System76's CEO Carl Richell announced that HP has chosen the Ubuntu-based Pop!_OS operating system to run on its 14-inch developer-focused notebook called "Dev One." Brian Fagioli from BetaNews speculates that a HP acquisition of System76 "could be a possibility in the future -- if this new relationship pans out at least." He continues: HP could be testing the waters with the upcoming Dev One. Keep in mind, System76 does not even build its own laptops, so we could see the company leave the notebook business and focus on desktops only -- let HP handle the Pop!_OS laptops. "We've got you covered. Experience exceptional multi-core performance from the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO processor and multitask with ease. Compile code, run a build, and keep all your apps running with more speed from the 16GB memory. Plus, load and save files in a flash, thanks to 1TB fast PCIe NVMe M.2 storage. We've even added a Linux Super key so shortcuts are a click away. Simply put, HP Dev One is built to help you code better," explains HP.

The company adds, "Pop!_OS is at your service. Create your ideal work experience with multiple tools to help you perform with peak efficiency. Use Stacking to organize and access multiple applications, browsers, and terminal windows. Move, resize, and arrange windows with ease or, let Pop!_OS keep you organized and efficient with Auto-tiling. And use Workspaces to reduce clutter by organizing windows across multiple desktops." Apparently, there will only be one configuration priced at $1,099. So far, no details about a release date have been announced other than "coming soon."

Intel announced seven new mobile processors for the 12th Gen Intel Core mobile family at its Intel Vision event today. From a report: The 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors use desktop-caliber silicon in a mobile package to deliver high levels of performance for professional workflows like CAD, animation and visual effects. The HX processors are unlocked out of the box and available in Core i5, Core i7 and Core i9 models. The 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors enable mobile workstation platforms by providing 65% more performance in multithreaded workloads with more cores, more memory and more I/O while utilizing Intel Thread Director technology to leverage high-power Performance-cores and Efficient-cores so pros can create, program, render and work with maximum efficiency in the office, at home or on the go. In addition to being a commercial workhorse, 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors provide a gaming powerhouse platform that will give enthusiast gamers higher frame rates. The processors have up to 16 cores (8 Performance-cores and 8 Efficient-cores) and 24 threads running at a processor base power of 55 watts. More than 10 workstation and gaming designs powered by 12th Gen Intel Core HX processors are expected to be launched by major computer makers this year, including systems from Dell, HP, Lenovo and others.

China has ordered central government agencies and state-backed corporations to replace foreign-branded personal computers with domestic alternatives within two years, marking one of Beijing's most aggressive efforts so far to eradicate key overseas technology from within its most sensitive organs. From a report: Staff were asked after the week-long May break to turn in foreign PCs for home-made alternatives that run on operating software developed domestically, people familiar with the plan said. The exercise, which was mandated by central government authorities, is likely to eventually replace at least 50 million PCs on a central-government level alone, they said, asking to remain anonymous discussing a sensitive matter. The decision advances China's decade-long campaign to replace imported technology with local alternatives, a sweeping effort to reduce its dependence on geopolitical rivals such as the U.S. for everything from semiconductors to servers and phones. It's likely to directly affect sales by HP and Dell, the country's biggest PC brands after local champion Lenovo Group.

AMD announced the Ryzen 5000 C-series for Chromebooks today. "The top chip in the series has eight of AMD's Zen 3 cores, giving systems that use it more x86 CPU cores than any other Chromebook," reports Ars Technica. From the report: The 7nm Ryzen 5000 C-series ranges from the Ryzen 3 5125C with two Zen 3 cores and a base and boost clock speed of 3 GHz, up to the Ryzen 7 5825C with eight cores and a base clock speed of 2 GHz that can boost to 4.5 GHz. For comparison, Intel's Core i7-1185G7, found in some higher end Chromebooks, has four cores and a base clock speed of 3 GHz that can boost to 4.8 GHz.

