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PIPO X8 Packs Windows in a Tablet-TV Box Hybrid

Posted: 20 May 2015 01:07 PM PDT

It’s not unheard of to hook up a tablet to a TV via MHL, but the PIPO X8 takes thing a little bit further by actually incorporating a tablet into a TV box that connects via HDMI to the telly.

Experimenting with designs and form factors is not always a bad thing, as some of the most popular All-in-One devices must have been created that way. However, a tablet-TV box hybrid such as the PIPO X8 will definitely cause some eyebrows to raise, as the overlapping features are so many, one might consider the hybrid as being redundant. PIPO is not afraid to new things in terms of design, and after delivering some of the most affordable TV boxes and Windows tablets based on Intel’s Z3735F chipset, it now moved to creating a device that combines the two previously-independent items.

There are two hardware configurations for the PIPO X8. One of them is powered by Intel’s Z3736F SoC that includes a quad-core CPU running at up to 2.16Ghz, while the other has a Z3735F clocked at 1.83Ghz. Both of them sport an Intel HD GPU. In terms of memory, this media player sports 2GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB of ROM.

The storage can be furthermore expanded by using an SD card of up to 64GB. All of these are more than enough for playing media both on the included 7″ 10-point multi-touch display with a resolution of 1024 × 600, as well as on larger TVs and monitors. Connectivity options abound, as there is Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, LAN, HDMI, and microUSB, so you can connect to the TV or monitor, but also to other devices.

As far as the software is concerned, the tablet/TV box hybrid runs on Windows 8.1 with Bing, Microsoft’s special version of Windows for cheap devices. A dual-OS version will also be available, and the users of this one will be able to choose to boot into Windows or Android. Giving people alternatives is great, but you have to wonder if there’s any room left for files besides these two operating systems.

GearBest is currently selling the PIPO X8 Windows tablet-TV box hybrid for $123.98, but you can get it for $107.89 if you apply the coupon code PIPOX8 at checkout. The pre-sale period ends on May 22, so chances are that the coupon expires on that day, as well. By the looks of it, this store has the dual boot version that also packs Android 4.4 besides Windows with Bing.

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What is Google Chrome Helper on Mac, and what does it do?

Posted: 20 May 2015 11:41 AM PDT

A number of users have been complaining in different web outlets about Google Chrome Helper, a tool by the Google team for Mac users.Common reports include freezes, slowdown, and several other issues across the board, yet few know how to remove it in case it becomes more of an issue that users feel like dealing with.

Users attempting to get an answer from the Chrome Help Center will hit a brick wall, as they don’t explain how to remove the program. Neither do the Chrome FAQs, so there isn’t a lot of official information to operate with. So, what is "Google Chrome Helper" (GCH), and how does it help anything?

The first answer is that GCH is not really a problem – generally, it will only activate when there is an extension causing trouble, or Chrome plug-ins aren’t set to execute as default. Regardless, the majority of the Chrome help centers mention problems when working with Flash content for the most part.

@googlechrome why does your “helper” destroy my mac’s performance?

— Kyle Kemper (@kylekemper) May 13, 2015

"Google Chrome Helper” is the generic name of the integrated content being executed outside of the navigator. It’s the interface in between the navigator’s insertion code, and a remote server, and is configured to execute automatically on Chrome’s default configuration. In many cases, these plug ins and processes are not being listed because their APIs do not allow it – basically, the GCH is a martyr.

wth? google chrome helper processes are consuming like 500mb.. what am i doing wrong? xD — breadpan (@breadpan) May 14, 2015

Deactivating it is pretty easy, and does not mean the user needs to stop using the other plug-ins. The difference is that they will need to be picked one by one, instead of being executed automatically. This deactivation is not very intuitive, but it can be done from the configuration menu.

First, all tabs need to be closed, but without closing Chrome itself. Then, users can head to “configuration”, and choose to display advanced preferences, and then privacy. It’s in there that users will see content configuration, and complements. There, users can choose to manage plugins individually, and just pick which ones they want to execute.

Afterwards, everything will work the same as in emails when they are configured to display images after clicking on them: users will have to click on the content that hasn’t loaded yet so it can reproduce, play, or load.

Man I had like 10 instances of “Google Chrome Helper” eating up like 4 gigs of memory. No wonder my computer was slow..

— Triggs (@RiotTriggs) May 13, 2015

A big advantage of disabling the Google Chrome Helper is that it should avoid Flash ads from playing automatically, which would make sure users didn’t need an ad-blocker.

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