeter robot, at Tokyo's Mitsukoshi department store. The kimono-clad automaton will guide you around the shop while it blinks and smiles -- at once helpful and, as you can see above, a little creepy. It can't respond to questions yet (don't yell at it over a faulty product), but it's capable of handling both spoken and signed languages. No, Aiko isn't as interactive or relentlessly adorable as SoftBank's Pepper, but it'll be a big time-saver if it prevents you from getting lost in the aisles. [Image credit: AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi]
Netflix button coming to TV remotes across Europe
For a large group of people, Netflix has become the primary way to watch TV shows and movies in the living room. Digging into a menu and launching the app every day can be a pain though. The solution? TV remotes that offer a dedicated Netflix button, of course. They've been available in the US for years, but finally they're coming to Europe too. For starters, Netflix is partnering with Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Philips and Vestel to offer the new remotes with several of their smart TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The company says the move is part of its larger mission to work more closely with hardware manufacturers and optimize its service for subscribers. If that leads to a reduction in the amount of time spent between switching on the TV and watching Bloodline, count us in.
You'll soon get 10TB SSDs thanks to new memory tech
SSDs and other flash memory devices will soon get cheaper and larger thanks to big announcements from Toshiba and Intel. Both companies revealed new "3D NAND" memory chips that are stacked in layers to pack in more data, unlike single-plane chips currently used. Toshiba said that it's created the world's first 48-layer NAND, yielding a 16GB chip with boosted speeds and reliability. The Japanese company invented flash memory in the first place and has the smallest NAND cells in the world at 15nm. Toshiba is now giving manufacturers engineering samples, but products using the new chips won't arrive for another year or so.
The NSA hides surveillance software in hard drives
It's been known for a while that the NSA will intercept and bug equipment to spy on its soon-to-be owners, but the intellgency agency's techniques are apparently more clever than first thought. Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have discovered apparently state-created spyware buried in the firmware of hard drives from big names like Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital. When present, the code lets snoops collect data and map networks that would otherwise be inaccessible -- all they need to retrieve info is for an unwitting user to insert infected storage (such as a CD or USB drive) into an internet-connected PC. The malware also isn't sitting in regular storage, so you can't easily get rid of it or even detect it.
The next 'Toshiba' TV you see will be made by a different company
Toshiba has undertaken many attempts to reshape its TV segment over the years with "Cloud Portal" and Cell TV, but none have hit the mark and now it's getting out of the business entirely in North America. Following other Japanese manufacturers that have axed (Pioneer), scaled back (Panasonic), or reorganized (Sony) their TV operations, Toshiba will license its name to Taiwan's Compal. New TVs from the venture will be on shelves in March, so don't be surprised if they're a bit different. It already switched to more outsourcing after axing jobs in 2013, so the shift may turn out to be subtle. Toshiba has always been willing to bring some unique -- if not always appreciated -- aspects to the game, and we'll be sad to see them go. The plan now is to "develop new technologies and services" while it works on securing a stable profit.
The fascinating, frightening drones and robots of CES 2015
At CES 2015 you could hardly turn your head without smacking into a 4K display, but finding a robot companion takes a bit of legwork. Luckily, we trolled the halls of the LVCC and beyond to find the most exciting (and often frightening) advances in unmanned technology. From drones that track you through the desert to an Android employee with lifelike expressions, check out the video and photo tours below to witness the fascinating future of robots and drones at CES 2015. For a closer look at these robots, drones and more check out our 2015 CES Field Guide.
Toshiba's Virtual Fitting Room doesn't have menswear
Toshiba was demoing its Virtual Fitting Room at CES this year. The premise is simple: Stand in front of a large display while your image is projected on it. Using a Kinect for motion tracking, Toshiba's software is able to superimpose various outfits onto your reflected self. Hold your right hand up to change outfits and your left to snap a selfie, which the software then throws up as a QR code so you can grab your pic. Typical of this type of virtual thing, the clothes tended to wiggle about and were a bit ill-fitting, but they were women's outfits, so we'll give them a break there. We can see practical applications for trying clothing combinations without having to use a dressing room if you're in a hurry, for example. Though, we don't think using it for sizing would be useful at all, which is a large part of a fitting room's job.
