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Toshiba's new android 'employee' uses sign language, speaks Japanese
Toshiba's newest hire (of sorts) is called Aiko Chihara -- and she's manning a reception desk at the company's booth at CEATEC 2014 in Japan. Oh, and she's silcone-coated robot. Interaction isn't in her repertoire just yet -- a Toshiba spokesman said that it was certainly a possibility in the future -- as Aiko only came into being last month. There's 15 actuators inside the head for expression, while yet more are paired with air compressor to give (unerringly) smooth motion to the arms and hands. Toshiba collaborated with several universities, including Osaka University, to develop the robot and its sign language skills are geared for Japanese (with voice commands narrating along with it). While the bot is lifelike and fluid, there's no intelligence to speak of: actions are all preprogrammed. The company says that there are also plans to teach Aiko American Sign Language in the future, as well as hoping to install the android and its (sign) language skills at other exhibitions and shows in the near future -- something that a handful of other robots are already being tasked with. We've got video-based glimpse of the uncanny valley right after the break.
Toshiba's shift away from consumer PCs means 900 lost jobs
Toshiba has been slinging Satellites and Qosmios and Kirabooks for basically ages now, but its days a purveyor of consumer computers may be winding down in a market near you. According to a statement the company issued last night, it's shifting its focus a bit -- the big priority is now crafting PCs to woo business customers, and Toshiba's going to cut about 900 jobs as part of the transition. Don't fret too much, though: Toshiba might be looking to streamline its consumer computer operations, but it's not going to give up entirely. To hear them tell it, the new Toshiba will "withdraw from unprofitable markets" and continue bringing those consumer-friendly PCs to developed countries, though we're still not sure how its mix of gadgets will wax and wane 'round those parts. The move will be a somber one in some places (especially for anyone who'll soon be out of a job) but there's not much else to be done -- the global PC market may not be shrinking as fast as some thought it would, but the seas are still rough for companies trying to plot a course to PC profitability.
Toshiba intros a slimmer Chromebook, budget Windows convertible
Toshiba isn't showing off a whole lot here at IFA, Europe's biggest trade show. That said, the stuff it has announced at least manages to run the gamut. Today, for instance, the company unveiled both a slimmed-down Chromebook 2 and the Satellite Radius 11, a small-screened Windows convertible. Starting with the former, the Chromebook 2 has the same 13-inch screen size as its predecessor, along with the same textured plastic design. This time, though, it's thinner and lighter, at 2.95 pounds, with the sort of compact dimensions you'd expect to find on a 12-inch system. Toshiba bumped up the resolution too, so that you can now get it with a 340-nit, 1,920 x 1,080 IPS panel (the base model still has a 1,366 x 768 display). Depending on the resolution, you can expect either 11.5 hours of battery life on the lower-res version, or nine hours with full HD. In addition, Toshiba added Skullcandy audio. The firm seems proud of it, but after a few minutes of hands-on time, I actually found the sound to be rather tinny (it is loud, though).
Toshiba gets aggressive with a $120, 7-inch Windows tablet
Over the years, Windows tablets have been getting smaller and smaller -- and cheaper and cheaper. Well, surprise! They're getting tinier, and we've just about hit bargain-basement pricing. Toshiba just announced the Encore Mini, a 7-inch slate that will sell for just $120 -- an aggressive move, considering 8-inch models hover around the $200 mark. Technically speaking, the Encore Mini is not the cheapest Windows tablet out there, but it's definitely the lowest price we've seen from a tier-one brand. For the money, you get full Windows 8.1, though the specs are, as you'd expect, pretty low-end. These include a 1,024 x 600 display, a quad-core Intel Atom Z3735G processor with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage and dual 2MP/0.3MP cameras. At 0.78 pound, it's heavier than, say, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, which we just reviewed, but either way, you shouldn't have a problem toting it around.
Format Wars: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD
The format war. Over the last few decades it has played out across various forms of tech -- AC vs. DC, VHS vs. Beta -- usually with fierce battle lines drawn and millions, or even billions, of dollars at stake. Recently, none has burned so brightly as the battle of HD DVD vs. Blu-ray (read our blow-by-blow retrospective of the 2005-2007 battle here). And it brought all the classic elements: Sides were divided between titans of the industry, led by Sony pressing the Blu-ray side and Toshiba backing HD DVD, with the PS3 and Xbox 360 ready to serve as Trojan horses. As if the stakes weren't high enough already, the specter of an oncoming internet-streaming winter loomed like Game of Throne's army of White Walkers. So what really happened? Who won in the end? And, most importantly, was that victory actually worth it all?
