Why the 64-bit chip in the iPhone 5s matters

Apple’s iPhone 5S is the first device to ship with an Apple A7 chip. And that happens to be one of the first 64-bit processors based on the ARMv8 architecture. While one of the key benefits of moving to 64-bit memory is support for up to 16 exabytes of memory, it’ll probably be a few years before Apple actually ships an iPhone or iPad with more than 4GB.

Microsoft introduces Surface 2

Microsoft second-generation Surface tablets look an awful lot like the models released in 2012. But they have faster processors, more versatile kickstands, longer battery life, and other improvements.

Tesco Hudl tablet to hit UK this month for £119

UK retailer Tesco is getting into the budget Android tablet game with a 7 inch model called the Tesco Hudl. Priced at £119, or less than $200 US, it actually looks like a reasonable alternative to budget Android tablets from Asus, Google, Amazon, and others.

Amazon launches Kindle Fire HDX

Amazon’s new 8.9 inch tablet features a higher-resolution display, a faster processor, and longer battery life than last year’s model. The new Kindle HDX 8.9 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, features a 2560 x 1600 pixel display, and offers up to 12 hours of battery life with mixed-use, or 18 hours if you’re just using it to read eBooks.

VIA APC $79 computer can now run Firefox OS

Wondering what you can do with one of VIA’s inexpensive APC computer-on-a-board systems? While you could already run Android 4.0 on the little ARM-based system, now the company is offering a preview release of Firefox OS for the $79 APC Rock and $99 APC Paper.

Dell discontinues the XPS 10 tablet

Dell has apparently discontinued the XPS 10 Windows RT tablet. That’s not surprising — it’s been almost a year since the company first introduced the tablet, and these things don’t tend to have very long product life cycles.

ZTE sells about 100,000 Firefox OS phones

ZTE officials say the company has sold about 100,000 units so far. While that’s not a lot of money compared with the top iPhone or Android phone sales figures, ZTE is happy enough with the way things are going to commit to launching a second Firefox OS phone in 2014.