Legit Reviews News History
Nestle buys Jenny Craig diet firm for $600 million
Switzerland's Nestle bought U.S. weight-loss company Jenny Craig for around $600 million, it said on Monday, expanding its high-margin nutrition and health business. I'm not sure how the diet community will react when they start seeing Nestle candy pop up in diet plans!
Nestle, the world's largest food company, bought the California-based company from a private equity group including ACI Capital and MidOcean Partners, it said, adding the deal would not dilute group earnings. "This acquisition will ... reinforce Nestle Nutrition's presence in the USA, the world's largest nutrition and weight management market," Nestle said in a statement. Jenny Craig offers its products in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 19, 2006 - 06:32 AM | Comments
UBS Slaps a Buy on Intel Stock
Headcount reductions and improving microprocessor unit sales should help Intel raise margins over the next two years, UBS argued in upgrading the shares to buy from hold Monday. UBS also raised its Intel price target to $23 from $21, reflecting a higher 2007 earnings estimate of $1.28 a share and a higher estimate of Intel's price-to-earnings multiple.
The brokerage expects Intel's year-over-year growth in microprocessor unit sales to go from nothing to near 10% by the end of 2006, then remain in the double digits through 2007, in part because of the Microsoft Vista release. Intel's shares, down 26% for the year, are trading near a three-year low. UBS believes the stock will climb back to levels of late 2005.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 19, 2006 - 06:28 AM | Comments
ATI to begin 80nm production at UMC later this year
In addition to scheduling 80nm production at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for September, ATI Technologies will begin producing its graphics processor (GPU) on an 80nm manufacturing process at United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) in the second half of 2006, according to industry sources. If this is true that means we could see ATI's R600 based graphics cards in early 2007.
The sources indicated that UMC had gained ATI validation on its 80nm production node and volume production should officially start in the second half of this year, and the move should help ATI diversify its foundry partners and reduce its production risk. In related news, the sources suggested that Nvidia has also started placing limited amount of orders at UMC for 90nm production.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 19, 2006 - 06:26 AM | Comments
Core 2 Extreme benchmarks hit the scene. Should AMD worry?
If you're into the electrical engineering side of the equation, the slides should make your mouth mater with anticipation. For the rest of us, we rely on the numbers, and there's certainly no shortage of them. The Core 2 Extreme X6800 steals the show from AMD's AM2 FX-62 in nearly every test, all the while drawing considerably less power. While the numbers for these specific processors likely won't mean much to the average consumer or even enthusiast, the low end and mid range products are spun off the flagship chips, so it's a useful comparison of products that will me made on the same architechture and fabrication process. If you don't understand Chinese, don't worry. Just skip a few pages over to the charts which use standard English labelled benchmarks.
Posted by | Sun, Jun 18, 2006 - 04:18 PM | Comments
ATI's R600 80nm Core Still on Track According to ATI
Edward Chou, marketing director of ATI Technologies Asia-Pacific division, responded to earlier reports that its 80-nanometer (80nm) production has been delayed by saying that ATI has succeeded in completing trial production of its 80nm graphics chips. Chou estimates that ATI will start switching its complete graphics processing unit (GPU ) lineup to an 80nm manufacturing process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) from September.
The ATI RV560 and RV570 chips will feature the company's CrossFire dual-card graphics technology and will target the mainstream market, whereas the entry-level RV516 and RV505 will each feature a 128-bit memory interface, said the sources. In addition, ATI will also introduce the 64-bit RV505CE chip to compete with Nvidia's G73 series, the sources added. The sources further indicated that ATI plans to release a transitional GPU, the R580+, prior to the R600 launch and that it would be available by the end of this year. Chou declined to comment on the year-end availability of ATI's high-end R600 chip, which is aimed to compete with the Nvidia G80.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 16, 2006 - 10:14 AM | Comments
Blu-ray Disc ready to hit play next Tuesday
Blu-ray format finally set to launch next week--with seven movie titles! The first batch of seven Blu-ray titles, all from Sony Pictures Home ntertainment, are scheduled to arrive in stores Tuesday. The first Blu-ray player, from Samsung, is slated to go on sale five days later.
SPHE president Benjamin Feingold said about 15,000 copies of each title are being shipped to retailers that also will carry the player, including Best Buy, Circuit City and Amazon.com. "It's really about where there is hardware," he said. Retailers also are receiving corrugated cardboard displays with the Blu-ray Disc logo and the sell line "Experience High Definition Today." The standees hold three rows of three titles each.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 16, 2006 - 10:12 AM | Comments
Bill Gates Leaving Microsoft...
Microsoft Co-founder, Bill Gates announced today that he be will greatly reducing his role at the world's largest software company. Gates will remain Microsoft's chairman, but he will be devoting most of his time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an organization that endows funding, grants and donations to schools, health organizations and charities around the world.
In a surprise announcement, Microsoft revealed that co-founder, Chairman, and former CEO Bill Gates will be giving up his day-to-day duties at Microsoft. Gates is relinquishing his title of Chief Software Architect now, but will continue to be involved in the company's operations on a daily basis until July 2008. He will then stay on as Chairman of the Board and an advisor on "key development projects" after the transition is complete.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 15, 2006 - 03:43 PM | Comments
Intel Moves to Beat AMD in Quad-core Race
Intel is ready to attain leadership in performance and energy efficiency over rival Advanced Micro Devices during the coming months, with processors that continue to be built differently than those of other companies, according to an official with the chip-making giant. Intel was the first to bring out a dual-core processors known as the 'Prescott' and a couple years down the road that move might not have been the best choice possible. I'm not happy with the rumor that Intel is going to launch a part at the sacrifice of some performance just to get its "Clovertown" chip on the market before AMD's offerings. Been there done that and AMD took off with better performing parts.
