Almost everything you could want in an all-in-one

The good: The updated Dell XPS 27 is highlighted by excellent performance and features, plus a higher-than-1080p touch screen, Nvidia graphics, and Intel's latest fourth-gen CPUs. An HDMI input lets it double as a display for a game console or cable box.

The bad: The main benefit of Intel's new chips, amazing battery life, isn't applicable here. The adjustable stand could offer more flexibility.

The bottom line: As a big-screen upscale all-in-one with touch and decent gaming chops, the latest version of Dell's XPS 27 is a great all-around home PC that covers a lot of bases.

 

With all the attention being paid to Windows 8 laptops, tablets, and hybrids with touch screens, it can be easy to forget that an all-in-one desktop is perhaps the most natural use of a touch screen in a computer. In fact, years before Windows 8 made touch a near-requisite for all new PCs, these desktop-bound systems had already made big inroads into touch screens, with varying success.
But the Windows 8 era now gives us a certain conformity across different PC types. Your laptop, tablet, flip-screen hybrid, or desktop all-in-one all share the same tile-based Windows 8 interface and very likely all have a touch screen. We've seen a handful of all-in-one systems, from Vizio, Asus, Lenovo, and others that have managed this Windows 8 transition well, but no one has a kitchen sink product quite like the Dell XPS One 27.
Even in its previous incarnation, released just after Windows 8, this system was a favorite of ours. The latest update keeps the prices steady, at $1,599 to $2,599, but adds Intel's new fourth-generation Core i-series CPUs, also known by the code name Haswell. It also upgrades the dedicated Nvidia GPU to a GeForce 750M, which should be good enough for all but the most serious gamers.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The XPS One is packed with notable features, including a higher-than-1080p screen resolution, at 2,560x1,440, and an HDMI input for using the 27-inch screen as a display for gaming consoles, cables boxes, and other devices. That makes the XPS One especially useful for a smaller space where you'd want both a PC and a small television monitor.
At $2,099 for our review configuration, this isn't an inexpensive choice, even by Apple iMac standards. And while being one of the first to add Intel's new CPUs is great, the main advantages -- better battery life and improved integrated graphics -- are lost in a desktop system with a separate graphics card. The latest trend in all-in-one PCs, adding a battery so the screen can be detached and moved around easily from room to room would have been a nice addition, although Dell's XPS 18 all-in-one offers this feature.
Despite those small caveats, the XPS One is well built, looks great, and is just plain fun to use. I'd strongly consider it for a central hub of your household computing, or as a one-stop entertainment device for a den, bedroom, or dorm.

	Dell XPS 27	Asus Transformer AIO	Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon	Dell XPS 18
Price	$2,099	$1,299	$1,699	$1,349
Display size/resolution	27-inch, 2,560x1,440 touch screen	18.4-inch, 1,920x1,080 touch screen	27-inch, 1,920x1,080 touch screen	18-inch, 1,920x1,080 touch screen
PC CPU	3.1GHz Intel Core i7-4770S	3.1GHz Intel Core i5-3350P	1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3427U	1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3337U
PC Memory	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHz DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM	8GB 1,600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT750M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT 730M	2GB Nvidia GeForce GT620M	32MB Intel HD Graphics 4000
Storage	2TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive	1TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive	1TB, 5,400 rpm hard drive	1TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive
Optical drive	Blu-ray/DVD/DVD RW combo	Dual-layer DVD burner	None	None
Networking	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0	Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth 4.0
Operating system	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows 8 (64-bit)	Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)

 
Design and features
The Dell XPS looks its best head-on. The black bezel under edge-to-edge glass is thick but not unattractive, and the entire 27-inch display seems to float over a rectangular metal base with rounded edges.
Other all-in-one systems have more aggressive designs, to be sure. Apple's razor-edged iMac, the Asus Transformer AiO, and even Dell's own very slim XPS 18, which also doubles as a battery-powered tabletop PC, all show more imagination than the thick XPS 27. The hinged arm connecting the stand and screen is purely functional, like a robotic arm in a factory assembly line.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

That arm could also stand to be more easily adjustable. There's no option to tilt the screen back 90 degrees to point directly up in what one might call a coffee-table mode, and even adjusting it along its 60-degree range of motion requires two hands.
But, once you get the XPS 27 set up at a suitable angle, it looks great sitting on your desk and makes at least some of the ports and connections easily accessible along the side edges, with the optical drive (DVD or Blu-ray, depending on your configuration) along the right edge and USB, SD card, and audio ports on the left edge.
Included with the system is a Dell wireless mouse and keyboard set. Both are plastic and won't win any design awards, but the compact keyboard makes good use of limited space, including full-size keys and a full number pad. Multimedia functions on the keyboard are still mapped to the F-keys in an old-fashioned manner, requiring you to hold the Fn key down to, for example, raise and lower the volume. Other PC makers, such as HP, reverse those function-mapped keys so you can adjust volume and screen brightness more easily from the keyboard, although the XPS 27 does have screen brightness touch controls below the right side of the screen.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The real selling point here is the giant 27-inch display. Unlike most of the 27-inch all-in-one PCs we've seen, the XPS 27 has a 2,560x,1440 native resolution, which is significantly higher than the typical 1,920x,1080 found on higher-end laptops and all-in-ones. The previous-gen XPS One 27 also had this higher-res screen, and it was one of the things we liked the most about it. It's also what you'll find in the 27-inch Apple iMac, although without touch. We've seen similar high resolutions in laptops such as the Toshiba Kirabook and MacBook Pro, but all those extra pixels packed into a much smaller screen is a different, more striking experience.
The XPS 27 screen is bright and clear, if a little glossy. HD video, games, and photos all look fantastic, and even the least-expensive XPS 27, at $1,599, has the same high-res display. Fingerprint marks from the touch screen were minimal, although I found that I ended up using the touch screen less than I expected, perhaps because I placed the large 27-inch display further away than I would a smaller one or a laptop.

