Legit Reviews News History
China blocks Skype, VoIP
VoIP is everywhere..Alot of my friends use it to talk to friends and family around the world. It looks like China will be a hard nut to crack. According to The Register, VoIP is blocked when crossing into the Chinese Telecoms network, or at least VoIP using PC to POTS (plain old telephone service).
China Telecom is the country's largest wireline phone company, with the bulk of the broadband customers; and those customers are now finding they can't use Skype to call ordinary phones, using SkypeOut. But it may go further, and VoIP may be blocked generally. Reports from the FT suggest that this "won't affect" PC to PC calls using Skype. According to Shanghai Daily, however, China Telecom is collecting the identities of those who attempt to use SkypeOut to call regular phone numbers from their PCs. "Under the current relevant laws and regulations of China, PC-to-phone services are strictly regulated and only China Telecom and (the nation's other fixed-line carrier) China Netcom are permitted to carry out some trials on a very limited basis," said a China Telecom official, quoted by Reuters
Posted by | Fri, Sep 30, 2005 - 09:04 AM
Emmy for Sony PlayStation 3D work
The Sony PlayStation is a household name around the world. Now the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has awarded the PlayStation an Emmy, aside from that what I also found interesting is Sony have shipped their 100 Millionth PlayStation this year!
Sony's PlayStation console has won an Emmy from the US National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). The console was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement in Technology and Advanced New Media award for its early work on 3D polygon-based gaming.
Posted by | Fri, Sep 30, 2005 - 08:43 AM
VIA & Mini-box Announce VoomPC: Sub-$300 Car PC Kit
VIA Technologies and Mini-box announced the VoomPC family of compact, high performance yet affordable x86 car PC kits aimed at driving telematics mainstream. Based on low power VIA EPIA Mini-ITX mainboards, the x86 platform of choice for car PCs, the VoomPC is specifically designed for the ultra power sensitive conditions of in-vehicle applications. Pretty slick little design if you ask us.
With prices ranging from $299 to $399, the VoomPC barebone platform is ideal for automotive enthusiasts and vehicle manufacturers alike to integrate a wide range of GPS navigation, communication, entertainment and information functionality into private cars or vehicle-dependent professional service vehicles such as law enforcement, rescue and commercial transport, where access to data on the road is essential.
Posted by | Fri, Sep 30, 2005 - 07:53 AM
Epox launches SLI motherboard for AMD Socket-754 CPUs
Epox have released a new NVIDIA nForce4 SLI motherboard. This is nothing new, but support for AMD's socket 754 is. This is the first SLI motherboard to support AMD's socket 754, also the first to support SATA2 with RAID. This opens up a whole new upgrade path for alot of users, until now SLI was only available to socket 939. You can of course post your comments in our Forums.
Epox Computer yesterday introduced the EP-8NPA SLI motherboard, which features Nvidia's nForce4 SLI (scalable link interface) dual-graphics chipset and is the world?s first SLI motherboard for the AMD Socket-754 platform, claims the company.
Posted by | Fri, Sep 30, 2005 - 12:47 AM
Dell ending free home delivery of computers
Dell Inc. will stop its practice of sending low-end computers to customers homes without charge in order to cut costs, the company said Thursday. We will add this to our list of reasons to build your own computer!
Starting Oct. 10, Dell's free shipping offer on basic models will apply only to people willing to pick up their computers at the post office, said Jennifer Davis, spokeswoman for Dell's U.S. consumer business. Customers will have to pay extra for home delivery. Dell's direct sales model helped it become one of the lowest-cost computer makers as it bypassed retailers. But aggressive price-cutting caused the Round Rock, Texas-based company to miss analysts' revenue-growth forecasts last quarter.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 10:09 PM
ATI Technologies Cuts Video Card Warranty To One Year
ATI silently lowered its warranty down to 1 year for ALL of their desktop graphics cards. This shouldn?t have any impact on the warranty that offered by third party companies like Sapphire, ASUS, or VisionTek but it I find it interesting. Are they doing it to push more sales through their partners or as a cost saving move? I'm not sure, but I sent e-mails to both ATI and nVidia asking their thoughts about ATI's warranty reduction. Sound off about this hot topic in our forums in this thread.
ATI warrants to the original purchaser of the hardware product, that the product is free from defects in materials or workmanship under normal use and service for a period of one (1) year from the date of purchase at retail. If this product is a Workstation product such as ATI?s FireGL? or FireMV? family of products, ATI warrants to the original purchaser of the hardware product, that the Workstation product is free from defects in materials or workmanship under normal use and service for a period of three (3) years from the date of purchase at retail. All cables and accessories provided with an ATI product are warranted to be free from defects in materials or workmanship under normal use and service for a period of for (90) ninety days from date of purchase at retail.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 05:22 PM
Samsung breaks ground on $33 billion chip campus
Samsung have started work on expanding their Hwaseong semiconductor facility, at a cost of $33 Billion. According to EETimes their total expected investment will be $860 million by 2012.