Speaking at a conference June 13 in New York hosted by analyst firm Bear Stearns Security, Dileep Bhandarkar, architect at large for Intel, in Santa Clara, said that when Intel's quad-core "Clovertown" is released in the first half of 2007, it will be a single package of two dual-core chips, and that the chips will not have the memory controller integrated into the chip.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 15, 2006 - 05:13 AM | Comments
Mobile players form Linux platform pact to open-source code
A group of the world's mobile operators and handset makers said on Thursday they are to join together to develop an open-source Linux-based operating system that could to be used in phones by the end of 2007.
Mobile network operators Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo and handset makers Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Panasonic, said they would form an independent not-for-profit group to share the costs and speed up mobile software and handsets and cut the number of operating platforms on the market. Similar to PCs, mobile devices use operating systems onto which applications such as text messaging and video and music players are loaded, much like a computer program would be loaded onto Microsoft's Windows platform or Apple's OS X.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 15, 2006 - 05:09 AM | Comments
U.S. console game sales fell 10 percent in May
U.S. console video game software sales fell 10.2 percent in May to $286.1 million as the industry continues to work through a transition to new console technology that has kept many consumers to the sidelines, market research group NPD said Wednesday.
Consumers are awaiting Sony's launch of its Playstation 3 console in November and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s launch of its Wii console in the fourth quarter. Microsoft Corp. introduced its Xbox 360 last year. NPD measures nearly two-thirds of video game retail sales in the United States and makes projections for the remainder of the market. Its May data excludes sales of PC games.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 15, 2006 - 05:03 AM | Comments
AMD Slows Down AM2 2x1MB Cache Desktop CPU Marketing
According to various news posts around the web it seems that AMD is up to something with their larger cache AM2 processors. No word on to exactly what is going on, but I'm sure things will be clear in the following weeks.
AMD representatives are telling its CPU distributors to play down 2x1MB L2 cache Windsor processor sales in favor of the 2x512KB AM2 parts. Several days ago, DailyTech published the entire AMD July 24th pricing guide complete with price cuts across the board. The price list was surprisingly devoid of AMD 2x1MB cache CPUs, and today we know the reason why
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 01:04 PM | Comments
Chicago Cubs First Baseball Team to go Wireless
The Chicago Cubs are the first major league baseball team to utilize wireless technology to communicate between the dugout and the bullpin. Its amazing that no major league team has gone wireless yet! Now, if only this change could improve the Cubbies record... 'Go Cards!'
The Cubs and Motorola, who announced the arrangement Monday for both the home and visiting dugouts and bullpens, said it will be the first wireless bullpen phone system used by a major league team. Cubs officials approached Major League Baseball with the idea last November after watching a playoff game in which a team had problems communicating with its bullpen, according to John McDonough, the Cubs' senior vice president of marketing and broadcasting.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 08:47 AM | Comments
NVIDIA Told That Their AGP Bridge Chip Is No Longer Being Produced
IBM, which makes AGP bridge chips for NVIDIA, informed NVIDIA Corporation that they will no longer going to produce the bridge chip needed for NVIDIA to have any AGP cards. This leaves Nvidia rushing to find another foundry partner for the bridge chip while their supply continues to decrease. No word on how long the current inventory will last, but I'm sure they will have some stock on hand.
"IBM is no longer going to produce the bridge chip needed for Nvidia to have an AGP part," said Chris Caso, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. (Arlington, Vir.), in a report. "Our checks indicate that IBM has notified Nvidia it would no longer be able to produce the 'bridge chip' that provides the AGP interface on Nvidia's low-end graphics cards."
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 07:45 AM | Comments
The Sony PS3 Cell Processor Will Go 65nm in 2007
Ken Kutaragi, Sony Computer Entertainment President, revealed today in an interview with Japan's Impress Watch that the PS3's Cell processor will make the switch to a 65nm manufacturing process in 2007. The move to a smaller die means that Sony will save some money on each processor and that the processors will consume less power.
The Cell is in production at IBM's Fishkill and Sony's Nagasaki fabrication facilities. Currently, the chip is being produced using a 90nm process. Switching to a 65nm process will reduce costs, potentially leading to a price reduction of components that use the chip.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 07:38 AM | Comments
Intel Scores A Coup With Conroe
In offering up teasers for Conroe, its new family of processors due to ship in July, Intel has scored its biggest media coup in a long time. Alexander Wolfe posted his thoughts about Conroe in his blog this morning and is worth a quick look for those interested.
While Intel will likely steal the headlines this week for Conroe (more formally, the Core 2 line), one should point out that the reason the Intel news is so notable is that AMD's desktop dual-core Athlon family has itself been front and center for the past year. AMD recently extended the high end of that line with two new processors, which are also earning plaudits. The upshot is, it looks like we finally have a decent dual-core duel on our hands. While the battle rages on the technology front, it's likely that we'll see a price-cutting war on the consumer front.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 07:32 AM | Comments
EBay to add 'Skype me' button
EBay Inc. said Tuesday that it would add a "Skype Me" button to certain categories of listings, allowing prospective buyers to contact sellers directly through the Internet phone service it acquired last year for $2.6 billion. Pretty nice if you ask me!
EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said the function is one way the company was pressing its "Power of Three" strategy to make the most of its acquisitions of the PayPal online payment service in 2002 and Luxembourg-based Skype last year. "Each of these businesses is incredibly powerful on its own," Whitman told about 15,000 eBay buyers, sellers, partners and employees at a convention in Las Vegas. "EBay is No. 1 in e-commerce, PayPal is No. 1 in online payments and Skype is No. 1 in voice communications."
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 06:34 AM | Comments
Dell seen using AMD chip in desktop PC come September
Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, is expected to offer a desktop PC using a microprocessor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in September, Citigroup Inc. analysts said on Tuesday. It was bound to happen and now we have a date for it to take place by!
Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn declined to comment on the note. Yeung said details of the desktop computer's configuration were not available. Installing AMD chips in desktop computers would be a further step in Dell's budding relationship with Advanced Micro Devices after Dell for 22 years exclusively used processors from chipmaker Intel Corp.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 06:04 AM | Comments
Asustek sees great potential to develop white-box notebooks
Asustek Computer has mapped out a long-term plan to develop white-box notebooks as the company sees a great growth potential for the entire notebook market, including the no-brand segment, until 2009, according to sources at the company. With Intel's push for the development of the clone notebook market, white-box notebooks will become a major segment of the global PC industry, the sources stated.
In addition to establishing an exclusive business unit to handle white-box notebooks in March, Asustek began to ship no-brand notebooks in April and also highlighted its white-box models at the Computex 2006 IT trade fair, which ended on June 10, the sources indicated. By working with Intel to cultivate the clone notebook market, Asustek has an opportunity to grab notebook orders with a higher level of profitability.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 14, 2006 - 05:57 AM | Comments
PCs Show Signs of Life as Q1 2006 Results Come In
According to industry research firm IDC, PC sales in the first quarter were higher than expected, thanks to international demand. In a report released Tuesday, IDC said worldwide PC shipments grew 12.6% during the first three months of the year, compared with projections made in March of 11.8% growth.
IDC raised its full-year estimates for 2006 to 10.8% growth from 10.5% growth. In 2007, IDC now expects PC sales to increase 11.7%, up nearly one percentage point from its prior estimate. The firm trimmed its growth estimates for 2009 and 2010 slightly but said that total PC shipments through 2010 will nonetheless come in higher than expected. Total PC shipments in 2010 will reach 334 million units, up from the 208 million units shipped last year.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 10:04 AM | Comments
Kingston Launches 2-GB miniSD and MMCmobile Cards
Kingston Technology Company, Inc., today announced it is producing larger capacity miniSD and MMCmobile Flash memory cards to support the growing storage demands of feature-rich mobile phones. The new mobile memory cards are immediately available in 2-GB capacities.
"As consumers become more knowledgeable on the variety of features and functions offered by new multifunction mobile handsets, the need for larger capacity Flash memory continues to increase to optimize the devices? storage capabilities,? said Keyla Velazquez, mobile media product manager, Kingston. ?Our research of the emerging global mobile market indicates a growing demand for higher capacities to allow users to store even more data, music, photos and video. For example, a 2-GB memory card can hold up to 1,100 photos, depending on a device?s megapixel, resolution and compression,? continued Velazquez.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 07:17 AM | Comments
Labs compete to make new nuclear bomb
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the San Francisco Bay area and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are competing to design the nation's first new nuclear bomb in two decades. I forgot that Congress gave the okay for updated warheards, but it's back in the news today. I wonder where the 6,000 bombs that need to be replaced are going.
Congress approved the new bomb, known as the reliable replacement warhead, with bipartisan support in 2005 as part of a defense spending bill. The weapon would, by law, have the same explosive power as existing warheads. Proponents of the project say the U.S. would lose its so-called "strategic deterrent" unless it replaces its aging arsenal of about 6,000 bombs, which will become potentially unreliable within 15 years. A new, more reliable weapon, they say, would help the nation reduce its stockpile.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:56 AM | Comments
Bush makes surprise trip to Iraq
US President George W. Bush is currently in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in his first trip to the country since November 2003.
US President George W Bush has arrived in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on a surprise visit to meet new Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. They met in the US embassy in the fortified Green Zone, where Mr Bush is expected to stay for about five hours. "Good to see you," Mr Maliki said, who had apparently had only a five-minute notice, correspondents say.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:53 AM | Comments
Intel Beaming About Swifter Transistor
Intel researchers say they have a transistor design that could someday enable faster and more power efficient chips. The company's researchers feel that the combination of a three-dimensional or tri-gate transistor, which combines the use of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques, could be the answer to delivering future chips that are both speedy and energy efficient processors, Intel researchers said in a presentation at the VLSI Symposium on Technology and Circuits, which began on June 12.
The tri-gate design discussed at the conference pairs high-k (high electrical capacitance) gate dielectrics, along with metal gates electrodes and a manufacturing technique called strained silicon offered to cut power consumption. Transistors have a source, a drain and a gate. The channel, linking the source and drain, provides the path for electricity to follow between them. The metal gate electrode, in this case, works to keep electricity inside the channel?the path between the source and drain?while strained silicon, which manipulates the silicon lattice the chip is built upon, speeds up the flow of electrons inside the chip...
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:50 AM | Comments
ATI's R600 is on track for Q4
Fudo over at The Inq. believes that the ATI R600 GPU is on track for a 2006 launch and will pack a bunch, but he is unsure how big the punch will be.
