Legit Reviews News History
Windows XP SP3 to add performance boost?
For those hanging on to XP, good news may be in your future. It has been reported that the SP3 patch will boost performance by as much as 10%! As an XP user, I am looking forward to seeing if this pans out.
After pronouncing Windows Vista SP1 a "performance dud" two weeks ago, Devil Mountain Software, a Florida-based software development firm, reported that an upcoming update for Windows XP will offer substantial performance gains.
Running an Office productivity test suite on a preview version of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, Devil Mountain discovered a 10 percent performance boost over the current version of Windows XP, the company reported on its blog.
The news comes as a "nice bonus," the research staff said on the blog, because SP3 was expected mainly to deliver bug fixes and consolidate various patches. "In fact, XP SP3 is shaping up to be a must-have update for the majority of users who are still running Redmond's not-so-latest-and-greatest desktop OS," the company said.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 27, 2007 - 07:47 AM | Comments
Dubai Investment Fund Buys 'Substantial' Stake in Sony
Dubai International Capital, an investment company owned by the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, acquired a stake in Sony Corp. in the latest sign of the growing appetite for overseas investments by Middle Eastern investors.
The company, based in the United Arab Emirates, said Monday that it made a "substantial" investment in Sony. Spokesmen for DIC and Sony declined to disclose details about the size of the stake. The investment company's stake is likely to be under 5%.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 26, 2007 - 12:02 PM | Comments
Sony sells 1 million updated PSPs in Japan
Sony said sales in Japan of the new version of its PlayStation Portable (PSP) game machine reached 1 million units in the two months since its launch, hitting that milestone at a quicker pace than the original model. It took additional two weeks for Sony to sell 1 million units of the original PSPs three years ago.
The Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment group launched a lighter and slimmer model of the PSP in Japan on September 20 to better compete with Nintendo's hot-selling DS. Sony aims to sell 10 million units of the PSP worldwide in the fiscal year ending in March, while Nintendo targets DS sales of 28 million units.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 26, 2007 - 10:08 AM | Comments
Forget Cyber Monday! Walmart Does Cyber Week
Walmart.com, hoping consumers did not get their fill of shopping over the long Thanksgiving weekend, will roll out more holiday deals online every day this week. The site will offer special prices on 150 items -- three times more than a year ago -- posting roughly 65 discounts on Monday and then adding new deals to the site daily through Friday.
Walmart.com will also promote one special "featured" item each day, like Monday's Xbox 360 bundle, which includes Microsoft's Xbox 360 premium video game console, an extra controller, three games and messenger bag for less than $400. The expanded offering of online-only deals comes as Wal-Mart Stores Inc is relying more heavily on its Web site to drive sales and promote low prices this holiday season.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 26, 2007 - 10:07 AM | Comments
AMD Promotes Phil Rogers to Help Develop 'Fusion' Processors
AMD today announced the appointment of Phil Rogers to AMD Corporate Fellow. In this role, Rogers will continue developing advanced architectures and extend AMD's software capabilities. Rogers' emphasis on enhancing graphics processing unit (GPU) and central processing unit (CPU) interoperability through software and hardware innovations plays a central role in delivering performance optimization and power reduction advances for graphics and computing.
Rogers will play a key role in software development for AMD's "Fusion" technology initiative, where CPUs and GPUs are combined and integrated to improve energy efficiency and performance capability. Rogers will focus on the software requirements necessary to bring together the GPU and CPU in a way that optimizes system power and performance, while maintaining software and application flexibility.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 26, 2007 - 10:04 AM | Comments
No Profit in DRAM Production? Memory Market Might See Production Cut
Stiff cost pressure among global DRAM makers should force some players to trim output by March 2008, according to Simon Chen, chairman at A-Data Technology. The reduced output should signal a rebound for the entire industry, Chen added. Chen commented that DRAM makers are burning money under the current pricing environment. He emphasized that if only Taiwan makers trim production it would have no meaningful impact over the entire industry given that the two leading Korea-based makers, combined, account for half of global DRAM output.