LONDON ? South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. broke ground Thursday (Sept. 29) on a second round of construction at its Hwaseong semiconductor facility. The building is part of a $33 billion seven-year plan that calls for an R&D facility and eight fabrication lines to be built there by 2012, Samsung said. The Hwaseong plant was first established in 2000, and the first phase of building included five fabrication lines and one R&D manufacturing line on 150 acres. The Hwaseong expansion will occupy 230 acres and is expected to create 14,000 jobs, Samsung said.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 09:06 AM
Broadband Internet use grows to 60% in U.S. homes
More than 60 percent of Americans who use the Internet at home now do so with a high-speed connection, a new study finds. That's a jump from 51 percent a year ago. Nielsen/NetRatings says 86 million Internet users surfed the Web on home broadband connections in August. Increased use of the internet and lowering broadband prices have played a part in the increase. Still amazing how fast broadband grew!
More than 60 percent of Americans who use the Internet at home now do so with a high-speed connection, a new study finds. That's a jump from 51 percent a year ago. Nielsen/NetRatings says 86 million Internet users surfed the Web on home broadband connections in August.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 07:50 AM
LG Chem aims to be first to market in notebook fuel cells
Korea-based LG Chem, a mother company of the well known LG Group, aims to be the first in the world to commercialize fuel cell technology to power notebooks. According to the company, it has already completed its development of portable fuel cells and plans to commercialize the product later this year.
LG Chem will probably launch its marketing campaign in one or two months, and the company said that it does not intend to change the design of the fuel cell. The 25W power supply is based on direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology and consist of two parts, a base unit and a removable fuel cartridge. The product works as an external power supply connected to a notebook through a DC-in jack, LG Chem explained. The device weighs less than 1kg, and one 200cc methanol cartridge is enough to power a 25W notebook for more than 10 hours, LG Chem said. The company expects that cartridges will be priced under US$1. The base unit price will be around US$500.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 07:33 AM
Intel, Research In Motion Collaborate on Next-Generation BlackBerry Devices
The BlackBerry handheld device has now found a new CPU. Intel are to collaborate with Reseach in Motion, the makers of the BlackBerry, on their new cpu. The BlackBerry will use Intel's XScale architecture, which in turn uses Intel's new PXA9xx cellular processor. Check out our forums, and of course feel free to post your comments.
Intel, Research In Motion Collaborate on Next-Generation BlackBerry Devices SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Sept. 27, 2005 ? CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2005 ? Intel Corporation and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced an extensive technology collaboration in which RIM will use Intel communications technology in future BlackBerry® devices. RIM is adopting the Intel XScale® architecture and will utilize the Intel PXA9xx cellular processor, codenamed "Hermon", for its next-generation BlackBerry® devices that will run on high-speed EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution) networks. In addition, Intel and RIM will continue working together to drive new wireless technologies and handset features, while also working to support and expand the rich ecosystem of BlackBerry applications and services. RIM has selected the Intel PXA9xx processor for its EDGE communications capabilities and its industry-leading application performance. EDGE is the advanced wireless data technology for GSM that enables users to connect to the Internet and send and receive data with broadband-like speed.
Posted by | Thu, Sep 29, 2005 - 06:53 AM
Rambus Chips Away at Samsung Suit
Rambus shares spiked today in response to a court filing seeking a dismissal of litigation in Virginia against vs. Samsung, the world's second-largest chipmaker and the largest memory manufacturer. Shares of Rambus (RMBS) are up over 5% on the news.
Rambus requested that a Virginia federal district court dismiss a Samsung lawsuit, in part because it had signed a covenant agreeing not to sue Samsung for infringement on four patents. Rambus asked that Samsung's claims be dismissed, as well as its counterclaims against Samsung. The dismissal request would pertain only to the Virginia case and the covenant not to sue pertains only to products made up until now. It does not cover future products.
Posted by | Wed, Sep 28, 2005 - 11:18 AM
$100 laptop moves closer to reality thanks to MIT
Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. At 500Mhz and a one gig of memory the Linux powered notebook seems like a steal for $100.
The proposed design of the machines calls for a 500MHz processor, 1GB of memory and an innovative dual-mode display that can be used in full-color mode, or in a black-and-white sunlight-readable mode. The display makes the laptop "both an electronic book and a laptop," he said. One display design being considered is a flat, flexible printed display developed at MIT's Media Lab. Negroponte said the technology can be used to produce displays that cost roughly 10 cents per square inch. "The target is $12 for a 12-inch display with near-zero power consumption," he said. The machines, which will run a version of the Linux operating system, will also include other applications, some developed by MIT researchers, as well as country-specific software.
Posted by | Wed, Sep 28, 2005 - 11:15 AM
Are McDonald's rice burgers set for global domination?
McDonald's Restaurants (Taiwan) yesterday celebrated sales of its home-grown rice burgers, which topped 5 million units six months after hitting the market, saying the local taste may be available in McDonald's worldwide soon. I have personally stopped eating McDonalds after seeing the movie Super Size Me and have lost a few pounds.