R600 should be the biggest and the fastest-clocked chip around but we still don?t know how it will compare to Nvidia's G80 chip. We do know that R600 will have more graphic features and will be more capable, but that doesn't necessarily mean faster in the frame-rendering battle. ATI is not hiding the fact its R600 does Shader Model 4.0 and is fully DirectX 10 compatible. R600 will be a faster version of the redesigned Xbox 360 chip and will end up with more Shaders, more pipelines, faster memory and a faster clock. It won't have any on-die memory as this is too expensive and too complicated for such a chip. We also hear the R600 won't need a master card so you will be able to plug a pair of them and they will work.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:47 AM | Comments
Chipmakers to coordinate on 45-nanometer process
Japan's Toshiba and three other chipmakers said on Tuesday they have agreed to standardize technology to make advanced chips with a circuitry width of 45-nanometers or finer. The three other companies are Fujitsu, NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology, a joint venture between Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric. The companies are looking to possible mutual use and consolidation of their plants in the future. Bring on 45nm and the power savings that come with the smaller die sizes!
Finer circuitry decreases the size of a chip and enables data to be processed faster. It also cuts production costs per chip. But costs for development and production equipment have increased as technology moves to ever-more intricate circuitry, making it difficult for chipmakers to shoulder the burden alone. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Most of the world's advanced semiconductor factories currently make chips with a circuitry width of 90 nanometers.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:44 AM | Comments
SiS to begin producing DDR3 chipsets in late 2007
As a follow-up to its recent announcement of next-generation desktop chipset products targeted to hit the market in 2007, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) stated that the SiS665, the company's first northbridge that will support DDR3 memory technology, will reach production phase in the end of 2007, but volume shipments are currently not expected to start before 2008.
First samples of the SiS665 are expected to be ready in the third quarter of 2007, and this product will likely be another step in the 80nm process deployment by United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC). The northbridge will support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory interfaces, and this will probably be implemented through two memory controllers in the northbridge, SiS said. In addition to this, the chip will also support a next-generation PCIe interface, according to the company.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 13, 2006 - 06:41 AM | Comments
AMD to launch pricing campaign to counter Intel
AMD will launch a pricing campaign later this month, covering the full range of its product line, in head-to-head rivalry with Intel, which is expected to lower the prices for its processors in July, according to sources with motherboard makers.
The sources indicated that AMD will cut the prices for four models in its Athlon 64 single-core CPU series by 20-30% in mid June. On July 24, AMD will reduce the prices for its Athlon 64x2 dual-core CPUs by 25-50%, and its low-end single-core Sempron series will see a 10-15% cut in prices, according to the sources. Intel is expected to offer significant price reductions for its Celeron, Pentium 4 and Pentium D series when it launches its desktop Core2 Duo (Conroe) processors next month. DigiTimes reported these price cuts on May 26.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 12, 2006 - 05:58 AM | Comments
Students find ring tone adults can't hear -- 'Mosquito'
Students are using a new ring tone to receive messages in class ? and many teachers can't even hear the ring. Some students are downloading a ring tone off the Internet that is too high-pitched to be heard by most adults. With it, high schoolers can receive text message alerts on their cell phones without the teacher knowing. Now that is just classic!
he ring tone is a spin-off of technology that was originally meant to repel teenagers ? not help them. A Welsh security company developed the tone to help shopkeepers disperse young people loitering in front of their stores while leaving adults unaffected. The company called their product the "Mosquito." Donna Lewis, a teacher in Manhattan, says her colleague played the ring for a classroom of first-graders ? and all of them could hear it, while the adults couldn't hear anything.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 12, 2006 - 05:56 AM | Comments
Conroe will result in lower prices... for AMD
As if this is going to keep massive amounts of people from buying Conroe! AMD is going to lower prices the day after Conroe is launched to try and soften the blow that Conroe is expected to give. I am all for this, as lower prices always benefit the consumer in the end. Bring on the price wars!
According to memos recently obtained by DailyTech, AMD will drastically cut prices on its desktop processors after the July 23rd release of Intel?s Core 2 Duo Conroe processors.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 12, 2006 - 05:28 AM | Comments
Microsoft opens up Vista testing for the public
Windows users can now get their hands on a test version of Vista, Microsoft's new operating system. The software giant is letting anyone download or order a beta, or trial, version of the program. Only those happy to tinker with a PC should install the software though as it is not final or 100% stable from our sources.
Those registering for the test version will get two versions of the software - beta 2 and release candidate 1. The beta is available now and the other copy will be released later in 2006. Microsoft is limiting the numbers of registrations but has not said when it will stop taking applications. Before now Microsoft has only let small numbers of Windows developers play around with early editions.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 09, 2006 - 07:42 AM | Comments
Cellfire offers downloadable coupons to Cingular users
Soon, you won't need scissors to clip out discount coupons -- your cell phone will do the work for you. San Jose-based Cellfire has been quietly serving up mobile discount coupons to Cingular Wireless subscribers in California since December. So far, eight retailers, including Hollywood Video and Supercuts, have signed on. Right on! I'm down for coupons being sent to your phone! This will be perfect for last minute shoppers like myself.
