November 3, 2014 | Prepys' Homepage

Inside Look: LIVA Mini PC Kit

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 Abe Olandres Leave a comment

The folks from ECS Taiwan sent us the latest model of their LIVA Mini PC Kit. The kit still needs to be assembled, just like a regular desktop PC but it only took us a few minutes to set up the whole system.

liva-parts

ECS claims the LIVA is the world’s smallest PC and, as such, most of the parts and peripherals are miniaturized to fit in such a small box.

The motherboard is the basis for the size of the whole rig and it is only as wide as a 5-inch smartphone.

liva-heatsink

The Atom processor is already soldered into the board and covered by a larger aluminum heat sink (in orange) for better heat management. The 2GB RAM module is also soldered to the board as well to save space.

live-board

The back side of the motherboard is the socket for the eMMC slot for internal storage. This allows for option to upgrade the storage from the default 32GB to 128GB.

liva-back

Shown below is the eMMC chip, before it is attached into the board. It’s a little bigger than a regular microSD card. This is user-replaceable so if you want to upgrade the capacity in the future, just open the box and unscrewed the chip from the board.

live-storage

The rear side of the board is where all of the ports are placed, protruding a bit so they fit into the box later once it is assembled. There’s a VGA port and an HDMI port for display out into a monitor or TV.

The two USB ports are stacked on top of each other with one having USB 3.0 support.

live-ports

There’s a LAN port as well if you don’t want to use the built-in WiFi radio. The micro-USB port is for the power adaptor. This means you can also power up the LIVA using a regular powerbank.

ecs-liva

The hardware configuration is almost the same as that of a Windows 8 tablet.

LIVA Mini PC Kit:
Intel Bay Trail-M 1.6GHz dual-core processor
Intel HD Graphics
2GB DDR3 RAM
32GB or 64GB eMMC
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
USB 2.0 port
USB 3.0 port
VGA port
HDMI Port
GigaBit LAN
microUSB port (for power)
Windows 8.1 64bit

liva-pc

Our only problem with the set up si that the two available USB ports are already taken by the mouse and keyboard so there’s nothing left to plug into the USB port. We were able to manage this by using a 4-port USB hub and use a Bluetooth mouse instead.

liva

We saw a lot of LIVA PCs in Computex last June for an ECS competition to dress up their PCs. You can check them out here.

The LIVA Mini PC retails for about NTD$5,500 in Taiwan.

The post Inside Look: LIVA Mini PC Kit appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

LG reveals 5.3-inch display with world’s thinnest bezels

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

LG over the weekend officially announced its development of a 5.3-inch Full HD LCD panel that rocks the world’s thinnest bezels. Dropping at only 0.7mm thick, its bezels are even thinner than a credit card’s!

The trend for large display sizes, according to the South Korean giant, is growing. To address this they’re introducing new technologies to stretch the displays larger without making the entire form factor increase in size, sacrificing grip and design.

The company uses a tandem of two new technologies namely the “Neo Edge” and “AIT” technology. The Neo Edge module processing technology basically uses an adhesive instead of a double-sided tape to seal the edges of the panel. This not only makes it possible to utilize minimal bezel width, but it also blocks light leakage and is both waterproof and dust-proof.

The Advanced In-cell Touch (AIT) technology, on the other hand, merges the touch panel into the LCD module. This eliminates the need for extra bezel space, while keeping costs low since they no longer need to spend for a separate process for touch functions.

Mass production will begin this month with China seeing the first batch and global introduction following after.

With razor-thin bezels like these, the whole display is just screaming and popping out from your hands as seen in the photos. Would you pay for a phone with this kind of display? Why or why not? Share those thoughts below.

{LG News Room}

The post LG reveals 5.3-inch display with world’s thinnest bezels appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

LG reveals 5.3-inch display with world’s thinnest bezels

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 Kevin Bruce Francisco Leave a comment

Mass production will begin this month with China seeing the first batch and global introduction following after.

{LG News Room}

The post LG reveals 5.3-inch display with world’s thinnest bezels appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Always be responsible: challenge to media of increased public trust

November 3, 2014November 3, 2014 Ellen Leave a comment

The PDAF and DAP scandals have a lot to do with the increase in the trust of the people on media, the decline of the same for the government and continued distrust for non-government organizations.

The 2014 Philippine Trust Index conducted by EON showed that media is third most trusted institution with 33 percent, up from 32 per cent last year. First is the Church, which includes not only Catholic Church but also other denominations, with 75 percent, up from last year’s 68 percent.

Academe comes second with 53 percent, up from last year’s 45 percent.

The least trusted institution is the government with 11 percent, down from 15 per cent last year, followed by NGO with 12 percent, the same as last year’s.

EON conducted the survey from June through August this year when the media’s headlines were on anomalous operations of pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles in connivance with senators and other elected officials.

The pork barrel expose was not triggered by a government investigation. In fact, government only took up the issue because of public outrage generated by the media expose.

The Napoles PDAF scandal gave a bad name to NGO which is unfortunate because there are NGOs that provide efficient service in areas where government service is inadequate.

The increase trust in media is a confidence booster much so because a few years ago a survey revealed that the public’s trust on media was on the same level as they give members of Congress.

These days media is regarded by many as court of last resort, someone they run to when they become frustrated with government officials. This is unfortunate and unfair because media’s role is to give information. It is not in a position to substitute government service.

The 2014 PTI showed that TV is the most common source of information for over 99 percent of the 1,626 respondents nationwide, followed by radio (60 percent). The internet-based media which includes social media and blogs have overtaken print media as source of information (over 40 percent).

The rise of online media as source of information for the public is both good and a matter of concern. Good because of the accessibility of information. Being informed is being empowered.

But empowerment comes only with being correctly informed.

How accurate are information sourced from social media, where speed, instead of accuracy, is the primary element? Where there is no standard discipline for verification of information?

The challenge of the increased public trust on media is to be more responsible. It is important for media to realize the importance of deserving that trust the public bestows on them.

As Junie del Mundo, EON chairman and CEO, said “The 3rd Philippine Trust Index clearly shows that trust-building is a never-ending process and commitment that all institutions should take seriously. “

The 2014 Philippine Trust Index from EON The Stakeholder Relations Firm