On their own, the chips aren't that exciting. They seemingly offer similar performance to the already-released Ryzen 5000 U-series chips. The Ryzen 5000 C-series also uses years-old Vega integrated graphics rather than the upgraded RDNA 2 found in Ryzen 6000 mobile chips, which, upon release, AMD said are "up to 2.1 times faster." But for someone who's constantly pushing their Chromebook to do more than just open a Chrome tab or two, the chips bring potentially elevated performance than what's currently available.

"Everyone's favorite security focused operating system, OpenBSD 7.1 has been released for a number of architectures," writes long-time Slashdot reader ArchieBunker, "including Apple M1 chips."

Phoronix calls it "the newest version of this popular, security-minded BSD operating system." With OpenBSD 7.1, the Apple Silicon support is now considered "ready for general use" with keypad/touchpad support for M1 laptops, a power management controller driver added, I2C and SPI controller drivers, and a variety of other driver additions for supporting the Apple Silicon hardware.

OpenBSD 7.1 also has a number of other improvements benefiting the 64-bit ARM (ARM64) and RISC-V architectures. OpenBSD 7.1 also brings SMP kernel improvements, support for futexes with shared anonymous memory, and more. On the graphics front there is updating the Linux DRM code against the state found in Linux 5.15.26 as well as now enabling Intel Elkhart Lake / Jasper Lake / Rocket Lake support.
The Register notes OpenBSD now "supports a surprisingly wide range of hardware: x86-32, x86-64, ARM7, Arm64, DEC Alpha, HP PA-RISC, Hitachi SH4, Motorola 88000, MIPS64, SPARC64, RISC-V 64, and both Apple PowerPC and IBM POWER." The Register's FOSS desk ran up a copy in VirtualBox, and we were honestly surprised how quick and easy it was. By saying "yes" to everything, it automatically partitioned the VM's disk into a rather complex array of nine slices, installed the OS, a boot loader, an X server and display manager, plus the FVWM window manager. After a reboot, we got a graphical login screen and then a rather late-1980s Motif-style desktop with an xterm.

It was easy to install XFCE, which let us set the screen resolution and other modern niceties, and there are also KDE, GNOME, and other pretty front-ends, plus plenty of familiar tools such as Mozilla apps, LibreOffice and so on....

We were expecting to have to do a lot more work. Yes, OpenBSD is a niche OS, but the project gave the world OpenSSH, LibreSSL, the PF firewall as used in macOS, much of Android's Bionic C library, and more besides.... In a world of multi-gigabyte OSes, it's quite refreshing. It felt like stepping back into the early 1990s, the era of Real Unix, when you had to put in some real effort and learn stuff in order to bend the OS to your will — but in return, you got something relatively bulletproof.

While smartphones are having fun with the trend, PCs with foldable screens have yet to become mainstream, partially because there's only one option readily available. But with HP expected to enter the scene, it's possible 'foldable OLED' could become more common laptop lingo. From a report: Lenovo made the bold first step into foldable laptops with its 13.3-inch ThinkPad X1 Fold. According to South Korean electronics website TheElec, HP's take on foldable OLED will be bigger, with a 17-inch panel from LG Display that measures 11 inches when folded up. HP hasn't publicly announced or commented on the rumored PC, but a couple of details make the machine seem at least somewhat plausible. For one, LG Display confirmed work on a 17-inch foldable OLED laptop design in January. Most recently, TheElec on Monday reported that South Korean company SK IE Technology will make transparent polyimide films to cover the bendy 4K OLED panels. The publication also claimed that LG Display currently has plans to make up to "around 10,000" foldable OLED panels for HP, starting in Q3.