To use a coupon, people call it up on their cell phone screen and show it to the cashier. Each coupon has a five-digit code, which cashiers type into the register to calculate the appropriate discount. Retailers pay Cellfire a fee for each mobile coupon that's redeemed. The service is likely to do well as long as customers present just one coupon per establishment, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with the Enderle Group. ``It will not work anyplace where you have to give the phone to someone and they wander off. For one coupon, it would be all right. Maybe it will open a new market and attract folks who usually do not use coupons,'' he said.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 09, 2006 - 07:19 AM | Comments
ATI to offer 965-equivalent chipsets
ATI Technologies is looking to offer 965-equivalent chipsets for the Intel's Conroe platform, according to company CEO Dave Orton. In addition, the graphics chip vendor is in talks with Intel about providing its CrossFire dual-card graphics technology to Intel's recently-introduced 965 chipsets, said Orton, adding that the decision has not yet been finalized.
ATI unveiled new integrated chipsets - the RS600, RD600 and RD500 - at the ongoing Computex 2006 IT fair, as well as presented a lineup of Radeon 1000 GPU products. In response to Nvidia's ambition in the handheld device-use GPU market, Orton stated ATI's March acquisition of Shanghai-based XGI Technology and a May takeover of Bitboys Oy this year have further enhanced the company's R&D capability in multimedia and handheld device solution technologies.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 09, 2006 - 07:13 AM | Comments
Take-Two Interactive Bleeds Red
The red ink gushed out of Take-Two Interactive in the company's second quarter due to rising product costs and a huge write-off. And in a possible sign of more bad news to come, company executives declined to give any financial guidance for the current quarter or the rest of the year, citing the difficulty of providing forecasts in a difficult market environment.
Investors frowned on the news. In recent after-hours exchanges following the report, Take-Two shares were off $1.92, or 11%, to $14.85.In the quarter ended April 30, the video-game-software publisher lost $50.4 million, or 71 cents a share. In contrast, the company lost just $8.2 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The loss grew in spite of the fact that sales jumped 19% year over year to $265.1 million.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 09, 2006 - 07:10 AM | Comments
Hotel offers BlackBerry detox -- Is today Detox day?
I guess today is the day to run detox stories because first it was gaming and now it's for crackberry users! BlackBerry addicts have a crack at freedom when they check into one Chicago hotel: the manager will put the communications devices and others like them under lock and key for guests who want a break.
"I was really addicted to my BlackBerry. I had an obsession with e-mail," he told Reuters. "Morning and night. There came a time when I didn't think it was healthy ... I quit cold turkey." He believes guests might want to try the same thing for a day or two anyway, so they can concentrate on meetings, business and socializing while at the hotel.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 08, 2006 - 02:23 PM | Comments
Detox clinic for video game addicts to open in Netherlands
An addiction center is opening Europe's first detox clinic for game addicts, offering in-house treatment for people who can't leave their joysticks alone. Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants already has treated 20 video game addicts, aged 13 to 30, since January. Some show withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking and sweating, when they look at a computer. When I was in college I checked my counter-strike stats to find that i played on average 50 hours per week! I didn't need detox, I just opened Legit Reviews and found a new addiction -- computer hardware. ** Looks for Hardware Detox Clinic **
Tim, a gamer who is currently under treatment, agreed to discuss his addiction on condition of his last name not being used. He said he began playing video games three years ago at age 18. Soon he wouldn't leave his room for dinner. Later, he began taking drugs to stay awake and play longer. Finally he sought help and picked up other hobbies to occupy his time. Symptoms of addiction are easy to spot, Bakker says. Parents should take notice if a child neglects usual activities, spends several hours at a time with the computer and has no social life.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 08, 2006 - 02:20 PM | Comments
Online video games set to get X-rated -- RedLightCenter
The adult entertainment industry is on the verge of making online gaming sexier at a time when mainstream publishers are fighting a political and cultural war over erotic content. RedLightCenter is only available via online download, so don't think your kids will see it on store shelves next to the educational titles. When you think about it this has been on the back burner for years. Amazing it took this long to finally get going.
"This is the newest industry and the oldest industry in the world coming together," said Jezebel, a telephone sex business owner and operator of the virtual Bareback Bordello in RedLightCenter.com, an online game inspired by Amsterdam's famed Red Light District and now in test. Like popular games such as "World of Warcraft" and "Second Life," Utherverse's RedLightCenter is an online universe that can support thousands of players. Unlike the mainstream games, where virtual sex happens in areas apart from the main thrust of play, RedLightCenter starts with sex.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 08, 2006 - 02:16 PM | Comments
Take-Two Interactive Finally Past Hot Coffee Mod
Under a proposed settlement agreed to by Take-Two and the Federal Trade Commission Take-Two won't have to pay a fine and won't be forced to pull any products from the shelves, and none of the company's executives will face any personal penalties. Take that Hillary! I'm glad to see a happy ending to something that was silly to start with.
The discovery of hidden, explicit sex scenes in Take-Two Interactive's flagship game last year led to a costly recall, lawsuits and a plunge in the video game publisher's stock. Apparently deciding that the company had suffered enough for the "Hot Coffee" fiasco, federal regulators announced on Wednesday that they're letting the company off with little more than a slap on the wrist.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 08, 2006 - 12:34 PM | Comments
Samsung Presents "world's first" 3D AM OLED at SID 2006
South Korea's Samsung SDI is showing a 3D active matrix (AM) OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display, which it claims is the world's first, at San Francisco's Society for Information Display (SID) show. This images on this screen are amazing! Samsung hopes to commercialize the product by the end of 2007.