	Dell XPS 27
Video	HDMI-in, HDMI-out, Thunderbolt/display port
Audio	Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
Data	6 USB 3.0, SD card reader
Networking	Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Optical drive	DVD burner

 
Connections, performance, and battery
Our $2,099 review unit included a standard DVD drive, a slot-loading model accessible from the right side of the display, and a more-expensive $2,599 configuration trades up to a Blu-ray drive. Besides plenty of USB 3.0 ports, I especially liked that the XPS 27 (similar to some other all-in-ones and even a few larger-screen laptops) includes an HDMI-in jack. That means you can plug a game console, Blu-ray player, or even a set-top cable box into the back of the system and just use the screen as a 27-inch display. Input switching is done via a touch button on the front bezel, although there's also no way to control the volume on the built-in speakers when inputting an external video source.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

One complaint: Many of the ports and connections are awkwardly hidden behind the large hinged arm that supports the screen, making them harder to get to than they should be.
The least-expensive XPS 27 is a $1,599 model that has a Core i5 CPU and only Intel's integrated graphics. For $1,799, you get the Nvidia GeForce 750M GPU (also found on the more-expensive configurations), plus a hard drive that includes a 32GB solid state cache. I'd say that second model is the best bang for your buck. Our $2,099 model ups the CPU to a Core i7 and doubles the hard drive to 2TB with the same 32GB SSD cache, while the $2,599 ups the RAM to 16GB and adds the previously mentioned Blu-ray drive.
The Intel Core i7-4770S CPU in our review unit is one of Intel's fourth generation of Core i-series chips, also known by the code name Haswell. I'm pleased that Dell has updated this model to the newest CPUs so quickly, especially as so many otherwise excellent PCs are still waiting for Haswell refreshment. That said, it may not be much a game changer in an all-in-one desktop. The fantastic battery life we've seen in Haswell laptops and tablets isn't going to help the XPS 27, beyond general power efficiency, and while we've seen modest application performance improvements and better integrated graphics from the latest Intel chips, it's not something you're likely to notice in everyday use.
As expected, the XPS 27 felt fast and responsive whether editing in Photoshop, streaming HD videos, or Web surfing, not that we'd expect anything else from a current Core i7 processor. Honestly, you could probably trade down to the Core i5 version and still have a very similar experience.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

Besides the massive high-res screen, the other big highlight is the Nvidia GeForce 750M GPU. It's rare to find an all-in-one with serious discrete graphics, and while this isn't the highest-end card you can get, for a mainstream home PC, it's pretty good. (Apple offers the older but still good 600-series GeForce GPUs in the 27-inch iMac.) The XPS 27 is as close to a "gaming all-in-one" as you're likely to find.
The XPS 27 ran our Bioshock Infinite test at 1,920x1,080 with high quality settings at 19.3 frames per second and Metro: Last Light at the same resolution and high quality settings at 9.0 frames per second. Both those are challenging tests, and by dialing back the detail levels in Bioshock, we got more than 43 frames per second at the same 1080p resolution. Anecdotally, games such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Skyrim ran decently, even cranked all the way up to 2,560x1,440 resolutions, although you may need to use medium detail settings.
It's a shame that so few Windows games are adept at taking advantage of the touch screens found in so many Windows 8 PCs. Not even XCOM, a game that feels like it should work great with touch, pulls it off. Besides that caveat, I found the XPS 27 to be a great general-interest gaming machine, and more than powerful enough for mainstream gamers who don't want to build a dedicated gaming desktop.

Conclusion
Much as my colleague Rich Brown said about the previous version of the XPS 27, this is simply the best all-around Windows 8 all-in-one you can buy. Others have special features, such as the Lenovo Horizon's built-in battery and lie-flat hinge, or the iMac's thinner, cleaner design, but it's tough to match the combination of higher-res display, touch screen, and Nvidia graphics in the XPS 27, all wrapped up for a very reasonable price.

Read More

Surplus computing power on your Android? Donate it to science

(Credit: Jason Cipriani) 

 

Mom said to reach for the stars, right? Now you can.
By donating surplus processing power from their Android devices, so-called citizen scientists are joining researchers at IBM's World Community Grid and the Einstein@Home project who hope to speed up the work they are currently doing on AIDS and pulsars.
Volunteer computing has traditionally leaned on the excess power of desktops and laptops. But as smartphones and tablets become more powerful and energy efficient, not to mention numerous, it makes sense to tap into the burgeoning power source.
Anyone interested in participating needs a device using Android 2.3 or higher. Just download the latest version of BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) -- which choreographs the technical aspects of volunteer computing -- from the Google Play site and choose which project you'd like to donate to. Just think, you can help discover new stars with Einstein@Home or fight AIDS via IBM's World Community Grid. And if you're concerned about such down-to-earth basics as battery lift and recharge time, the devices running BOINC will only participate when connected to Wi-Fi, charging, and when battery life is already above 90 percent.
The FightAIDS@Home project hosted on IBM's World Community Grid is run by scientists at the Olson Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute as they search for new drugs with the right shape and chemical makeup to block three enzymes the virus needs to thrive. The Grid has already been used in projects that include researching cures for cancer, malaria, and other diseases, and plans to add other projects to the Android effort as well. It already comprises more than 2.3 million computers used by more than 600,000 people and institutions from 80 countries to speed up more than 20 projects.

The Einstein@Home project is led by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, whose application that analyzes data from the world's largest radio telescope in Puerto Rico will tap into Android power as it searches for radio pulsars via their pulsed electromagnetic wave emissions. The more computing power, the faster and more sensitive the search to better understand how stars and even the universe itself evolve. Thanks to more than 340,000 participants worldwide, the project is already responsible for discovering almost 50 new radio pulsars.
The BOINC project, by the way, was founded at the University of California at Berkeley in 2002, with support from the National Science Foundation.

Read More

Google Chromecast review: A daringly priced streamer that doesn't do much

The good: The Google Chromecast is a dirt-cheap wireless video dongle that streams Netflix and YouTube to your TV using Android or iOS tablets as remotes, with Android users also getting access to Google Music and Google TV and Movies. Its small size hides neatly behind your TV and makes it easy to take on-the-go.