HP has purchased Poly, the company formerly known as Plantronics, for $3.3 billion. "HP Inc sees the future of its business as one supporting a workforce partially based at home and partially in the office, and appears to have bought office telecom giant Poly for that reason," reports The Register. From the report: Formerly known as Plantronics, Poly changed its name shortly after it acquired Polycom in 2018. HP didn't mention in its acquisition announcement whether or not it would keep the Poly brand separate, but it's still early: the deal is not expected to close until the end of the 2022 calendar year. HP described the $3.3 billion purchase ($40 per share) as a bid to refocus its portfolio on growth and take advantage of what it said is a massive growth opportunity due to the likely permanence of hybrid work.

Plantronics and Polycom have long had a considerable presence in the enterprise space, with Polycom's and Plantronics video conferencing hardware and headsets likely familiar to people in the world of work. Plantronics itself has a history reaching back to early airline headsets and the Apollo 11 mission: It's a Plantronics headset that relayed Neil Armstrong's "one small step" back to Earth. The value of peripherals like headsets hasn't declined in the years since, with HP saying the peripheral market is growing 9 percent annually and is worth $110 billion. Workforce solutions, like conference room telecom equipment, represents a $120 billion market segment that HP said is growing 8 percent yearly.

Tom's Guide tested a Mac Studio workstation equipped with an M1 Ultra with the Geekbench 5.4 CPU benchmarks "to get a sense of how effectively it handles single-core and multi-core workflows."

"Since our M1 Ultra is the best you can buy (at a rough price of $6,199) it sports a 20-core CPU and a 64-core GPU, as well as 128GB of unified memory (RAM) and a 2TB SSD."

Slashdot reader exomondo shares their results: We ran the M1 Ultra through the Geekbench 5.4 CPU benchmarking test multiple times and after averaging the results, we found that the M1 Ultra does indeed outperform top-of-the-line Windows gaming PCs when it comes to multi-core CPU performance. Specifically, the M1 Ultra outperformed a recent Alienware Aurora R13 desktop we tested (w/ Intel Core i7-12700KF, GeForce RTX 3080, 32GB RAM), an Origin Millennium (2022) we just reviewed (Core i9-12900K CPU, RTX 3080 Ti GPU, 32GB RAM), and an even more 3090-equipped HP Omen 45L we tested recently (Core i9-12900K, GeForce RTX 3090, 64GB RAM) in the Geekbench 5.4 multi-core CPU benchmark.

However, as you can see from the chart of results below, the M1 Ultra couldn't match its Intel-powered competition in terms of CPU single-core performance. The Ultra-powered Studio also proved slower to transcode video than the afore-mentioned gaming PCs, taking nearly 4 minutes to transcode a 4K video down to 1080p using Handbrake. All of the gaming PCs I just mentioned completed the same task faster, over 30 seconds faster in the case of the Origin Millennium. Before we even get into the GPU performance tests it's clear that while the M1 Ultra excels at multi-core workflows, it doesn't trounce the competition across the board. When we ran our Mac Studio review unit through the Geekbench 5.4 OpenCL test (which benchmarks GPU performance by simulating common tasks like image processing), the Ultra earned an average score of 83,868. That's quite good, but again it fails to outperform Nvidia GPUs in similarly-priced systems.
They also share some results from the OpenCL Benchmarks browser, which publicly displays scores from different GPUs that users have uploaded: Apple's various M1 chips are on the list as well, and while the M1 Ultra leads that pack it's still quite a ways down the list, with an average score of 83,940. Incidentally, that means it ranks below much older GPUs like Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2070 (85,639) and AMD's Radeon VII (86,509). So here again we see that while the Ultra is fast, it can't match the graphical performance of GPUs that are 2-3 years old at this point — at least, not in these synthetic benchmarks. These tests don't always accurately reflect real-world CPU and GPU performance, which can be dramatically influenced by what programs you're running and how they're optimized to make use of your PC's components.
Their conclusion? When it comes to tasks like photo editing or video and music production, the M1 Ultra w/ 128GB of RAM blazes through workloads, and it does so while remaining whisper-quiet. It also makes the Mac Studio a decent gaming machine, as I was able to play less demanding games like Crusader Kings III, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and Total War: Warhammer II at reasonable (30+ fps) framerates. But that's just not on par with the performance we expect from high-end GPUs like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090....