The present pricing environment is similar to that seen in 2001, Chen said. Prices of SDRAM began to head south with a price rebound only seen after chipmakers started trimming their output, he recalled. Despite that industry players are still struggling in the price trough, Chen said cheap DRAM prices mean that the cost of 2GB memory modules is not critical, which in turn should help consume excess DRAM capacity.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 26, 2007 - 08:54 AM | Comments
November 23 News from Around the Web
Find news from around the web by visiting our forums, including this article from HotHardware.com!
We’re writing to let you all know that we’ve just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features and performance of MSI’s nForce 680i SLI-based P6N Diamond motherboard. In addition to a slew of integrated peripherals, the MSI P6N Diamond has a couple of unique features, like quad PEG slots and integrated Creative Labs X-Fi audio. Head on over to the site and check it out...
Posted by | Fri, Nov 23, 2007 - 07:23 PM | Comments
Apple settles iPod lawsuit for $10 million
Apple on Wednesday agreed to settle a patent dispute with Burst.com, ending two years of litigation. Under the agreement, Apple will pay Burst.com US$10 million and get access to Burst.com’s patent portfolio, with some exceptions, Burst.com said in a press release. Apple won’t have access to four of Burst.com’s current and pending patents, including three pending patents relating to digital video recorder (DVR) technology. Court costs, expenses and attorney’s fees will reduce the proceeds to Burst.com to $4.6 million.
Burst alleged that Apple infringed four patents for transmission of compressed audio and video files in iTunes, iLife, QuickTime and the iPod. In 2004, Burst.com asked Apple to license some of its patents, saying they were at the heart of the iPod. In January 2006, Apple sued Burst.com in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking a judgment that the Burst.com patents were invalid and not infringed. Burst.com countersued in April 2006, alleging that Apple infringed four Burst.com patents. Burst.com settled a similar case with Microsoft for US$60 million last year.
Posted by | Fri, Nov 23, 2007 - 11:58 AM | Comments
abit releases their AMD 770 chipset-based motherboard, the abit AX78
abit today announced their latest AMD 770 chipset-based motherboard, the abit AX78. This is abit’s first motherboard with native support for AMD Phenom quad-core processors delivering best performance for true quad-core processors, HyperTransport 3, Dual Channel DDR2 1066 memory, PCI Express 2.0 and CrossFire X. The coolest feature on the board is the 'EZ CCMOS' switch that allows you to reset the BIOS with out entering the case.
The unique abit engineered features set you apart from others and warrant for a most advanced computing experience with abit’s patented Silent OTES heatpipe, 4-phase PWM for AM2+ processors, 100% Japanese made capacitors for lasting durability and the external EZ CCMOS switch to reset your BIOS without the need to open your computer case.
Posted by | Fri, Nov 23, 2007 - 11:47 AM | Comments
AMD likely to also postpone launch of 2.4GHz Phenom CPUs
Issues with AMD's new 65nm processors are not only dampening the launch schedule of the highest frequency version Phenom CPU, but may now also affect the 2.4GHz 9700 model as well, according to sources at motherboard makers in Taiwan. The delay of the higher-end CPUs is not the only disappointment expressed by the industry players as the thermal design power (TDP) of the upcoming 9700 is also drawing concern. The sources revealed that the 9700 will have a TDP of 125W while the the 2.6GHz 9900 model will have its TDP hit as much as 140W. Legit Reviews pointed all this out four days ago in the forums, so this isn't news to our forum members.
Phenom 9500 and 9600 CPUs launched on November 19 at US$251 and US$283, respectively, and AMD was earlier reported to be planning to launch a 9700 model in mid December. However, this schedule is now likely to be pushed back to early 2008, sources at motherboard makers have revealed.
Posted by | Fri, Nov 23, 2007 - 08:51 AM | Comments
AMD Stock Price Lowest in Years - Hit $10.52 Today in Trading
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices hit a multi-year low Wednesday, as economic concerns spread through the chip sector. AMD's stock was down as much as 6.7% to $10.52 at one point Wednesday, breaching its 52-week low of $11.18. The last time AMD's stock traded at a lower level was on Aug. 23 2003, when it hit $10.24.