The bad: The beta screen-mirroring feature won't work as well as you want it to, so you're largely limited to four apps and without support for several major ones, including Amazon Instant, HBO Go, MLB.TV, Spotify, and Rdio. The lack of a dedicated remote also means you always need a smartphone or tablet nearby.

The bottom line: Google's $35 Chromecast streaming-TV dongle is certainly cheap, but its limited initial app support and total reliance on mobile devices keep it well behind the Apple TV and Roku -- at least for now.

If you've heard anything about Google's Chromecast, you've heard that it costs $35. Google seemingly picked the perfect price for its new sticklike streaming device, generating massive buzz and eliminating the usually rational process that occurs before clicking "add to cart".
The dongle is already sold out and back-ordered for weeks.
But once you've lived with the Chromecast for a while, $35 feels less like a fantastic deal and more like exactly what a device like this should cost. The Chromecast lets you stream from Netflix and YouTube using your Android or iOS mobile device as a remote, with Android users also getting access to Google Music and Google TV and Movies. It also supports the ability to mirror any content from a Chrome browser running on a Mac or Windows PC, including Hulu, HBO Go, and full episodes from major TV networks like CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC via their respective Web sites. And the hardware is delightfully compact and well-built, making it easy to toss in your bag for travel or moving from room to room.
What it doesn't do is everything else: there are no dedicated apps for many major services (including Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Spotify, Rdio, and MLB.TV), no dedicated TV interface for standalone use, no support for personal media sitting on your devices (aside from a clunky hack), and the awesome-sounding screen-mirroring feature ends up being entirely underwhelming in practice. Basically, you can stream Netflix, YouTube, and a couple of Google services; $35 feels about right.
The Chromecast is clearly Google's best living room device so far, almost entirely thanks to its impulse-worthy price. (Although note that Google's inclusion of a free three-month Netflix promotion is currently up in the air.) It doesn't challenge the Apple TV or Roku's boxes on merit, both of which remain much better options as your primary living room streamer. Chromecast has a lot of room to improve if more apps offer support, but at the moment it's best suited for people deep in the Google media ecosystem looking for a living room solution.

Design: A stick for streaming
The Chromecast hardware isn't anything special, but it has a reassuring, solid feel. It's a 2-inch adapter that's compact enough to occupy a spare HDMI input on your TV without blocking adjacent inputs. (If you have a particularly cramped back panel, Google generously includes an HDMI extender cable.) The black matte finish has enough of a texture to make it easily grippable, perfect for popping out the Chromecast and throwing it in your bag for travel. On the far end, there's a Micro-USB port, a small status light, and a tiny button you can use to reset the device to its factory default. In all, it's perfectly fine for a device designed to live behind your TV.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The only "catch" is that the Chromecast requires power, a fact that's conspicuously missing from all of Google's beauty shots. If your TV has a USB input, you can probably use that to power your Chromecast using the included cable. Google also includes a USB power adapter for TVs without USB, which means you'll have a wire dangling from the back of your TV to a power outlet. Ultimately, while it's not quite "just a dongle," it's still a very clean setup.

Setup: Up and running in minutes
Google touts the Chromecast setup as "plug and play," and that's not far off. Once you have the device plugged in, your TV will prompt you to visit the online setup using a laptop or smartphone, where you'll download the Chromecast setup app. The setup process takes a few minutes, and Google has done a great job of leading you step-by-step through the process with lots of helpful illustrations along the way.

(Credit: Google)

 

Behind the scenes, the Chromecast is creating its own local hot spot for the initial setup, but those technical details are all hidden. (The most arduous step is that you'll need to have your home Wi-Fi password handy.) If you're on a laptop, the final step is installing the Chromecast extension, then you're ready to go. It's easy to take the painless setup for granted, but Google deserves a lot of credit, especially considering how tough I found it to get the very similar PLAiR up and running.

Netflix, YouTube, Google Music, and Google TV and Movies
Once you're set up, you can use a smartphone or tablet to watch content from four sources: Netflix, YouTube, Google Music, and Google TV and Movies. (Google says Pandora is on the way.) In each of those apps, you simply press the "Cast" icon, select your Chromecast, and the video gets sent to your TV.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

That makes the Chromecast feel an awful lot like AirPlay, although it's different in a few important ways. The big one is that AirPlay is supported by a huge number of iOS apps, while the Chromecast is currently limited to four. (I expect that to increase over time, especially with the splash that the Chromecast's announcement made.)

The other, more subtle distinction is that while AirPlay actually streams content from your device (and also works with locally stored content), the Chromecast is never truly streaming from your smartphone or tablet. For example, with YouTube, AirPlay streams from the cloud to your device, then to an Apple TV, while the Chromecast pulls content straight from the cloud. In practice, it doesn't make much of a difference, although surprisingly AirPlay feels more reliable, despite doing more technical gymnastics.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

After you get a video playing, your smartphone or tablet acts like a remote. You can pause content or use the scrubber at the bottom to skip forward or back. You can even adjust the volume using your device's hardware volume controls, although in my testing it only adjusts the Chromecast's internal volume, rather than the volume on your TV, so you'll still need your TV's remote around for master volume control. (I'll be testing with more TVs soon to verify how volume controls works on different sets.) Another perk is that any compatible device on the network can grab control of your Chromecast and can make adjustments.

Because it's streaming directly from the cloud, image quality from Netflix, YouTube, and Google TV and Movies was excellent -- as good as you'd expect from a more sizable streaming box. "Arrested Development" on Netflix looked as good as it does on my Roku 3, and high-quality content from YouTube like "Speakeasy with Paul F Tompkins" also looked great. You're not making any image quality compromises by streaming with a stick.

Before you tell it what to play, the Google Chromecast doesn't have much of its own user interface.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

By pushing all of the interaction to smartphones and tablets, one surprising result is that the Chromecast doesn't really have much of its own user interface. When you're not streaming, the Chromecast displays some pretty nature photos and status information, but you can't navigate to apps or select any content from your TV. In other words, there's no way to use the Chromecast as a "standalone" device -- you need to have a smartphone or tablet handy.