The 4.3-inch prototype provides the world's highest resolution, WQVGA(480×272), in terms of 3D images, the company said. The new product is also much faster in displaying 3D images than existing LCD-based 3D displays by adopting AM OLEDs whose response time is 1,000 times faster than that of TFT LCDs, the company added. Samsung SDI emphasized that by adopting a new technology called Time Division Parallax Barrier Method, the 4.3-inch prototype can realize the same level of resolution even when users convert 2D images into 3D, while existing LCD-based 3D displays decrease the resolution by half during the conversion.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 08, 2006 - 12:30 PM | Comments
NVIDIA Announces The nForce Professional 3000 Series MCP
NVIDIA Corporation today announced that the Company will be conducting technology demonstrations this week of its new NVIDIA nForce Professional 3000-series media and communications processor (MCP) at this year?s Computex tradeshow
In its booth, NVIDIA will have on display the new NVIDIA nForce Professional 3600 MCP providing up to 28 lanes of PCI Express and the new NVIDIA nForce Professional 3050 companion chip, providing system integrators the ability to easily scale performance and features from single to multi-processor environments. For the NVIDIA nForce Professional 3000 family, NVIDIA has integrated support for some of the industry?s most viable technologies aimed at providing NVIDIA enterprise customers with industry-leading levels of performance and system integration.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 07, 2006 - 02:34 PM | Comments
Sony's Alpha DSLR-A100 Digital Camera Has Interchangeable Lenses
Many companies have had interchangeable lenses on digital SLR cameras for years, but Sony has not been one of those companies. With the Alpha DSLR-A100 unveiled consumers now have a Sony digital camera that will work with 19 Sony lenses.
The Alpha DSLR-A100 camera is a culmination of Sony's yearlong collaboration with Japanese precision-equipment maker Konica Minolta Holdings Inc., which pulled out of the camera business in January and sold the assets to Sony. The camera body of the DSLR-A100 will be available in July at a retail price of about $900. Lenses range in price from about $450 to $700. The 10.2-megapixel camera will work with 19 Sony lenses.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 07, 2006 - 07:40 AM | Comments
Google acknowledges China compromise
Google Inc. co-founder Sergey Brin acknowledged Tuesday that Google has compromised its principles by accommodating Chinese censorship demands. He said Google is wrestling to make the deal work before deciding whether to reverse course. I also find it highly interesting that Sergey said many Americans misunderstand just how much of their online information goes to the government. A very interesting read as personal technology and government surveillance collide.
?We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service and perhaps make more of a difference,? Brin said. Brin also addressed Internet users' expectations of privacy in an era of increased government surveillance, saying Americans misunderstand the limited safeguards of their personal electronic information.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 07, 2006 - 07:37 AM | Comments
HP Recalls The Photosmart R707 Digital Camera - Catches Fire
Hewlett-Packard may be facing a slight setback in its recently announced goal to make its logo the 21st century's symbol of photography: It is recalling a digital camera that can catch on fire when used with a non-rechargeable battery. If you own the Photosmart R707 digital camera I suggest sending it in.
The Palo Alto-based computer and printer giant and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday a recall of the software that controls the battery charging functions in the HP Photosmart R707 Digital Camera. About 224,000 of these cameras in the United States and 679,000 worldwide have been purchased between August 2004 and April 2006. Owners can request a CD-ROM or download free software from HP's Web site to correct the problem. HP spokeswoman Jennifer Pershall said the software recall is an isolated incident with a simple fix.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 07, 2006 - 05:39 AM | Comments
Apple files second lawsuit against Creative
Apple Computer Inc., maker of market-leading iPod digital music players, has filed a second patent infringement lawsuit in the United States against rival Creative Technology Ltd. The counter-suits come after Singapore-based Creative, the world's number two MP3 player maker, filed patent complaints against Apple last month in a federal court and with a U.S. trade agency.
Apple filed its latest suit in a district court in Texas last Thursday, claiming Creative has infringed at least three of its patents -- one that involves displaying data on a computer, another for editing data using a portable media device, and the third for the creation of icons to organize files on a computer. Apple is seeking cash damages and a court order to prevent further patent infringements, according to U.S. court documents seen by Reuters.
Posted by | Wed, Jun 07, 2006 - 05:31 AM | Comments
Super Talent Launches 1GB and 2GB Fireball USB Drives
Super Talent Technology today announced a new line of ?Fireball? USB drives that feature a unique rubber flame housing. Super Talent Fireball drives incorporate a zippy new dual-channel controller to deliver at least 25MB per second read speeds and 12MB per second write speeds. Super Talent informed us that the 1GB version of the Fireball will carry an MSRP of $35.
The Fireball is encased in a shock resistant rubber housing that helps protect the drive from damage when dropped, making the Fireball one of the most rugged USB drives on the market. The rubber casing is designed to look like a ball of fire, in red, yellow and black. The following part numbers will be available in volume in late June from Super Talent resellers worldwide, with a 4GB model coming in July.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 02:23 PM | Comments
ATI Announces ATI Physics by Supporting the Havok FX Engine
ATI Technologies Inc. is loosening the ties that bind gamers to their physical realities by immersing them in a simulation more complete than anything they've seen before. The 'boundless gaming' experience is created by combining the rendering horsepower of two ATI graphics cards with a third devoted to modeling the environment. ATI, like NVIDIA, will be supporting the Havok FX engine which is looking better every day. With ATI and NVIDIA teamed up with Havok could this be the end for AGEIA and their PhysX processor?