The selloff came on a down day for the broader markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite both in retreat. American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman said chip companies carrying large loads of debt on their books are particularly suffering in the current environment.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 21, 2007 - 03:48 PM | Comments
Nvidia to launch Intel-based nForce 780i chipset in December
Nvidia is planning to launch its Intel-based nForce 780i chipset in December this year, however mass shipments will not occur until January next year, according to sources at motherboard makers. The nForce 780 SLI chipset will be available to two forms, the nForce 780i SLI (C72 XE) supporting Intel and nForce 780a SLI (C72 P) supporting AMD, noted the sources.
The nForce 780i will target Intel's X38 chipsets as its major competitor. It will support PCI Express 2.0 and 3-way SLI technology with three PCI Express x16 slots. Motherboard pricing will be around US$200, noted the sources. With most of the features of the 780i similar to those of the X38 with the added benefit of 3-way SLI, some motherboard makers expect the chipset to have a good chance of performing well in the market. The chipset will also feature Nvidia's ESA (enthusiast system architecture) to monitor the PC hardware status, added the sources.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 21, 2007 - 10:21 AM | Comments
Firefox plans bug fix release for next week - 2.0.0.10 update
Mozilla plans to release a bug fix for its Firefox browser next week, repairing a long-standing security flaw in the software. The 2.0.0.10 update is in testing right now and should be released to the public next week, following the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.
"We are giving it a couple of days to make sure that there are no issues found and we'll release it after Thanksgiving," said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's vice president of engineering. The issue was first reported last February by Jesse Ruderman, but it gained widespread attention earlier this month when researcher Petko Petkov pointed out on his blog that the flaw could be used to launch a cross-site scripting attack against the Firefox browser.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 21, 2007 - 10:19 AM | Comments
1Gb DDR2 chips might become mainstream in 2Q08
The price of 1Gb DDR2 chips has dropped down below US$2, which could forward it to become the mainstream market specification by the second quarter of 2008, according to sources at DRAM makers.
Although recent 512Mb DDR2 eTT chip pricing could rise again, low market demand and the fast dropping rate of 1Gb DDR2 eTT chip prices mean the 512Mb DDR2 eTT chip prices might drop down to US$0.9, according to DRAMeXchange. With the price of one 1Gb DDR2 eTT chip almost equal to two 512Mb eTT chips plus the fact that a 1GB DDR2 memory module only requires a single side of 1Gb DDR2 eTT chips, saving manufacturing time and costs, it could secure the trend of 1Gb DDR2 chips replacing 512Mb ones.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 21, 2007 - 10:16 AM | Comments
GameStop: Disappointing outlook for holiday season
GameStop, the largest U.S. video game retailer, on Tuesday gave a disappointing profit outlook for the holiday season that overshadowed strong third-quarter results, sending its stock down nearly 10 percent.
For the third quarter, net income rose to $52 million, or 31 cents a share, from $13.6 million, or 9 cents a share a year earlier. The profit beat Wall Street views of 23 cents a share, powered by sales of games such as Halo 3 and Madden NFL '08, and Guitar Hero II.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 08:54 PM | Comments
Why You Should Not Buy that $699 Flat Panel This Holiday
Christmas is coming and numerous TV brands plan to unload truckloads full of $599 and $699 flat panels this holiday season. But beware; all is not as it seems to be according to David Berman, Director of Training and Public Relations of Home Theater Specialists of America (HTSA). I agree that consumers need to understand the difference between 720p and 1080p, but I don't think anyone is getting screwed if they buy a 42" or larger 720p flat panel for under $699.
According to Berman, these TVs may look and feel like the real deal. But what salespeople at Circuit City, Best Buy and Wal-Mart won't tell you is that these models fall down on performance, reliability and warranties. Most shockingly, many of the TVs that are being presented as High-Definition (HD) aren't even compatible with most HD programming. HDTV in its best accepted standard has a pixel count of 1920 X 1080, producing a 1080p picture with 2,073,000 pixels. That's techno-speak for a drop-dead gorgeous, lifelike picture. Many of the TVs being dumped this holiday season are limited to 1366 X 768, producing a picture with approximately 1,000,000 pixels. That's less than half the pixel clarity of a true HDTV and only 8% of all HD programming comes across in this format.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 11:54 AM | Comments
Kingston Ready for AMD Spider Platform
Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping 1066MHz ValueRAM designed specifically for the new AMD Phenom Processor. Kingston worked closely with AMD on the launch of the Spider Platform, comprised of the new Phenom Processor, ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series graphics card and the AMD 7-Series Chipset, to ensure peak memory performance. Kingston's 1066MHz ValueRAM modules help take advantage of Phenom's ability to deliver true quad-core performance.