Screen mirroring: Not the panacea you've hoped for
The other way to get content to the Chomecast is by using the Chrome browser on a Windows PC, Mac, or even Google's own Chromebook Pixel. (Support for the other Chromebook models is said to be coming soon.) By using the Chromecast extension, you can mirror any tab on Chrome on your TV, including any video, music, or photos that works in your browser.
In my experience, screen mirroring is one of those features that sounds great (free Hulu on my TV!), but it's just clunky enough that you find yourself not using it that often in the real world. The Chromecast's mirroring feature is no different. It "works," but it's not a very satisfying experience.

Free Hulu works, but not well.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The good news is that mirroring works with essentially any streaming video, albeit with a few seconds of lag. I tested free Hulu content, HBO Go, NBC, CBS, and Fox, all of which worked. The bad news is that limitations are obvious right away. Image quality ranges from mediocre to poor, mostly because Chrome is converting the video on the fly from your PC and sending it to the Chromecast. You're also going to run into occasional (and sometimes frequent) dropouts -- sometimes just audio, but sometimes the video pauses, too. And the feature itself isn't entirely stable, so expect the extension to crash sometimes with Google throwing a quirky "brain freeze" message up on your TV.
It's even harder to get excited about this functionality once you've become accustomed to the excellent dedicated apps available on other streaming devices. You can can watch HBO Go via a $50 Roku with flawless playback, solid image quality, and no need for a laptop.
Mirroring is much better suited for non-video content, like photos or a presentation, but keep in mind that it only broadcasts what's inside of a Chrome tab. That makes it less flexible than Apple's AirPlay mirroring, which can display your entire desktop.

What it doesn't do
Once you sober up from the initial thrill of getting a streaming stick for $35, you have to contend with the fact that there's an awful lot that the Chromecast doesn't do. There's essentially no support (at least official support) for your personal media -- photos, music, or video files that are residing on your phone, tablet, or laptop. It feels particularly frustrating that you can't even display photos from an Android phone. Or that there's no dedicated support for "casting" photos from Google's own Picasa photo service, for instance
.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The list of "missing" dedicated apps is long: Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Spotify, Rdio, MLB.TV, and Hulu Plus, just to start. And then there's the fact that you probably already have (at least) one device that streams Netflix and YouTube, so it doesn't feel like you're adding much with the Chromecast. Not to mention the fact that many newer smart TVs already allow you to use smartphones as YouTube and Netflix remotes by default.

Can it compete with the Apple TV and Roku?
The Chromecast's limited functionality means the short answer is no. The Apple TV and Roku 3 are unambiguously better devices, with more content, more flexibility, and are just plain better suited to everyday use in your living room. But they also cost over three times as much, so it's not exactly a fair comparison.

(Credit: Sarah Tew)

 

The really troubling device for the Chromecast is the Roku LT ($50). Both are best suited for secondary TVs, but the Roku LT supports so many more services (including Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Spotify, Time Warner Cable, and MLB.TV), has a great user interface, and can also be controlled by both Android and iOS devices. You can view photos and listen to music stored on your phone using the Roku app, plus it even handles personal media files stored on a PC using the Plex app. It's not as compact, but the Roku LT is better in just about every other way and well worth the extra $15. (Roku lacks an official YouTube app, but the free Twonky app for Android and iOS lets you stream YouTube vids from those devices to the Roku -- and since you need one of them to use the Chromecast, too, it's really not that much of a knock.)

Conclusion: Good enough for $35, but best for people deep in the Google ecosystem
But all the comparisons to existing boxes miss part of what makes the Chromecast worth considering. If you prefer to store and purchase your content through Google's ecosystem for the tightest integration with your Android phone, your options for watching that content on your TV have been limited: a few buggy Google TV devices and the notoriously short-lived Nexus Q. The Chromecast finally gives Android users a reasonable way to watch and listen to their Google Music and Google TV and Movies content in the living room, without much of an additional investment.
For everyone else, the appeal totally comes down to price. If you're looking for a new tech toy, the Chromecast isn't bad at $35 and seems like a particularly nice travel companion, but anyone looking for a dedicated living room box will be better served by an Apple TV or Roku box.
With more streaming-service support, the Chromecast could get much more appealing. To that end, we'll update this review if and when those additional services and functionality improvements appear. In the meantime, the future of the device feels like it's in the hands of developers.

Read More

Cute, compact, but functionally challenged

The good: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 features a lightweight and compact design for a 10-inch tablet. Its screen is impressively bright, and a 64GB storage expansion option is always an appreciated extra.

The bad: The "hit-box" for the capacitive menu and back buttons is too large, and errant touches are common. Performance is slow when quickly switching apps and Wi-Fi speeds dramatically decrease the farther away from the router the tablet is. And $400 for a device with pre-2012 components is asking too much.

The bottom line: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is a sleekly designed tablet but, with more powerful and cheaper options available, it feels like more of the same, rather than an upgrade.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 stylishly embraces a more simple aesthetic compared with its predecessor. For a 10-inch tablet, it manages to be a rather compact device; it's lightweight and sleek, with thin bezels and a clean, cohesive design that would make any iPad melt with flattery.
Unfortunately, Samsung continues its trend of lackluster updates to its 10-inch Galaxy Tab line. While I appreciate the Tab 3 10.1's stylish turn, its specs are only a modest upgrade from the Tab 2 10.1, resulting in noticeably lackluster performance. In fact, "change" -- instead of "upgrade" -- is a better way to describe its new components.
Also, the tablet's design is plagued by trigger-happy menu and back buttons. The two buttons can too easily be activated, and I found myself accidentally pressing them a lot, even after I'd become painfully aware of their over-sensitivity. However, its design -- certainly not its functionality -- is what prevents it from being completely forgettable.
Samsung didn't attempt to push the envelope with the Tab 3 10.1 and succeeded in producing a mediocre device. Thanks to its dull hardware upgrades and the resulting underwhelming performance, the tablet proves an inferior product in a sea of much wiser choices.
For the same price, the Google Nexus 10 offers a higher-resolution screen, faster performance, and is much more functional.