ATI physics lets developers deliver true-to-life representations of reality in games, thanks to the superior parallel processing architecture of ATI's Radeon X1K GPUs. The Radeon X1900 XTX is one the highest performing physics processor available today, delivering a whopping 360 Gflops of processing power. Gamers will be able to enjoy scenes with 20,000 to 30,000 distinct objects that can now be accurately simulated and rendered at real-time frame rates, providing a more immersive experience.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 06:13 AM | Comments
Intel Unveils 965 Express Chipset For Core 2 Duo (Conroe)
At the Computex opening keynote, Asia?s largest computer expo, Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager, Sales and Marketing Group, unveiled the new Intel 965 Express Chipset, which will power Intel's upcoming Core 2 Duo processors.
Chandrasekher officially introduced the Intel P965 Express Chipset, formerly code-named ?Broadwater,? and said future versions, including one with graphics built in, will ship over the next two months. Combined, the Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Intel P965 Express Chipset will enable breakthrough PC performance, greater power efficiency, quieter systems and theatre-like sound quality, among other benefits.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 06:06 AM | Comments
Kingston Launches HyperX DDR2 1066MHz (PC2-8500) Memory
Kingston Technology Company, Inc. announced today along with ASUS a joint partnership exclusively for ASUS' latest Intel Broadwater based motherboard, ASUS P5B Deluxe and Kingston's HyperX DDR2 1066-MHz (PC2-8500) memory modules. The P5B Deluxe motherboard from ASUS is based on the Intel P965 chipset and supports DDR2 memory. Kingston's HyperX 1066 MHz modules and the ASUS P5B motherboard have been tested for optimal performance.
This is a substantial announcement for Kingston , to combine cutting-edge memory technology with the latest in motherboard development," said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. "Kingston's HyperX DDR2 1066-MHz memory module combined with ASUS' P5B Deluxe motherboard is the ideal solution for consumers wanting the best in motherboards and performance memory" continued Tekunoff. Kingston's HyperX 1066 MHz modules are a perfect blend of speed and ultimate performance. Components used to build HyperX must go through stringent tests in order to be qualified for the line. Once potential components meet our rigorous testing standards, they are then assembled and tested.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 06:02 AM | Comments
Gas Station TV Coming To A Pump Near You
Gas Station TV, based in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park, has been testing its service for several months in Dallas with TV monitors installed above gas pumps that show short clips of news, weather and traffic, and, of course, advertising. I'm not sure about you, but I like pumping gas. It's a bonding expierence between man and machine -- letting your baby get some 93 octane shouldn't include commercials!
The video will include news segments from local TV anchors, traffic updates as well as some consumer-oriented segments from ABC's ``Good Morning America'' program. Since gas pumpers won't be able to switch off the video, keeping it relevant and engaging is key, Leider said. ``Pumping gas is boring and mundane,'' Leider said. ``We live in a very can't-sit-still, multi-stimulus environment. We are convinced that people will be very favorable to this experience at the gas station.''
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 05:56 AM | Comments
A-Data revenues for May drop 4% -- Blames Short Month
Memory module maker A-Data Technology posted $84.4 million in revenues for May, down 4% sequentially due to fewer working days in the month. But it maintained that revenues and profits for the second-quarter will be much higher compared to the first quarter.
Of its May revenues, 55% came from DRAM modules. The revenue ratio between DDR and DDR2 was 6:4, the company said. Stable prices for NAND flash buoyed sales from the segment, which accounted for 45% of A-Data's revenues in May. A-Data said demand for NAND flash is clearly picking up, and it expects leading NAND flash makers Samsung Electronics and Hynix Semiconductor to further raise contract prices for the segment.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 05:53 AM | Comments
Google launches web spreadsheet
Internet search engine Google has released a Web-based spreadsheet application, on a limited test basis. I haven't had a chance to try this out yet, but it's on my list of things for today! On another note AdWords will soon be an option for Google Spreadsheet as Google will test its viability as a vehicle for contextual ads. If you want to take a sneak peak go here.
The Google spreadsheet is initially targeted at small work teams in social life or small business, not big enterprises, he said. Google said the programme is designed to help people organise their own information and make it more easily accessible to others through the web. Data in the spreadsheets are saved automatically with each user action over the web onto Google computer servers. Google recently bought Writely, an online word-processing application that also allows users to collaborate online.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 05:42 AM | Comments
Intel Trims The Fat By Looking To Sell Communications Branch
Chip maker Intel Corp. is looking to sell parts of its communications chip business according to a report on the Wall Street Journal Web site on Monday. Intel is started to battle AMD and seems to cutting the fat where it isn't needed.
The sale plan includes chips used to run software on cell phones and chips for network devices, according to the report, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The chip maker said in late April that it would conduct a top to bottom review of the company with an aim to cutting costs in face of intense competition from rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 05:37 AM | Comments
Hewlett-Packard Gets Back $443 Million Back From The IRS
Hewlett-Packard settled a tax audit with the Internal Revenue Service and said the resulting $443 million gain will be added to the second-quarter earnings it reported three we eks ago. NICE!!!
As a result, the computer giant now says it earned $1.9 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the quarter ended April 30, up from a previously reported $1.5 billion, or 51 cents a share. Earnings before various items rose to 69 cents a share from a previously reported 54 cents a share. Hewlett-Packard said the revision was necessary because it signed the settlement June 1, after the end of the end of the second quarter but before it filed its 10-Q for the period.
Posted by | Tue, Jun 06, 2006 - 05:34 AM | Comments
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 Availability and Pricing
I just got an e-mail from our friends over at NVIDIA and they sent us a list of who should have the GeForce 7950 GX2 up and for sale today. If you want to buy one this is a list of stores that will be up today. If you look at the Newegg link you will see something very interesting on the bottom of the page -- "SLI support will be provided through a future NVIDIA ForceWare driver release".