Of course, if you don't care about games and are in the market for a new Mac with more power than just about anything Apple's ever made, you want the Studio with M1 Ultra.

Maserati announced on Thursday that it will offer electric versions of its entire vehicle lineup by 2025 and is starting its efforts off with the GranTurismo EV, a 1,200 HP roadster slated for release next year. Engadget reports: The GranTurismo "Folgore" will be the first entry into Maserati's new line of electric vehicles. Its thousand-plus horses will translate into a limitered top speed of 190 MPH and a sub-3-second 0-60. It will be joined by an electrified version of the new Grecale SUV and Grancabrio GT in 2023 followed by EV variants of the MC20, the Quattroporte and the Levante SUV by 2025. The company also announced its intention to halt production of internal combustion vehicles and go fully electric by 2030. The company, a subsidiary of the Stellantis Group, did not elaborate on the expected MSRPs for the upcoming vehicles, but given Maserati's current offerings, interested buyers will likely be looking to pay anywhere from the high five-figures to the mid-sixes.

HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Asus are expected to be among the first companies to release gaming Chromebooks. From a report: A code change in the Chromium Gerrit suggests the vendors are working on Chrome OS devices that will support Steam. In January 2020, Google said it would bring Steam to Chromebooks, and the plan may be starting to take shape. 9to5Google spotted a code change on Saturday showing a list of what appears to be Chromebook models that will support Steam:

Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-1H)
Acer Chromebook 515
Acer Chromebook Spin 713 (CP713-3W)
Asus Chromebook Flip CX5 (CX5500)
Asus Chromebook CX9 (CX9400)
HP Pro c640 G2 Chromebook
Unknown Chromebook from Lenovo.

Slashdot reader joshuark writes: Beware fake Windows 11 upgrades install RedLine malware, reports Bleeping Computer.

"Threat actors have started distributing fake Windows 11 upgrade installers to users of Windows 10, tricking them into downloading and executing RedLine stealer malware." Bleeping Computer advises, "...these dangerous sites are promoted via forum and social media posts or instant messages, so don't trust anything but the official Windows upgrade system alerts."
Bleeping Computer points out that hardware incompatibilities rule out upgrades for many Windows 10 users from official distribution channels — "something that malware operators see as an excellent opportunity for finding new victims." The timing of the attacks coincides with the moment that Microsoft announced Windows 11's broad deployment phase, so the attackers were well-prepared for this move and waited for the right moment to maximize their operation's success. RedLine stealer is currently the most widely deployed password, browser cookies, credit card, and cryptocurrency wallet info grabber, so its infections can have dire consequences for the victims.

According to researchers at HP, who have spotted this campaign, the actors used the seemingly legitimate "windows-upgraded.com" domain for the malware distribution part of their campaign. The site appears like a genuine Microsoft site and, if the visitor clicked on the 'Download Now' button, they received a 1.5 MB ZIP archive named "Windows11InstallationAssistant.zip," fetched directly from a Discord CDN...

Although the distribution site is down now, nothing stops the actors from setting up a new domain and restarting their campaign. In fact, this is very likely already happening in the wild.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For years, printers have been encumbered with digital rights management systems that prevent users from buying third-party ink and toner cartridges. Printer companies have claimed that their chip-enabled cartridges can "enhance the quality and performance" of their equipment, provide the "best consumer experience," and "protect [the printers] from counterfeit and third-party ink cartridges." Left unsaid is the fact that requiring first-party cartridges also ensures a recurring revenue stream. It's an old business model -- Gillette sold its razor handles cheaply to sell more razors, for example -- and it's one that printer companies have enthusiastically embraced. Lexmark, HP, Canon, Brother, and others all effectively require users to purchase first-party ink and toner. To enforce the use of first-party cartridges, manufacturers typically embed chips inside the consumables for the printers to "authenticate." But when chips are in short supply, like today, manufacturers can find themselves in a bind. So Canon is now telling German customers how to defeat its printers' warnings about third-party cartridges.