Design
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, the largest in the Tab 3 family, boasts a simpler and smaller design than any previous Galaxy Tab 10.1 model. Its trim size is because of its skinnier bezels and revamped metallic border. While the Tab 2 10.1's thick frame housed front-facing speakers, the Tab 3 10.1 relocates them to the left and right edges.

Tested spec	Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1	Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1	Google Nexus 10	Apple iPad (fourth generation)
Weight in pounds	1.12	1.32	1.33	1.44
Width in inches (landscape)	9.6	10.3	10.4	7.3
Height in inches	6.9	7.1	6.9	9.5
Depth in inches	0.31	0.35	0.35	0.37
Side bezel width in inches (landscape)	0.5	0.9	0.9	0.8

The 10.1-inch tablet is relatively thin and light, although it's no Sony Xperia Tablet Z. It's also comfortable to hold in both hands and feels solid, but the tactile sensation of the smooth plastic back gives it an inexpensive feel. Thankfully, it isn't slippery and you can actually get a pretty good grip when holding it.
On the bottom bezel there is a navigation array that consists of two capacitive menu and back buttons with a physical, slightly raised, Home button in between them. This design choice is reminiscent of Samsung's Note line but, thanks functionality issues, it doesn't translate well onto the 10-inch Tab 3. Although a physical Home button is a useful addition that offers quick access to the home screen and a view of all open apps, the menu and back buttons are unwelcome intrusions to the basic usability of the tablet.

The Tab 3 10.1 weighs a little over 1 pound.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

In order to trigger the menu and back buttons, you don't need to directly touch the icons, but merely place a finger in their immediate area. The active space, or hit-box, on the bottom bezel that initiates the menu and back functions spans for a little over 3.5 inches.
There shouldn't be a learning curve to holding a tablet, but the Tab 3 10.1 has one. The navigation array's hit-box is hard to avoid while using the device in its designated landscape orientation because it's the same space your hand casually occupies when holding it.

The capacitive buttons' functions can be triggered from over an inch away from the icon.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

My left thumb unintentionally grazed the back button consistently -- it's really more like a back-space -- and exited me out of whatever I was doing; I became accustomed to continually checking my fingers to make sure they were in an area that wouldn't touch its hit-box, instead of, you know, actually enjoying my time with the tablet. The last time I touched something this sensitive, I was comforting my best friend after a bad breakup.
The back and menu buttons on other Android devices are usually placed in the onscreen navigation bar, and, although the extra space freed up on the Tab 3 10.1's screen is nice, I would gladly sacrifice it for a less frustrating experience. In addition, there is very little control over the capacitive buttons; you can only change the amount of time they stay lit. Despite this option, the buttons remained bright while streaming Netflix and while using a few other apps.

The back looks like a typical Samsung Galaxy device.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

The tablet's top edge is home to the power/sleep button, volume rocker, microSD expansion slot, and IR blaster. Sitting not too far away is the headphone jack on the top-left corner, which is right above the speaker on the left edge. A Micro-USB port and microphone pinhole are located on the bottom edge, and the right edge houses its speaker at its top. There's an ambient light sensor and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera in the center of the top bezel and a 3.2-megapixel rear camera in the top-center of the tablet's back.

Software features
The Tab 3 10.1 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung's TouchWiz UI skin. Features include Smart Stay, which puts your tablet to sleep when you're not looking at it, and a useful notification panel that's somewhat customizable.
The Smart Stay function worked fine but not as well as advertised. It often had trouble detecting my eyes, even though I was looking directly at the screen and, because of its inconsistencies, the feature proved to be as useful as a normal screen sleep setting. The amount of time it took to detect that I had taken my eyes off of the screen was around the same amount of time it took for my selected screen timeout function to kick in. The Tab 3 10.1 doesn't feature the Smart Pause or Smart Scroll options that other Galaxy devices have, so the setting is more like Smart Stay lite.

The shortcut tray offers easy access to commonly used settings.

The shortcut tray that is easily accessible by swiping down from the top of the screen allows you to turn features like Wi-Fi, GPS, Smart Stay, and screen rotation on and off, as well as adjust the brightness level. You can customize which order these settings are in, but you cannot add any new ones to it. Below these settings are notifications and a small black bar that lets you know which Wi-Fi network you're connected to.

You can only customize the order of the shortcuts in the tray, not the actual settings you have access to. 

The Tab 3 10.1's built-in IR blaster allows it to be used as a universal remote, and it offers a few apps to help you do just that. I couldn't get Peel's Smart Remote to work with my cable box instead of my television, so instead I favored Samsung's universal remote/video hub app Watch On. I was able to easily browse TV listings, set reminders, change channels, and turn my television and cable box on and off.

Insert Jeopardy music here.

The setup took some time because of connectivity issues, but otherwise the feature worked smoothly, however, slowly. The app is responsive but suffers from some serious lag issues; it took some time to launch, and navigating from one screen to another always took a couple seconds.
The integrated streaming-video content through the app is convenient for on-demand viewing but its search option isn't very thorough. Search results are often limited to Samsung's own Media Hub service, Hulu Plus, and Blockbuster Video, even though Netflix and Google Play offer the same content.

Other Samsung features are nice additions but didn't function well. The S Voice app often didn't recognize my voice commands, and I found it to be more maddening than helpful. The feature is activated by double-pressing the Home button but can be easily deactivate through the settings.

Say what?

Group Play, a feature that lets you share and edit files in real time with other Samsung users on the same Wi-Fi network, worked mostly as intended, but didn't always notify me when I'd successfully shared a file. The Tab 3 10.1 doesn't have the multiwindow feature that the 8-inch Tab 3 does, but it's probably for the best considering that it already weakly supports its single-window performance.

Hardware features
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 houses a 1.6GHz dual core Atom Z2560 CPU, 1GB RAM, and 16GB or 32GB of internal memory. I tested the 16GB model and it had about 11GB of free space out of the box. Its microSD expansion slot can support up to 64GB.