"The new Phenom processor from AMD will give high-performance and multi-threaded applications room to excel," said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager, Kingston. "DDR2 1066MHz ValueRAM desktop memory has been designed and tested to complement AMD's new chipset and CPU technologies, giving high-end users the ultimate experience."
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 11:33 AM | Comments
Mozilla releases Firefox 3 beta 1
A few months later than had been planned, Mozilla released on Monday night the first beta version of an overhauled Firefox, the widely used open-source Web browser. The software is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux at Mozilla's download site in 20 different languages.
Firefox 3 beta 1 includes a number of significant features that Mozilla said should improve security, ease of use, rendering of Web pages, and location of previously visited Web pages. And for the new era of rich Internet applications, the browser can run Web-based applications even when the computer is disconnected from a network.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 08:42 AM | Comments
Activision Ranks #1 U.S. Console and Handhelds for October
Activision was the #1 U.S. console and handheld publisher for the month of October, increasing its U.S. market share to a record 28.7%, according to The NPD Group. The company's performance was driven by the success of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which was the #1 U.S. best-selling title across all platforms, despite only one week of sales during the month.
For the month of October, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was the #1 U.S. best-selling title for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft; the PLAYSTATION3 and PlayStation2 computer entertainment systems and the Wii home video game system from Nintendo. Additionally, it was the first third-party game ever to rank #1 on the Wii platform.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 08:33 AM | Comments
abit Introduces I-N73H Series Motherboards
abit yesterday announced their brand new Entertainment and Gaming Platform motherboards, the I-N73H Series. Based on the nVIDIA GeForce7100/nForce 630i single chip the I-N73H series support next generation 45nm multi-core processors and Intel Core 2 Extreme/Quad/Duo processors with up to 1333 MHz FSB.
Despite the small mATX form factor, the I-N73H Series provides a maximum of 4GB memory capacity for DDR2 800 modules. With the integrated GeForce 7 Series graphics comes support for DirectX 9 and Shader Model 3.0 as well as nVIDIA’s nView Technology. Last but not least, the abit engineeredTM 4-Phase-PWM ensures better power switch efficiency, while the passive heatsink on top of the PWM area silently dissipates heat. All of these features make the abit I-N73H Series of motherboards and ideal Digital Home Platform, so you can Live Your Way!
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 08:31 AM | Comments
The ASUS Eee PC is an extra profit line
Asustek Computer's recent launch of the low-cost Eee PC has prompted a wide range of opinions across the market. Some say the Eee PC sacrificed too many functions and performance for its price, while others are optimistic over the product's future..
When I saw Jonney was so eager with the Eee PC I was worried the price could ruin Asustek's brand image, however we found out that Eee PC is not really a PC since PCs do not use 7-inch monitors and 8GB hard drives. A traditional PC is like a truck or bus, while the Eee PC is like a convertible. Both are vehicles, but they are not the same.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 08:20 AM | Comments
Would Nvidia Buy AMD?
Despite last week’s investment from Abu Dhabi, there is a growing belief on the Street that something more dramatic may need to happen to save Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Douglas McIntyre, of the 24/7 Wall Street blog, asserts that AMD needs to find a buyer - and that Nvidia (NVDA) “may be only one company that makes sense.”
McIntyre said that buying AMD would help Nvidia protect a large part of its market: the company is the largest supplier of AMD 64 graphics chipsets, a 62% share in the second quarter. He says that “one of the strongest arguments against a Nvidia/AMD deal is that it could harm the graphics chip maker’s relationship with Intel (INTC).” But he thinks a stronger competitor may be preferable to Intel than the disappearance of AMD entirely. “Without a strong competitor, it could face future antitrust actions. And, having another robust player in the market has helped Intel drive its R&D operations harder to stay ahead. The entire market has benefited from that.”
Posted by | Tue, Nov 20, 2007 - 07:32 AM | Comments
Destination of 'recycled' electronics may surprise you
Most Americans think they're helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell phones. But chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas.