Toshiba's TransferJet SD cards get NFC previews
Toshiba's been hawking its Eye-Fi competitor TransferJet for years now, letting you push data from your SD card to your PC without removing it from your camera. Now, however, the company has cooked up a way for users to see what's on the card without even picking it up off the table. Simply pick up an Android smartphone, activate the company's companion app and the built-in NFC will show you up to 16 random thumbnails of the images included therein.
Toshiba's inexpensive Windows tablets now have a pen option
We've seen plenty of super-cheap Windows tablets, but until now, companies have invariably had to cut corners to get the prices so low. That's why Toshiba's new "Encore 2 Write" slates are interesting: Though they are indeed inexpensive, they allow for pressure-sensitive pen input, something you'll rarely see on a device in this price class. The two tablets come in 8- and 10-inch sizes, and will sell for $350 and $400 when they go on sale next week. For the money, you get a Wacom-made pen, with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity. To put that in perspective, Microsoft's own Surface 2 costs $449 and doesn't have a pen option. If we're going by the price and spec sheet alone, then, Toshiba's new tablets are a good deal.
Toshiba stuffs 3TB into its latest portable hard drives
Portable hard drives don't hold nearly as much data as their desk-bound counterparts, but Toshiba is closing that gap in a big way. Both its simple Canvio Basics drives and sharing-friendly Canvio Connect II models (shown above) are some of the first (reasonably) portable drives to carry 3TB. That's obviously quite a bit more than the 2TB models you've seen before, and enough for you to stash your 4K videos on. They don't have any fancy new tricks in store, although that extra space could come in handy for the Connect II's PogoPlug-based remote access and bundled backup software. Mum's the word on pricing at the moment. With that said, it's safe to say the 3TB models will cost more than a similarly sized disk for your desktop.
This is Toshiba's answer to the Surface Pro 3
Until now, if you wanted a tablet powerful enough to double as a laptop, there was really only one acceptable option: the Surface Pro 3. Sure, there were other such devices out there, but the SP3 was uniquely thin and light -- kind of a crucial detail for a device that's supposed to work equally well in notebook and tablet modes. But times, they are a-changin', and other companies are starting to catch up. Take Toshiba, for instance. The PC maker just revealed the Portege Z20t, a similarly sized laptop/tablet hybrid with a 12.5-inch screen, but an even lighter design. All told, it comes in at just 0.35 inch thick and 1.6 pounds for the tablet piece, versus 1.76 pounds for the 12-inch SP3. Basically, then, it has the same size and thickness as Microsoft's tablet, except it should be even easier to hold.
CES 2015: Toshiba's iPhone dongle is crazy fast
Toshiba is shooting for AirDrop lovers with a new wireless transfer accessory that can send data between iOS devices faster than ever before. The tiny little dongle has a maximum throughput of 375Mbps and can transfer upwards of 100MB between iOS gadgets in just a few seconds, making it perfect for photo and video transfer. The dongle itself has a rather unsexy name (TJM35420LT) but it runs on Sony's TransferJet (oooh, that's better) technology. Like NFC, the transfer can only take place if two TransferJet devices are within a few centimeters of each other, but unlike NFC the TransferJet technology is specifically suited to large transfer jobs rather than quick authentication or payments. The accessory will be made available in Japan to start, priced at around $40, with a worldwide rollout coming sometime later. [via PCWorld]
Which Chromebooks are worth buying?
Seven years ago, netbooks were all the rage with consumers, providing a cheap and easy way to get online and carry out other basic computing tasks. They died out as cellphones and tablets became popular, with some companies even forecasting the death of the laptop entirely. But it turns out that people still need notebooks for some things, and it helps if the device is cheap -- but most people still want a little more oomph than the standard low-power netbook. That's where Chromebooks step in. Small, lightweight and running Chrome OS, Chromebooks have exploded in popularity the past few years. As such, we've found ourselves reviewing quite a number of models in recent months. But which one should you buy? We've recommended a few devices in our buyer's guides before, but it's never one-size-fits-all. So we took a look at some recent releases, peeping at our own reviews as well as those of other trusted critics to make your buying decision a little easier.