"Due to the worldwide continuing shortage of semiconductor components, Canon is currently facing challenges in procuring certain electronic components that are used in our consumables for our multifunction printers (MFP)," a Canon support website says in German. "In order to ensure a continuous and reliable supply of consumables, we have decided to supply consumables without a semiconductor component until the normal supply takes place again." [...] The software on these printers comes with a relatively simple way to defeat the chip checks. Depending on the model, when an error message occurs after inserting toner, users can press either "I Agree," "Close," or "OK." When users press that button, the world does not end. Rather, Canon says users may find that their toner cartridge doesn't give them a low-toner warning before running empty. "Although there are no negative effects on print quality when consumables are used without electronic components, certain additional functions, such as the detection of the toner level, may be impaired," Canon's support site says.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Almost exactly a year ago, security researchers uncovered one of the worst data breaches in modern history, if not ever: a Kremlin-backed hacking campaign that compromised the servers of network management provider SolarWinds and, from there, the networks of 100 of its highest-profile customers, including nine US federal agencies. Nobelium -- the name Microsoft gave to the intruders -- was eventually expelled, but the group never gave up and arguably has only become more brazen and adept at hacking large numbers of targets in a single stroke. The latest reminder of the group's proficiency comes from security firm Mandiant, which on Monday published research detailing Nobelium's numerous feats -- and a few mistakes -- as it continued to breach the networks of some of its highest-value targets.

Mandiant's report shows that Nobelium's ingenuity hasn't wavered. Since last year, company researchers say the two hacking groups linked to the SolarWinds hack -- one called UNC3004 and the other UNC2652 -- have continued to devise new ways to compromise large numbers of targets in an efficient manner. Instead of poisoning the supply chain of SolarWinds, the groups compromised the networks of cloud solution providers and managed service providers, or CSPs, which are outsourced third-party companies that many large companies rely on for a wide range of IT services. The hackers then found clever ways to use those compromised providers to intrude upon their customers. The advanced tradecraft didn't stop there. According to Mandiant, other advanced tactics and ingenuities included:

• Use of credentials stolen by financially motivated hackers using malware such as Cryptbot (PDF), an information stealer that harvests system and web browser credentials and cryptocurrency wallets. The assistance from these hackers allowed the UNC3004 and UNC2652 to compromise targets even when they didn't use a hacked service provider.
• Once the hacker groups were inside a network, they compromised enterprise spam filters or other software with "application impersonation privileges," which have the ability to access email or other types of data from any other account in the compromised network. Hacking this single account saved the hassle of having to break into each account individually.
• The abuse of legitimate residential proxy services or geo-located cloud providers such as Azure to connect to end targets. When admins of the hacked companies reviewed access logs, they saw connections coming from local ISPs with good reputations or cloud providers that were in the same geography as the companies. This helped disguise the intrusions, since nation-sponsored hackers frequently use dedicated IP addresses that arouse suspicions.
• Clever ways to bypass security restrictions, such as extracting virtual machines to determine internal routing configurations of the networks they wanted to hack.
• Gaining access to an active directory stored in a target's Azure account and using this all-powerful administration tool to steal cryptographic keys that would generate tokens that could bypass two-factor authentication protections. This technique gave the intruders what's known as a Golden SAML, which is akin to a skeleton key that unlocks every service that uses the Security Assertion Markup Language, which is the protocol that makes single sign-on, 2FA, and other security mechanisms work.
• Use of a custom downloader dubbed Ceeloader.