The IR blaster and microSD card slot are nice additions to the otherwise simple tablet.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

Performance
Performance-wise, the tablet was responsive when doing simple activities like checking e-mail or reading an e-book, but, when it came to multitasking and switching quickly between apps, it was slow and frequently lagged. Performance speed noticeably took a dive if a few apps were open at once or while downloading files.

Tested spec	Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1	Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1	Google Nexus 10	Apple iPad (fourth generation)
Maximum brightness	421 cd/m2	411 cd/m2	368 cd/m2	455 cd/m2
Maximum black level	0.44 cd/m2	0.47 cd/m2	0.44 cd/m2	0.49 cd/m2
Maximum contrast ratio	956	795	836	939

Despite impressive benchmark results, real-life gaming performance left much to be desired. Riptide GP ran smoothly and the graphics looked rather sharp, however, the Tab 3 10.1 performed painfully slowly when running Nova 3. Loading each level took anywhere from 2 to 4 minutes, and the game occasionally suffered from choppy frame rates and lagging. The long load times would effectively put the kibosh on any kind of groove or rhythm you might have established from the previous level, rendering the tablet unfit for serious gamers.

Device	CPU	GPU	RAM	OS tested
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1	1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560	PowerVR SGX544MP (dual-core)	1GB	Android 4.2.2
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1	1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 4 Quad (4412)	Mali T400MP4 (quad-core)	2GB	Android 4.1.2
Google Nexus 10	1.7GHz Dual-core Samsung Exynos 5 Dual (5250)	Mali-T604 (quad-core)	2GB	Android 4.2.2
Apple iPad (fourth generation)	1.4GHz dual-core Apple A6X	PowerVR SGX554MP4 (quad-core)	1GB	iOS 6.1.3

Although the tablet never crashed or froze on me, it was occasionally buggy. It asked me to update apps that had no updates available, dropped Wi-Fi connections randomly, and frequently displayed old notifications.
The tablet's Wi-Fi speeds were directly, and sometimes dramatically, affected by how close it was to the router. The time it took to download Deer Hunter Reloaded continually increased the farther away the Tab 3 10.1 got from the router. In comparison, the Nexus 10 showed some slowing down as well, but still outperformed the Tab 3 10.1 by a long shot.

Download time (in minutes)	Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1	Google Nexus 10
1-foot distance	2:38	2:08
10-foot distance	5:09	3:28
20-foot distance	10:34	3:27

The headphone jack sits a little awkwardly on the top-left corner.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

The speakers produce decent and balanced audio quality. At full volume they're pretty loud for a tablet and the move to outward-facing speakers, instead of front-facing ones, didn't negatively affect my listening experience.
Neither of the tablet's cameras have manual focus or flash. The rear 3.2-megapixel camera took clear photos, although they weren't the sharpest, and it did a good job at replicating life-like colors. The front camera is a little soft but otherwise takes well-exposed photos.

The 3.2-megapixel rear camera is decent but probably not worth taking it out of your bag to snap a shot.

The tablet's 10.1-inch TFT LCD screen gets the job done but is rather unimpressive. It wins points with its high maximum brightness and deep black levels, but its resolution is average, if not subpar by today's standard, at 1,280x800 pixels. It was visibly less sharp than the Nexus 10 when it came to images, video, and text, but it replicated color saturation more vibrantly. The screen was very responsive to touch but often suffered from the tablet's tendency to lag when trying to do too much at one time.

The family of Tab
The 10-inch Tab 3 is one of three Tab 3s now in the market. There's also an 8-incher and a 7-incher. We got the 8-inch version at the same time as the 10-incher, but have yet to receive the 7-inch Tab 3.

The screen is a bright feature. Literally.

(Credit: Josh Miller)

 

After handling the Tab 3 10.1 like a temperamental toddler, using the 8-incher was a refreshing change. It matches its sleek and light design with good performance and useful features, deeming it the best pick out of the two. Although the Tab 3 10.1 includes many of the same features, it's missing the multiscreen option, has a much lower screen ppi, and suffers from too many functionality issues for a $400 device. Since the 7-inch Tab 3 has yet to arrive, judging by its disappointing specs, we're keeping our expectations low.

Conclusion

My experience with the Tab 3 10.1 was more frustrating than functional. Even while cutting it some slack for being a midrange tablet that's impressively small and light for a 10-inch device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 fails to make a good case for taking it home.
The tablet's specs resemble the Tab 2 10.1's too closely to be considered an actual upgrade. The Tab 3 10.1's tendency to lag coupled with its flawed navigation array functionality don't justify the starting price of $399. For the same amount of money, you can get the Google Nexus 10, which offers faster performance, a better screen, and no frustratingly sensitive capacitive buttons.

Read More

iPhone 6: 10 must-have new features

Biometric security

It's hardly a must-have upgrade, but it would be cool to swipe with your finger -- instead of entering a password -- to unlock your phone. It could also be combined with NFC (near-field communication technology -- see next slide) for making mobile payments.

Image note: Allegedly, Apple has filed some patents related to this feature.

Chances of implementation: 15 percent

Integrated activity tracker

With activity trackers being so hot these days, maybe it's about time Apple built one into the iPhone. I'll leave that one to Apple's vaunted engineers to figure out, but it seems so unecessary to clip an extra accessory to your belt or wear one around your wrist when you have mini computer in your pocket with gyroscopes, accelerometers, various sensors, and whatnot.

Chances of implementation: 10 percent

NFC-enabled (near-field communication technology)

Leading up to the release of what turned out to be the iPhone 4S, rumor had it that Apple may have been working on integrating NFC (near-field communication) technology into the next iPhone (it's available in some Android phones, such as Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4). This is sort of a bar code replacement technology that enables your iPhone to act as a payment device (e-wallet) or even a car key.

With the unveiling of iO7, which doesn't appear to have support for NFC, it looks like this feature will once again be left out of the next iPhone. Apple has a tendency to hold back on technology that it doesn't think is fully mature and ready for prime time, and it obviously feels that way about NFC. It also seems to think that its Passbook feature, which lets users store and quickly access electronic versions of all their tickets, boarding passes, and merchant cards in one place, is all users need at this time without tying into merchant payment systems.