A tale of two Chromebooks: one size doesn't fit all
I've been spending a lot of time with Chromebooks. About one a month for the last six months, if my math is correct. Lately, though, I've found myself in the somewhat unusual situation of testing two models at once. Two very different models, I should add. On the one hand, we have the Toshiba Chromebook 2, which brings a full HD, 1080p display and a relatively big 13-inch screen. At $330, it's a good deal compared to similar machines, but it's also on the pricier end for a laptop that basically just runs the Chrome browser. On the other, we have Samsung's newest laptop (also called the Chromebook 2), which has a smaller size and also a smaller price: just $250. But the design is nice and in a way, so is the keyboard. So what matters more, then? A dazzling screen or a faux-leather lid? Robust audio or being priced to sell? Check out our two reviews (Samsung and Toshiba) and decide for yourself. [Image credit: Will Lipman]
Toshiba Chromebook 2 review: great screen, but the battery life takes a hit
Competition is a beautiful thing. When Samsung first came out with its 13-inch Chromebook 2 earlier this year, it quickly became one of our favorite budget laptops, mostly because it was the only Chrome OS device with a sharp, full HD screen. Even so, it was hardly perfect: Its performance could have been faster; it was missing a full-size SD slot; and, at $400, it was kinda pricey too. Here's where that competition thing comes in. First Acer released something similar at a lower price, and now Toshiba is selling a full HD Chromebook of its own, also called the Chromebook 2. While it matches Samsung pixel for pixel, the price is also a good deal lower: just $330 for the top-of-the-line model. But let's not judge a machine purely by its spec sheet, shall we? How does the new Chromebook 2 actually perform? There was only way to find out: Use it as my primary laptop for a week.
Toshiba joins other tech giants in growing super-clean vegetables
The name "Toshiba" conjures images of stacks of laptops piled high and maybe the occasional television, but the Japanese electronics giant is turning its attention to something just a little more humble: lettuce. Well, spinach too. And swiss chard. Quartz's Dan Frommer tells the tale of a Toshiba-owned clean room nestled in the industrial corners of Yokosuka where people clad in special suits dutifully plant seeds and plop them on tall racks under an array of fluorescent lights. The end result? Tasty veggies that you won't need to wash (though if you're a mild hypochondriac like your author, you'd probably give 'em a quick rinse anyway).
Apple is now the fifth-largest PC maker in the world, if you ask IDC
Apple is historically a small player in the PC world compared to many of its peers, but it may have just entered the big leagues. IDC estimates that the company jumped to 6.3 percent market share in the third quarter of the year, making it the fifth-largest PC builder worldwide -- a feat it hasn't managed in decades. It's still no major threat to heavy-hitters such as Lenovo (20 percent), HP (18.8 percent) and Dell (13.3 percent), but IDC believes that a combination of slight price cuts and improved demand in "mature" markets like North America have helped it grow in a computer market that's still shrinking.
Toshiba prototype is a simpler, lighter Google Glass rival... with a catch
Nearly every tech company wants in on the wearables game, but they can't all be Google Glass or Apple Watches -- not that they have to be. But hey, here's Toshiba -- and it's got a Toshiba Glass prototype to show off. We'll say this right at the start: this remains a reference product that the company's showing off at CEATEC in Japan this week. And yes, technical specifics (let alone a price) aren't being discussed yet, but the vision for Toshiba's eye-based wearable prototype is a gentle, predictable one. The hardware is the combination of a tiny projector, attached to admittedly normal-looking frames. However, there's actually a special kind of one-sided reflective glass to catch the projection. The projection module itself is kind of bulky, but actually lightweight... which is great, until you realize that this prototype requires a constant wired connection to work.