The Supreme Court of California has thrown out Oracle's appeal against a decision to award $3 billion damages to HPE in a case which dates back a decade and relates to Big Red's commitment to develop on Itanium hardware. From a report:On Wednesday, the court denied a review of Oracle's appeal against a summary judgement, apparently without comment or any written dissents. The decision follows a ruling made in the California Court of Appeal that affirmed HPE's $3.14bn win for alleged contract violation, stating that an agreement between the firms had created a legal obligation for Oracle to support software on HPE's Itanium server. The case hinged on the companies' statements that they had a "longstanding strategic relationship" and a "mutual desire to continue to support their mutual customers." The agreement stated that Oracle, for its part, "will continue to offer its product suite on HP platforms" while HPE "will continue to support Oracle products (including Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle VM) on its hardware." The ruling reads: "We conclude that the second sentence, moreover, does more than declare an aspiration or intent to continue working together, as Oracle claims. It commits the parties to continue the actions specified (Oracle offering its product suite and HP supporting the products)," as it had done previously.

A global deceleration of laptop sales is being linked in a new report from market research firm Trendforce to increasing vaccination rates and a corresponding decrease in remote work and remote learning. From a report: According to the findings, demand for Chromebooks slid by over 50 percent during one month since July. And notebook shipments for the remainder of the year are expected to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shifting demand from businesses. Trendforce said that interest for ChromeOS-powered laptops within the last year had primarily been driven by remote learning. The analyst pointed to rising vaccination rates in North America, Europe, and Japan throughout the second half of 2021 as recently slowing demand for Chromebooks.

After being a "primary driver" of overall laptop shipments in the first half of 2021, Chromebook shipments dropped by over 50 percent during one month in the second half of the year. And because Chromebooks represent a "relatively high share" of HP's and Samsung's overall laptop shipments, the OEMs' shipments are predicted to fall by 10 to 20 percent from the first half of the year to the second half. Still, it's not all downhill from here for Chromebooks -- Trendforce still expects a total of 36 million devices shipped in 2021. "The US FCC released the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which totals US$7.17 billion, in July in order to facilitate the purchase of such equipment as notebooks, tablets, and network connectivity devices by schools and libraries," Trendforce said. "This fund will likely sustain the demand for Chromebooks for the next year."

The EPA says the Lucid Air electric sedan will do 520 miles on a full charge, which is well over 100 miles more than the Tesla Model S Long Range, which delivers an estimated 405 miles. CNET reports: The 520-mile range estimate is specific to the Air Dream Edition Range with 19-inch wheels. Buyers should know the optional 21-inch wheels drop the range to an estimated 481 miles. Still, that's damned impressive. For those who select the Air Dream Edition Performance, they won't be penalized too much with a lower range. The car still comes in at an EPA-estimated 471 miles with 19-inch wheels and 451 miles with 21-inch wheels. The trade-off is there's 1,111 horsepower on tap with the Performance, compared to only 933 hp for the Range model.

The Dream Edition cars are two limited-edition choices Lucid sold out of a while ago, but don't fret, there are other options. For now, the EPA also got its hands on the Air Grand Touring trim, which returns 516 miles of range after the feds' tests. Even if you missed out on the Dream Edition Range, losing just four miles isn't the worst thing in the world. Opt for the larger 21-inch wheels on this model and the range figure drops to 469 miles. This particular configuration also provides a no-less-substantial 800 hp. If you ask me, there's nothing anyone's compromising on here. Production of the first customer cars is meant to start later this year, with prices for the Dream Editions starting at $169,000.

According to analysts at Canalys, the PC market in the United States is booming. Sales in Q2 2021 have grown 17% with 36.8 million units shipped. "Notebooks and desktops led the way with a growth in shipments of 27% and 23% respectively compared to last year," reports ZDNet. From the report: HP was the leading company in the US, delivering more than 8 million devices to customers and dominating the Chromebook sector with a 42% market share. Apple suffered a 3% decline in devices shipped but still held on to the second place slot behind HP. Canalys noted that Apple was the only major PC manufacturer to see negative growth in Q2, due in no small part to waning consumer interest in iPads, according to the report. The company did see a 24% increase in notebook shipments thanks to recent success with the M1 chip.