Toshiba stuffs Windows into a 7-inch tablet, whether you want it or not
There's no shortage of 8-inch Windows tablets on the market right now, but Microsoft and its partners are pushing ahead with plans to shrink the OS even further. A Redmond executive at Computex has just shown off the Toshiba Encore 7: a 7-inch tablet running full Windows 8.1. If you're thinking that the Windows desktop will be mighty fiddly at this screen size, then you're right -- it's only going to be useful as a Plan B when there's no other way to get into a legacy application, or when you're hooked up to a keyboard, mouse and bigger display. For regular use, you'd be reliant on the more thumb-friendly Metro UI and apps.
With seven different use modes, Toshiba's Kirabook is a Lenovo Yoga on steroids
Lately, Toshiba's all about multitasking laptops -- at CES, the company showed off a "5-in-1" laptop concept with a detachable keyboard, and here at Computex, we're getting a look at the "7-in-1" Kirabook L93. Like Toshiba's Satellite Click, the L93 includes a detachable keyboard base, so it works in standard laptop and tablet modes. The L93's flexible hinge also lets you use the device in display mode, with the base either attached or separated. While it's arguably another iteration of Toshiba's Lenovo Yoga-style devices, you do have more modes than ever to flip through.
Toshiba is the latest PC maker to rip off Lenovo's Yoga line
The last time we heard from Toshiba it was doing its annual back-to-school notebook dump. Turns out, the company wasn't quite through: It just announced a trio of convertible laptops. Of the three, the closest thing to a flagship would be the Satellite Radius, a 15-inch notebook that essentially apes Lenovo's Yoga line. Which is to say, it has a 360-degree hinge that can be positioned in one of five modes, including notebook, tablet, "Presentation" (upside down, keyboard in), "Audience" (screen out, keyboard tucked under) and "Tabletop," with the entire machine lying flat on the table. Sound familiar? That's because it is.
Toshiba's new tablets are aggressively priced, especially its $110 Android slate
The last time Toshiba unveiled a bunch of tablets, it paid lip service to cutting-edge specs -- things like screen resolution and processing power. This year, it wanted to push the price down low enough that you'd actually buy one. The company has just announced two Windows tablets, the 8- and 10-inch Encore 2, along with the Excite Go, a 7-inch Android tablet. And while none of them might be memorable in their own right, they're all worth a second look, if only because they're so aggressively inexpensive. The Encore tablets, for instance, start at $200 for the 8-inch and $270 for the 10-inch. And mind you, they basically have the same specs (quad-core Intel Atom processor, 1,280 x 800 screens) as the original 8-inch Encore, which was originally priced at $330. (The 8-incher has been slimmed down, but that's almost beside the point -- it's all about the price cut.)
Microsoft donates $1 billion to help US schools buy PCs (update: not direct funding)
Microsoft isn't just supporting White House's ConnectED education program by lowering the cost of Windows -- it's also giving schools the cash they'll need to buy Windows PCs. The company is donating $1 billion to make sure that students have the tech they'll need for both getting online and learning technology skills. The funding comes alongside a new device pricing program that should make the PCs more affordable -- to start with, it's offering sub-$300 systems from Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Panasonic and Toshiba.
Toshiba's ultra-fast microSD cards will let you shoot like a pro with small cameras
It's easy to find fast storage if you have a big camera, but not so much if you have a very tiny mirrorless cam that uses microSD cards -- more often than not, you're stuck in the slow lane. You won't be held back for much longer if Toshiba has its way, though. The company has just revealed the first-ever microSD cards to meet the speedy UHS-II spec, giving them the same performance as the quickest full-size SD storage -- and up to eight times the write speed of Toshiba's earlier microSD lineup. Data reads, meanwhile, are nearly three times faster.
Toshiba's vision for Project Ara extends to wearables and beyond
Project Ara is primarily focused on building a modular smartphone in the hopes of changing the industry, but is that the only type of mobile device on the drawing board? Absolutely not. An executive at Toshiba, one of Google's partners on the project, just revealed that his company's vision of the concept goes beyond smartphones. Shardul Kazi, Senior VP and Technology Executive at Toshiba, posited that devices like smartwatches (and beyond, he says) could also take advantage of Ara's blocky component modules, which allow you to mix and match whatever features and components you want to have.
Toshiba's first 4K laptop arrives next week for $1,500
After launching its first 4K laptop in the UK, Toshiba has just announced US availability. Stateside, it'll be called the P55T, but as before, it's a 15.6-inch laptop with 3,840 x 2,160 resolution. That's a staggering 282 ppi, if you're scoring at home -- compared to, say 220 ppi for Apple's 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. Driving all those pixels is AMD's 2GB DDR5 Radeon R9 M265X discrete graphics, a 4th-gen Intel quad-core i7 CPU and 16GB DDR3L max memory. Another hook is Technicolor certification, which ensures that each IPS display is individually calibrated for accurate colors. Along with the included copy of Adobe's Lightroom 5, that'll appeal to photographers and designers -- though the rather anemic 1TB, 5400 RPM mechanical hard drive is a letdown. It'll arrive on April 22nd at $1,500, a price that seems competitive with the few other 4K laptops. Meanwhile, Toshiba also announced some more mainstream models -- hit the break for more on those.