In a 2012 interview, Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller said that it isn't clear that NFC is a solution to any current problem. "Passbook does the kinds of things customers need today," he said.

That doesn't mean that Apple won't go ahead later on and use it as a selling point for a future iPhone.

Chances of implementation: 5 percent

More storage

As far back as June 2010 there was chatter about Toshiba's new 128GB Nand Flash memory modules. But currently the iPhone maxes out at 64GB and famously has no expandable memory option. Most people think 64GB is enough. Still, after the iPad went to 128GB, some folks are itching for a 128GB iPhone, even if it would carry a price tag of over $500 (and maybe $600) with a contract.

Chances of implementation: 20 percent

Better Siri

Apple has so far overpromised and underdelivered with Siri, the built-in voice-control feature, which has been surpassed by Google Now. It improved a little with the iPhone 5 and as part of iOS 7, it will get new features, including the option to choose between a female and male voice. Will it get even better with a performance bump? Sure. But it still might take a couple more generations to turn it into a true personal digital assistant.

Chances of implementation: 90 percent

Built-in inductive charging 

Right now, if you want to charge your phone's battery using inductive "wireless" charging, you have to buy a separate charging sleeve (case) and charging mat for your device.

Companies like Powermat and Energizer make inductive charging products for a variety of smartphones. However, if you could do away with the sleeve and have the inductive-charging chip built into the phone, you'd only have to buy a mat (and you could use whatever case you wanted to use).

Qi (pronounced "chee"), a new standard for inductive charging as established by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), is pushing to get manufacturers to integrate Qi chips into their devices, and we've been waiting for Qi-enabled smartphones to hit the market (a few, including the Nokia Lumia 920, offer wireless charging). No such luck with the iPhone 5, but at some point in the future we think the iPhone will get some sort of inductive-charging chip integrated into it.

Chances of implementation: 10 percent

Widgets/customizable home screen

One of the often-cited advantages of Android is the ability to add widgets and customize your phone so that you can get to most-used apps, settings, and other useful information more quickly. iOS certainly has some customization and organization options, but they just aren't robust enough.

With iOS7, we'll get a new Control Panel that offers quick access to most-used settings such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Airplane mode (a feature long available on Android models). It's a welcome addition but doesn't necessarily offer the higher degree of customization that some users are looking for.

Chances of implementation: 5 percent

Faster processor, improved 3D graphics

Hey, it's an obvious one, but we've gotta say it.

Apple has consistently improved the iPhone's graphics capabilities with each new iteration of it, and not surprisingly, we've come to expect a performance boost (and would be disappointed if we didn't get one). Apple says the dual-core A6 chip has a 2x performance boost over the A5 chip found in the iPhone 4S. It's also smaller and allegedly more energy efficient.

Chances of implementation: 90 percent

Even bigger screen

Yes, the iPhone 5 is taller than the iPhone 4/4S and slimmer (18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter), but it basically looks like an elongated iPhone 4. All that talk in 2011 about a teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 turns out to be a fantasy (at least for now). And yes, the screen's larger (4 inches diagonally), but a lot of people wanted Apple to go wider and taller -- not just taller.

Rumors continue to percolate that Apple will do a larger iPhone -- but it probably won't happen in 2013. The most talked-about scenario is Apple trotting out an iPhone 5S in October along with with a lower-cost "budget" iPhone. The iPhone 5S will look identical to the iPhone 5 but will be improved on the inside.

Chances of implementation: 10 percent

Better battery life

We know. We're asking a lot for a phone with a faster processor and graphics chip to also improve on battery life, but the fact is, some people were hoping Apple could really make a statement with much better battery life than that of its Android competitors. True, the rated battery life of the iPhone 5 appears to be slightly better than that of iPhone 4S -- and just keeping pace with last year's battery life while adding 4G speeds would be an achievement -- but we'd like to see a much more significant leap in the next model. Plenty of people would trade a slightly thicker phone for better battery life.

With the updated MacBook Airs showing such big jumps in their battery-life ratings, there's increased hope that Apple is making battery life a priority in the next iPhone.

Chances of implementation: 50 percent

Read More

Great tech-spectations: What's next in tech for 2013

A boring summer for tech is about to get a lot more exciting. Here's what to expect. 

The dog days of summer are here, and with them, a certain ennui seems to have washed over the tech world. But as July becomes August, things will begin to kick into high gear.
The big dogs of the tech industry -- Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and a host of others -- know that the all-important fourth quarter is when shoppers get serious. Last fall's go-to products -- Kindle Fire and Nexus tablets, iPads, iPhones -- are getting long in tooth, and ready for a refresh. Not coincidentally, a lot of the back-to-school sales are 2012 models, sold at blowout prices to clear shelf space for the all-important Christmas season.

The parade of new products starts this week, with launch events from Google and Verizon. Here's what we have to look forward to -- starting now, and continuing into September.

Verizon

2012's Droid Razr Maxx HD boasted unparalleled battery life

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

We don't think of Verizon as a tech powerhouse on the scale of Google or Apple, but Big Red is the No. 1 wireless provider in the U.S., so any new Verizon-friendly devices are a big deal.
What to expect: Last September, Motorola announced a trio of Verizon-exclusive Droid Razr phones -- the Droid Razr HD, the Droid Razr Maxx HD, and the Droid Razr M. Don't be surprised if we see their successors unveiled this week. (Verizon may finally officially announce the launch date of the HTC One on its network, having already confirmed that it's on its way.)

Google

Sundar Pichai is not a gadget -- but he may unveil one or more on Wednesday

(Credit: Seth Rosenblatt) 

May's Google I/O developer event came and went without any big hardware reveals. But we expect Google's just-announced July 24 event -- billed as a breakfast with Android and Chrome head honcho Sundar Pichai -- to be considerably more eventful.
What to expect: The next Nexus 7 tablet is all but confirmed, along with Android 4.3. A Chrome OS upgrade (or new Chromebook) is possible, too. We may even see a successor to the ill-fated Nexus Q, or possibly a watch or video game console.