The rest of the list is rounded out by Samsung, which saw a 51% growth in shipments year over year while Lenovo and Dell posted 25% and 11% growth respectively in Q2. Canalys attributed Lenovo's success to its growing influence over the Chromebook market while Samsung solidified its place in the tablet market, seeing a growth of 19% in the US for Q2 even as the overall tablet market shrank. [Tablet shipments were down 1% in Q2.] Following a spike in tablet interest in Q2 2020, there has been a slowdown as the COVID-19 pandemic has waned and more people spent the summer outdoors.

The Nokia 9000 Communicator -- "the office in your back pocket" -- was a smartphone even before the word was invented. It has been 25 years since it revolutionized the market. DW: Nokia presented its 9000 Communicator at the CeBIT 1996 computer fair in Hanover, Germany, and launched on August 15 of that year. "The office in your back pocket" added to the IBM Simon from 1994 and the HP OmniGo 700LX from March 1996. The 9000 Communicator was a smartphone even before the word had been invented. For a decade, the device was ââwhat a smartphone was supposed to look like. After the Communicator, Blackberry perfected the idea -- until Apple's iPhone with its multitouch screen in 2007 came along.

Opened like a minilaptop, with a keyboard and a black-and-white display with a diagonal of just 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches), the retrofuturistic-looking device was made famous by actor Val Kilmer in the remake of the film The Saint. The 9000 Communicator was the first device to offer a combination of keyboard, quality screen, and business and internet software in one package. It had for the first time all of the features of a computer on a phone, putting email, web browsing, fax, word processing and spreadsheets into a single pocketable device.

There's something new in the world of expensive high-performance sportscars (or "hypercars".) Italian carmaker Automobili Pininfarina "has debuted the Battista, the first pure-electric hyper GT, on the streets of California as part of Monterey Car Week," reports Newsweek. (Alternate URL here.) The debut will give U.S. clients the chance to experience the 1,900 horsepower hypercar... [In a video] the Battista, crafted at Automobili Pininfarina's manufacturing facility in Italy, glides smoothly and quickly through California roads at speeds of over 100 miles per hour. The drive shows off the agility of the polished Impulso forged aluminum alloy wheels and exposed bodywork. Pulling off the road, the scissor doors swing open, highlighting the Black Exposed Signature Carbon bodywork.

Supplying the 1,900 hp is a 120-kilowatt-hour battery that powers four electric motors, one in each wheel, that gets about 1696 pound-feet of torque. On a single charge, the car is expected to get a range of over 310 miles.

With an emphasis on the company's "Pure Sound" philosophy and drawing from music theory, the bespoke design of the car is built to have a core frequency of 54 hertz (hz). Wanting to provide an emotional experience for the driver, the organic frequency will rise in multiples of 54 hz as the speed increases.
The company's product platform director of sports cars explains on their web site that "Every driver has an emotional bond with a car and the sound of Battista will nurture this connection, not by replicating a familiar car sound, but with one that radiates the beauty of Battista's design both inside and out. This way, the Battista will not only impress with its aesthetic appeal and performance, but also on a new emotional level enhanced through the sound."

The company's web site also calls it "the most powerful road-legal Italian sports car ever produced."

HP is announcing two new Chrome OS computers for its consumer-focused lineup. From a report: The first is the Chromebase AiO, an all-in-one desktop computer with a screen that can rotate from landscape to portrait. The second is the Chromebook x2 11, a lightweight detachable that can easily shift from laptop to tablet modes. The company is also announcing a new Works With Chromebook-certified 24-inch USB-C monitor. All three new products are designed for students, families, and general consumers. The Chromebase AiO will be available at HP, Amazon, and Best Buy this month, while the Chromebook x2 11 will be available from Best Buy this month and from HP's website in October. Both computers start at $599.99 for base configurations. The M24fd USB-C monitor will be available in October from HP directly for $249.99.