Death of Windows XP can't quite reverse slowing PC sales
The official end to Windows XP support may have sent many companies into a panic, but it was good news for PC manufacturers this winter... well, sort of. Both Gartner and IDC report a big increase in PC shipments during the first quarter thanks to companies scrambling to replace old XP computers at the last possible moment. However, the two analyst groups note that the sudden spike only managed to soften ongoing declines in PC shipments, rather than reverse them. Depending on which research firm you ask, the number of PCs on the market dropped between 1.7 percent to 4.4 percent year-over-year. That's better than what system builders have seen over most of the past two years, but it's not exactly a recovery.
Toshiba Encore review: an 8-inch Windows tablet that struggles to stand out
Toshiba is no stranger to Windows tablets, but what we've seen to date has typically been targeted at businesses or has otherwise been... limited. In that sense, the Encore is something special. It's not just the company's first 8-inch Windows tablet -- it's the first aimed at a truly broad audience. That said, it faces stiff odds. Acer, Dell, Lenovo and others have comparable slates on the market, in many cases with similar features. Toshiba would have to do something truly out of the ordinary to stand out. And frankly, it doesn't. While the Encore is a worthy device, you'll have to be particularly enamored with its design to ignore its rivals. Read on to see what we mean.
Toshiba details 4K laptop arriving before summer
Toshiba has just dished most of the important details about its intriguing 4K Satellite P50t that we saw at CES 2014, along with some other new models. Unfortunately, it's left some info hanging -- namely the all-important prices. For the most part, the Satellite 50t model sounds pretty fine, considering the sleek 2.2kg (4.8 pound) weight. There's that exotic 282 pixel per inch 3,840 x 2,160, 15.6-inch touchscreen, driven by 2GB AMD Radeon R9 M265 graphics, for starters (1080p is optional). It's also packing an Intel Core-i7 CPU, 16GB DDR3L RAM, 4 USB 3.0 ports, an SD/SDHC slot, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac WiFi and Windows 8.1. Oddly, the otherwise well-spec'd device only features a 1TB mechanical disk option, when it's clearly screaming for SSD speed -- hopefully Toshiba will rectify that prior to release. Availability is listed as sometime in Q2, but again, there's no clue about pricing. Meanwhile, Toshiba's also detailed a few other models after the break.
Toshiba sticks to what it knows with new LED HDTV range
Toshiba's already spilled the beans on its 4K TV line-up for this year, and right on cue, it's just revealed the new range of 2014 LED sets that might interest us folk still clinging on to the regular HD era. The entry-level 3 series gains a number of new recruits, all with some smart TV features, baked-in WiFi and Freeview HD, in the UK at least. The L3 range is full HD, with 40- and 48-inch options, while the lone W3 model is a 32-inch, 1,366 x 768 affair. With the same resolution and screen sizes from 24 to 40 inches, the D3 series also have DVD players on board, and all of the above are slated for launch in the US and UK later this month.
Toshiba Chromebook arrives in the US and UK, slightly pricier than expected
Back at CES, Toshiba told us that its new Chromebook would be shipping on February 16th. It appears, though, the company has decided to make it available ahead of time, as the 13-inch Chrome OS laptop is now up for grabs in the US and UK. In a small twist, however, Toshiba is listing the Haswell-powered Chromebook for $300 on its website, a small bump over the $279 price it was announced with earlier this year. That said, retailers like Adorama and Amazon do have it for around $280, so you could still enjoy that lower price after all. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Amazon's selling the Toshiba Chromebook for £249, with shipments expected to begin February 10th.
Toshiba's new drive could take the headaches out of networked storage
There aren't many network-attached hard drives for the home, and those that exist aren't always easy to use... not unless you enjoy drive mapping, anyway. Toshiba may just make the experience simpler with its just-shipped Canvio Home, though. This sequel to the Canvio Personal Cloud takes some of the guesswork out of setting up and finding your storage on your home network; if you just need to drag-and-drop files, you could be up and running within minutes. The Canvio Home also introduces official Mac support. As before, you can access the Canvio Home from anywhere (including Android and iOS apps), and it will stream media to local DLNA-capable gadgets. Toshiba is selling a 2TB version of the new disk for $200, while its 3TB sibling costs $260.
Toshiba's ready to make better SSDs following its takeover of OCZ
Toshiba made its first move to rescue faltering solid-state drive manufacturer OCZ Technology back in November, and now that sale is final. In the deal, OCZ gets to keep its identity and independence, but will now operate as OCZ Storage Solutions. It's a slight change in nomenclature to be sure, but hopefully that won't make picking its drives out from Newegg's stock any harder. Just think: For a cool $35 million, maybe you could have bought the drive-maker for yourself.