"By combining Western and Eastern flavors, we created the most successful homemade product, which has the chance to debut on McDonald's menus around the globe," Steven Lee, McDonald's Taiwan's chief executive officer, said at a celebration. The fast-food chain started offering two types of toasted rice burgers, with a choice of either chicken or beef sandwiched between rice buns, in February this year. The items soon became one of the firm's best-sellers with a fresh taste.
Posted by | Wed, Sep 28, 2005 - 08:11 AM
Apple admits to iPod Nano faults
As reported earlier Apple now admit that some iPod Nano's have a problem. The good news is they say it only affects a very small amount of Nono's sold. Accprding to The BBC Apple are offering replacements to affected customers.
Electronics firm Apple has admitted there have been problems with its new iPod Nano music player, after a string of complaints about damaged screens. Apple says a manufacturing problem has left screens on one batch vulnerable to cracks and is offering replacements. It says the problem affects fewer than a tenth of 1% of all Nanos shipped. However, it denies claims the Nanos are more prone to scratching than other models.
Posted by | Wed, Sep 28, 2005 - 07:19 AM
Xbox drained $4 billion in four years from Microsoft's profits
A news story on Forbes.com talks about how Microsoft lost $4 billion in four years on the Xbox. I'm sure Microsoft is not worried though as they have $40 billion in cash and over the next 18 months they are launching fifteen new products. The releases include new versions of Windows, Office and the much-hyped Xbox 360.
The Xbox game console is hot, but its division has lost $4 billion in four years and isn't yet in the black. The mobile-software division, also losing money, has just a sliver of the market for cell phone handsets. Microsoft Business Solutions, after acquiring Great Plains Software for $1.1 billion and Navision for $1.4 billion, is supposed to deliver $10 billion in sales by 2010. At its current 6% growth rate, MBS will attain that goal in 43 years.
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 01:09 PM
September 27th News From Around the Web
Another day, another inbox full of news from around the web. In this issue we get looks at a VOIP phone, the gorgeous NI8-SLI from Abit, an interesting article discussing hackers, and the completed worklog of R2-D2. Stay tuned in for more news as the week progresses!
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 01:03 PM
Intel Launches New Mobile Ad Campaign This Week
In its fall advertising campaign breaking this week, Intel Corporation showcases the digital entertainment benefits of the Intel Centrino mobile technology platform for laptop PCs. The eight-country campaign consists of television, print, online, retail and outdoor elements. Follow the link below to read the full statement on the as campaign and if you have seen the ads what do you think?
The television ads feature well-known entertainment personalities sitting on consumers' laps. Each celebrity ? actors John Cleese, Lucy Liu and Tony Leung; singer Seal; pro skateboarder Tony Hawk; and soccer star Michael Owen ? represents different entertainment genres, such as games, movies and music. The metaphor of an entertainer sitting on the consumer's lap in place of a laptop PC illustrates how Centrino mobile technology enables a vibrant, realistic mobile entertainment experience.
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 10:06 AM
80% of Koreans Want Cell Phone Subsidies
More than eight out of 10 Koreans support cell phone subsidies, according to a survey conducted by the ruling Uri Party in Korea. Nothing like handset subsidy bans!
"The government should no longer try to forbid subsidies entirely with a law. For the sake of end users, it should allow mobile carriers to subsidize customers," Kwon said. In order to cool down cutthroat competition among wireless operators, which had provided huge incentives for handset buyers, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) prevented such offerings starting March 2003. The embargo is basically a sunset regulation that will expire next March and the ministry is now reviewing whether or not to extend the three-year interim policy.
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 10:03 AM
Google Turns 7 & Boasts Being The Best
If you take a look at Google and notice seven slices of candle-adorned cake on the main page that is because Google is now seven years old. The company went one step further saying that their search engines scour three times more Web sites than Yahoo Inc. and other nearest competitors. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too.
Google Inc. claims its search engines scour three times more Web sites than Yahoo Inc. and other nearest competitors. It's difficult, however, to compare the size of search engines' indexes of Web sites, given that some listings are inaccessible or duplicative. Google, which made the claim late Monday, said it now plans to stop publicly disclosing the size of its Web index, which it once said topped 8 billion, because of growing dissatisfaction over the accuracy of the statistic.
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 09:49 AM
Intel & Microsoft Support HD DVD Format for next-gen DVDs
Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp., the leading suppliers of chips and software for most of the world's personal computers, are throwing their support behind the next-generation DVD standard known as HD DVD. That means that Intel, Microsoft, Toshiba, and Universal Studios all now support HD DVD. Blu-ray is currently being backed by Sony, Apple, HP, and Dell. The great divide grows deeper!
It was not clear how Microsoft and Intel's move would affect the stance of computer makers, but the PC industry has managed to skirt confusion over dueling standards in the past by offering drives that can handle multiple formats. Efforts so far to merge the standards into a single format have gone nowhere as tech companies and studios have divided into the two camps. Analysts say consumers are likely to stick with standard DVDs until there is a resolution. Though Intel and Microsoft's action gives the HD DVD group additional muscle, it does not deal a knockout blow to Blu-ray.
Posted by | Tue, Sep 27, 2005 - 09:43 AM