benchmarks

VC Bill Gurley defends investment in money-losing Snapchat

Bill Gurley, a longtime Silicon Valley investor with Benchmark Capital, today defended his firm's investment in Snapchat, the social-media app designed to let users send pictures and videos that self-destruct after a set time.

Gurley, who spoke on a panel of venture capitalists at Goldman Sachs' annual Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, was asked why he'd invest in a startup with no revenue model. Benchmark led a $13.5 million investment in the app, valuing Snapchat at $60 million to $70 million, which was first reported by The New York Times.

"If you look at … Read more

Popular security utilities for OS X put to the test

Even though the prevalence of threats for the Mac remains relatively minimal, malware on OS X has raised its ugly head a bit in the past few years. Some in the Mac community have been affected by threats such as the Flashback malware, DNSChanger, and the MacDefender Trojan, among others. As a result, while the most effective way of keeping a Mac secure is to follow safe browsing and computing practices, you may also be considering using anti-malware utilities. But which ones perform best?

Recently, Mac security analyst Thomas Reed attempted to tackle this question in part by putting a … Read more

MacTech extensively tests VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop

MacTech has just published an extensive benchmark comparison of the latest versions of Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion. The article outlines in great detail the performance of each, not just regarding running popular programs and boot times, but also on file I/O, optimal host configurations, Retina display support, and a number of other important performance considerations for the virtualization packages.

While bigger may be better in some things, faster arguably takes the cake when it comes to computing. Be it booting a system or sheer number crunching, if you can do more of it at once or do it … Read more

iPad 4 impresses in speed tests

What the iPad 4 loses in style, it gains in performance versus the Mini.

As I wrote last week, the Mini's style, size, and weight make it hard to put down. But after upgrading from the third-generation iPad 4G/LTE model to the fourth-generation iPad with 4G/LTE and after a week of pretty constant use, I found the 4's performance compelling.

It feels fast and benchmarks fast. In most -- but not all -- cases, Web pages pop, apps load, and graphics render faster than the Mini.

And the 4's performance is supported by my own … Read more

iPad Mini vs. iPad 4: A glance at raw benchmarks

So how much faster is the fourth-generation iPad than the iPad Mini? Raw benchmarks show a yawning gap between Apple's newest tablets.

Though benchmarks are typically more theoretical than real-world (that is, you won't necessarily feel a big speed boost using everyday apps), they're instructive because they show the potential of the underlying silicon.

And that potential can become very real when specific applications, such as games, are optimized to tap into the redesigned circuits of a new chip -- in this case, Apple's new A6X, a faster version of the A6 in the iPhone 5. … Read more

Avira 2013 expands features to cover social networking, tracker blocking, and Web site verification

Review: Avira returns to the security field with a second major revamp in as many years of its flagship free antivirus and paid upgrades. Whereas last year's overhaul focused on a breezy new installation and modernizing its interface, the 2013 version is all about offering competitive and forward-thinking security features.

All that sounds well and good, and Avira has even killed off its obnoxious, interrupting pop-up in the free version. However, some aggressive components of those features gave us pause when using the suite.

Installation Last year's improved, zippy install has been changed slightly, and that may cause … Read more

Windows 8 delivers the goods on benchmarks

CNET Labs has released its system benchmarks comparing Windows old and new, and they've discovered that Microsoft's controversial new operating system doesn't steamroll over Windows 7 as much as it gently shoves it out of the way.

Operating system Boot time Shutdown time MS Office performance iTunes decoding Media multitasking Cinebench Windows 7 SP1 45.2 7.7 408 127 343 16985 Windows 7 SP1 47.5 7.8 412 124 344 17,116 Windows 8 RTM 31.4 8.8 372 123 340 15,300 Windows 8 RTM update 26.4 11.7 367 123 340 … Read more

Apple's A6 processor appears faster than previously thought

The silicon powering the new iPhone 5 appears to be more powerful than previously thought.

The A6 processor found in Apple's next-generation smartphone has been clocked at 1.3GHz by a new version of iOS benchmarking software Geekbench, faster than the 1.02 GHz previously reported .

The new version of Geekbench, which landed today at the App Store, "features a dramatically improved processor frequency detection algorithm, which consistently reports the A6's frequency as 1.3GHz," Primate Labs John Poole told Engadget.

Earlier results posted by Geekbench suggested the A6 was roughly twice as fast as any chip … Read more

Life beyond JavaScript: Google's abuzz over RoboHornet test

Google last night unveiled an early version of RoboHornet, a general-purpose browser speed test that company engineers hope will shed light on something besides just JavaScript.

But Microsoft, maker of Internet Explorer, has derided the tests as not useful.

There are plenty of JavaScript speed tests, Google's new Octane among them, and for good reason: the programming language is used to turn static Web pages into interactive Web apps. But there's more to fast browsing, and Google hopes others will get involved to flesh out RoboHornet with a full suite of tests.

"It's a living, dynamic … Read more