MWave.com: Link ($599 & up)
NCIX.com: Link ($750 Canadian)
TigerDirect.com: Link ($649-699)
Buy.com: Link ($679)
Newegg and zipzoomfly will have pricing by noon PST
Newegg.com: Link (ALl Listed Except BFG Tech
Posted by | Mon, Jun 05, 2006 - 08:27 AM | Comments
June 2006 Forum Contest: Kingston HyperX PC2-6400 CL4 Memory
How does a low latency PC2-6400 DDR2 memory kit from Kingston sound?? This month we have their PC2-6400 CL4 low latency memory kit up for grabs and it will be going out to a lucky forum member. Monarch sells the same kit for $175 so be sure to enter for a chance to win a kit!
It's Here - HyperX DDR2 memory, the next-generation evolution of DDR memory technology. Like all Kingston HyperX products, HyperX DDR2 modules were specifically engineered and designed to meet the rigorous requirements of PC enthusiasts. HyperX DDR2 offers faster speeds, lower latencies, higher data bandwidths and lower power consumption. HyperX is available in single and dual channel memory kits.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 05, 2006 - 07:56 AM | Comments
GeForce 7950 GX2 Video Card Review List
Right now enthusiasts around the world are trying to read as many GeForce 7950 GX2 reviews that they can and to help you out here is a list of the reviews that we have found online this morning. Feel free to read ours and go over and take a look at these other great sites to see what the other professional review sites have to say on launch day! Newegg currently does not have any 7950's on their site, but ZipZoomFly has the Gigabyte GV-3D1-7950-RH GeForce 7950 GX2 listed for $599 and as 'Out of Stock' already! Hopefully by late afternoon they will have their sites updated.
Guru3D
HardwareZone
HotHardware
Legit Reviews
nV News
PCPerspective
The Tech Report
Posted by | Mon, Jun 05, 2006 - 07:38 AM | Comments
ECS Has Intel Broadwater Chipset Motherboard at Computex
Elitegroup Computer Systems, Inc. (ECS), a leading computer hardware and notebook manufacturer, is set to introduce a full line of Intel 965/946 Express Chipset-based motherboards supporting the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors at Computex Taipei 2006.
Based on the Broadwater chipset, the ECS PX1, P965T-A, G965T-M, P946PLT-A, and 946GZT-M motherboards feature technological breakthroughs including support for Core 2 Duo CPUs, which adopt next generation micro-architecture (NGMA) that enables developers and integrators to create more compact, more quiet, and energy efficient desktop platforms suitable for a wide range of productive computing, gaming and digital home entertainment applications. This motherboard series is fully-compatible with the upcoming Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.
Posted by | Mon, Jun 05, 2006 - 07:00 AM | Comments
NVIDIA Launches The GeForce 7950GX2 Video Card
NVIDIA today announced the new NVIDIAŽ GeForce 7950 GX2, the world?s fastest graphics card , is available immediately from the Company?s add-in card partners. The GeForce 7950 GX2 performs as much as 72% faster than the leading single-GPU graphics cards on the market today by harnessing the power of two GeForce 7950 graphics processing units (GPUs) on one card. Be sure to read our review on the XFX GeForce 7950GX2 XXX Edition here.
NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2 "The GeForce 7950 GX2 is a great card for the gamer that?s looking for the absolute best performance in a single graphics card solution," said Ujesh Desai, general manager of desktop GPUs at NVIDIA. "With that kind of power gamers can crank up their screen resolution to an unbelievable 2560x1600 for an extreme high definition gaming experience."
Posted by | Mon, Jun 05, 2006 - 06:53 AM | Comments
Intel's Official Comments On AMD's Upcoming 4x4 Platform
After AMD announced their upcoming '4x4' enthusiast platform yesterday during their analyst day we contacted Intel to see what kind of reaction we could get. Just minutes ago Intel cleared a statement for us to post and you can read it below.
We?re not sure how many of these parts they will actually ship, but we have an exciting line-up for enthusiasts starting with the launch of a 2.93GHz Core-2 Extreme and a 3.2GHz Extreme processor later in the year. We?ll also have Quad Core for server and desktop shipping in Q1 '07. A number of third party enthusiast sites have already commented on the impressive headroom available with the IntelŽ Core? 2 Extreme processor.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 02, 2006 - 09:18 AM | Comments
U.S. wants to keep Web records for two years
The U.S. Department of Justice has quietly told Google, Microsoft and other major Internet companies that it wants them to keep detailed records of where people go while surfing the Web for up to two years. Here comes big brother watching our backs again.
The proposal, which would require congressional approval, could dramatically change how companies cooperate with law enforcement agencies investigating everything from terrorist networks to child pornography. Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast could also be forced to comply. Brian Roehrkasse, a Justice Department spokesman, said the government wants companies to keep data related to Web searches and e-mail exchanges -- but not content, such as e-mail messages or attachments.
Posted by | Fri, Jun 02, 2006 - 09:11 AM | Comments
AMD Announces '4x4' Enthusiast Platforms
AMD just minutes ago announced the next generation AMD enthusiast platform called the '4x4'. Featuring a pair of dual-core FX processors and a pair of NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossFire video cards you will end up with the '4x4' platform. AMD also let us know that the '4x4' platform can start out with a single CPU and graphics card so that consumers can build their own '4x4' as the budget permits. Head on into the forums for more slides and information as we are still editing the slides from the presentation.
Posted by | Thu, Jun 01, 2006 - 10:10 AM | Comments
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