HP is coming with AMD

Hewlett Packard has refreshed its Pavilion, Envy and Mini notebook lines and they are expected to ship in late May and June.

Aside from redesigns, HP also delivered some rather changes under the bonnet. The refreshed lineup will be HP's largest single launch of notebooks powered by AMD processors. We still don't have the exact specs for AMD-based Pavilions, but they will obviously feature new Phenom II mobile processors in dual, and probably tri and quad-core flavors.

AMD's new mobile lineup

AMD is ready to refresh most of its mobile CPU range if these details prove to be accurate. We think this is set to take place very soon, especially with all of the product leaks and announcements.
Starting from the top, AMD is readying three new mobile Phenom II X4 processors, namely the P920, the N930 and the X920 BE. The P920 is a 25W model with a fairly slow 1.6GHz clock speed, but it's by far the most power frugal mobile quad-core processor to date. The N930, which we've already reported about in the Dell and Acer leaks, is clocked at 2GHz with a 35W TDP. The most interesting part is the X920 BE, as BE stands for Black Edition, which suggests that the multiplier is unlocked. We're not sure how useful an overclockable CPU is in a notebook, but with a base clock speed of 2.3GHz this is also the fastest of the new quad-cores, though this also means that the TDP goes up to 45W, the same as Intel's quad-core Core i7M models.

Google to Launch Digital Books

Google Inc. plans to begin selling digital books in late June or July, a company official said Tuesday, throwing the search giant into a battle that already involves Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc.
Google has been discussing its vision for distributing books online for several years and for months has been evangelizing about its new service, called Google Editions. The company is hoping to distinguish Google Editions in the marketplace by allowing users to access books from a broad range of websites using an array of devices, unlike rivals that are focused on proprietary devices and software.
Chris Palma, Google's manager for strategic-partner development, announced the timetable for Google's plans on Tuesday at a publishing- industry panel in New York.

Jeff Trachtenberg discusses Google plan to start selling digital books this summer, setting the stage for a battle of the online behemoth booksellers. Plus, Apple attracts antitrust scrutiny from regulators and Congress drafts a web-ad privacy bill.

Google says users will be able to buy digital copies of books they discover through its book-search service. It will also allow book retailers—even independent shops—to sell Google Editions on their own sites, giving partners the bulk of the revenue.

Seagate new''Universal'' External HDD

Wednesday Seagate said that it added a new line of external drives to its FreeAgent series. Called GoFlex, these new HDDs are "universal" in that they offer more than one connection option, providing consumers more choices when looking for a new external drive. This will also ultimately mean that Seagate will cash in with the numerous optional interface cables and adapters that will be sold along with the drives.
Seagate said that it will offer three GoFlex variations: two Ultra-portable Drives (Basic, Pro) and the Desk External Drive. All three drives come packed with USB 2.0 plug-and-play connectivity out of the box, however consumers can "upgrade" the connection by purchasing cables and adapters for USB 3.0, FireWire 800, and eSATA.
According to Seagate, the cheaper (vanilla) GoFlex Ultra-portable drive will come in four capacities: 320GB, 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB. The 7200 RPM Pro Ultra-portable drive however only comes in 500GB, and sports a cool "intelligent" dock and premium backup software. The drive arrives in both 1TB and 2TB flavors, and also comes pre-installed with backup software.

Intel Launches Moorestown

intel announced on Wednesday that its new Moorestown platform is now available, consisting of the 45nm "Lincroft" system-on-a-chip Intel Atom Processor Z6xx Series Family, the Intel Platform Controller Hub MP20 ("Langwell"), and the dedicated Mixed Signal IC (MSIC) codenamed "Briertown." Focused on the mobile sector, the new platform promises "PC-like" features for smartphones and tablets including true 3D graphics, 1080p video, multitasking, and more.
But while the platform focuses on high performance for portable devices, it also aims to keep the power consumption relatively low. "Collectively these new chips deliver significantly lower power including >50x reduction in idle power, >20x reduction in audio power, and 2-3x reductions across browsing and video scenarios," the company said. "These power savings translate into >10 days of standby, up to 2 days of audio playback and 4-5 hours of browsing and video battery life."

New iPhone OS 4.0 Beta Reveals lots of new features

With the latest build of iPhone OS 4.0 now out the door (beta 3), testers are revealing a few features that Steve Jobs seemingly neglected to tell the public. Boy Genius Report was one of the lucky ones with access to the new beta, and reports that Apple made improvements to the way users shut down multiple applications, implemented an orientation lock feature, and has even added file sharing capabilities.
That's right, file sharing. But before you get too excited, this doesn't mean peer-to-peer sharing of games and other applications, but rather the ability to transfer files between the iPhone and PC. "You plug your iPhone into iTunes, head on over to the Apps page and scroll down," BGR said. "From there you’ll be able to drag files to and from your iPhone and your computer."