Motorola Mobility

This appears to be the first official glamor shot of the Moto X intended for the press.

(Credit: theunlockr.com) 

The Moto X may be the worst-kept secret in tech right now, but the few remaining questions about the first Motorola smartphone produced under Google's stewardship of the company it purchased in 2011 will be wiped away on August 1. That's when the phone gets its grand unveiling in New York City.
What to expect: We already know quite a bit about the X, but we'll finally get the full list of details -- including price, availability, and supported carriers -- once the phone becomes official.
Mark your calendar: August 1 (confirmed)

Amazon

Jeff Bezos introducing the Kindle Fire HD in 2012

(Credit: James Martin) 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled the current line of Amazon Kindle Fire tablets (and Kindle e-ink readers) on September 6, 2012. While a 2013 event has yet to be announced, it's a safe bet that the e-commerce giant isn't going into the fall buying season without a full refresh of the line.
What to expect: Amazon's hardware strategy is less about groundbreaking tech and more about delivering amazing value. So while the new Fire tablets and Kindle readers will no doubt offer worthwhile tech upgrades over last year's models, we expect the real news here to be the price: don't be shocked to see a 32GB Fire HD clock in at $199, for instance. Among the wildcards we could see: an Amazon video streaming box (a la Roku or Apple TV) and maybe -- maybe -- the long rumored smartphone.
Mark your calendar: late August or early September (likely)

Microsoft

The original Surface -- poised for improvement.

(Credit: Sarah Tew) 

Microsoft has had a rough time of it lately, with a company wide reorganization, a $900 million writedown on the Surface RT and a very public 180 on the DRM policies of its upcoming Xbox One console. But if you step back, there may be some reasons for optimism.
What to expect: Microsoft already has two keystone products on deck for a fall refresh: the Xbox One is coming in November for $499, and Windows 8.1 is likely to hit in September or October.
Could Microsoft prime the Windows 8.1 pump with a Surface 2? The company has certainly learned some painful lessons with the original model, but a few well-placed tweaks -- and a Haswell upgrade -- could make the product a serious tablet/PC competitor, if not an outright success.
Meanwhile, while Windows Phone remains a fringe player, marketshare has been ticking upward. With solid devices (Lumia 925, Lumia 1020) from Nokia and others, Microsoft's mobile OS seems to be in a better place than, say, BlackBerry. But whether Microsoft is going to release its own phone or perhaps a watch (another watch, that is) remains strictly rumor mill fodder for now.
Mark your calendar: Xbox One releases November (confirmed); Windows 8.1 hits in late Q3 or early Q4; if we get a Surface 2, expect a September or October announcement

Apple

A mockup showing what an Apple iWatch might look like.

(Credit: Sarah Tew and Christopher MacManus) 

Apple's last big product announcement was the iPad Mini back in October of 2012. So far in 2013, it's been very quiet, with only a cameraless iPod Touch, a T-Mobile iPhone, and MacBook Air upgrades hitting stores.
What to expect: Apple has already shown iOS 7 and Mac OS X Mavericks, and the company already previewed a long overdue update to the Mac Pro -- all of them will hit in the third quarter, along with Apple's free iTunes Radio streaming audio service.
The big questions revolve around the iPhone and iPad. The safe bets are a "budget" iPhone (don't be surprised if it's sold only in developing markets like China), an iPhone 5S, and a thinner, lighter iPad 5. In addition to the annual iPod refresh, expect additional Mac upgrades -- the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, iMac, and Mac Mini are still due the upgrades to Intel's Haswell CPU that have already been incorporated into the Air.
Beyond that, the Magic 8 Ball says "Reply hazy -- try again." While a refreshed iPad Mini is likely, it's unclear if Apple can squeeze a high-res Retina screen into the Mini's 7.9-inch display in time for the holidays. There are also rumors of a larger-screen iPhone. And the Apple TV box should see some additional apps -- Time Warner Cable and the CW Network -- but whether they'll hit before year's end is anyone's guess.
What about actual new products, rather than upgrades of existing models? Collective wisdom puts the rumored iWatch and Apple HDTV into 2014 (at the earliest, if at all). That said, CEO Tim Cook quipped in April: "I don't want to be more specific, but I'm just saying that we've got some really great stuff coming in the fall and across 2014." Investors and consumers alike are no doubt hoping he and Team Apple will deliver as they transition into the post-Steve Jobs era.
Mark your calendar: mid-September to mid-October (likely); could be one or two events

Best of the rest

(Credit: Josh Miller) 

 

Beyond the confirmed and likely events listed above, look for the Sony PlayStation 4 this holiday season. And Intel's secretive streaming TV box, allegedly dubbed OnCue, may see the light of day later this year -- if and when Intel can get a quorum of TV networks to sign on the dotted line. In the meantime, upstarts like Fan TV will be nipping at their heels.
Of course, that's only the stuff we know about, and can reasonably infer. A corporate merger or two could always shake things up. And the tech world is only a Kickstarter away from something truly disruptive.
Stay tuned.

Read More

Facebook confirms men don't care about royal baby

The social network analyzes the newborn's first million Facebook mentions and finds out what people expected all along. 

 

(Credit: Zazzle.com) 

 

Facebook on Monday confirmed what many casually may have thought: The arrival of the royal baby is more exciting to women than men.
The unnamed baby boy of Prince William and Duchess Kate garnered more than 1 million global mentions on Facebook during the hour after his birth, according to the company. The top demographic posting about him were women ages 18 to 44. Only men ages 18 to 24 posted about the famous infant, and that demographic happened to post about the new babe more than women ages 45 to 54.
Facebook also mapped out the top countries talking about the new royal. The UK, not surprisingly, took the top spot. The United States, Canada, Italy, and France followed suit. Here's the map, showing which countries had users who made the most posts and comments about the royal baby. (The darker the shade, the more posts and comments.)

Tracking royal baby news reaction during the first hour. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Facebook)

Read More