While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 19, 2007 - 08:49 AM | Comments
Intel 45nm processors expected to spur substrate demand
Since Intel's official launch of the new Penryn series of processors in November, key IC substrate makers are all benefiting from small volume production of new flip-chip (FC) substrates. With more substrate layers required for high-end processors and graphics chips, substrate makers from Taiwan are optimistically guiding an over 25% growth in demand in 2008.
As shipments of the new CPUs are expected to ramp up in volume in 2008, the industry players estimate that Intel will consume about 25-30% of total FC substrate capacity next year. However, from the supply side, most of the major substrate makers do not, currently, have any firm expansion plans, with capacity expected to only increase by a maximum of 10% next year. New-generation graphics chips will also boost demand for more substrate layers. Graphics chip makers including AMD and Nvidia are also growing their substrate layer demand for entry-level graphics chips from six to eight layers.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 19, 2007 - 08:47 AM | Comments
Abu Dhabi poised to take 9% AMD stake - $700 Million
Abu Dhabi is set to take a 9 per cent stake in Advanced Micro Devices, the US chipmaker, in a deal that underlines the purchasing power of sovereign wealth funds across the globe. The acquisition will cost Mubadala Development about $700m, according to people close to the situation.
However, the move could attract the attention of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which vets acquisitions by foreign investors. The committee is most worried about investments in technology and defence companies on national security grounds. AMD on Thursday night made a regulatory filing saying it might sell up to $700m in common stock and use the proceeds for reducing debt, increasing working capital, making acquisitions or for capital expenditure. It reported its consolidated debt was about $5.3bn at the end of September.
Posted by | Fri, Nov 16, 2007 - 07:22 AM | Comments
Microsoft Releases Vista SP1 RC Preview to Testers
Vista SP1 has been long awaited by everyone that has touched Vista... Hopes are high that SP1 will make Vista run better!
Yesterday, Microsoft released a new Release Candidate (RC) build (6001-17042-071107-1618) of SP1 to testers. The latest build weighs in at 434.84MB for the x86 version and 734.3MB for the x64 version. Testers who already have the previous SP1 beta installed, however, will run into somewhat of a roadblock when it comes to the new RC build.
Posted by | Thu, Nov 15, 2007 - 05:16 PM | Comments
AMD Unleashes ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series
AMD announced the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series of graphics cards. This series of cards is the first to offer DirectX 10.1 support, and features 55nm process technology along with tri- and quad- multi-GPU support with ATI CrossFireX. At this price point, it is sure to stuff many holiday stockings!
The ATI Radeon HD 3800 series will be introduced in two variants at launch, from US $179 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3850 with 256MB of GDDR3 memory and from US $219 MSRP, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 with 512MB GDDR4 memory. The launch of the ATI Radeon HD 3800 series redefines the enthusiast segment and puts high performance gaming in reach of more users than ever before. This innovative new series of graphics products also represent the first step in the launch of AMD's upcoming enthusiast platform codenamed "Spider."
Posted by | Thu, Nov 15, 2007 - 10:12 AM | Comments
November 15 News from Around the Web
Find reviews from around the web by visiting our forums. The following snippet comes from hothardware.com:
Today AMD finally takes the wraps of their new ATI Radeon HD 3870 and 3850 cards, based on their RV670 GPU. At 55nm and 320 Stream Processors strong, these new cards are set to do battle with the likes of a Gefore 8800 GT and GTS.
Posted by | Thu, Nov 15, 2007 - 07:22 AM | Comments
Mad Catz Acquires Saitek
Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of the private holding company that owns Saitek's worldwide operations. Saitek is a leading worldwide provider of PC games accessories, PC input devices, multimedia audio products, chess and intelligent games.
Saitek's product lines include PC games accessories, PC input devices, multimedia audio products, chess and intelligent games. In addition to representing a strategically complementary product line to Mad Catz' broad range of console videogame offerings, Saitek's comprehensive range of PC peripherals allows Mad Catz to further strengthen its retail distribution network, particularly in Europe, where Saitek generates more than fifty percent of its revenues.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 14, 2007 - 09:58 AM | Comments
NVIDIA Releases Forceware 169.09 Beta Drivers for Crysis
NVIDIA today released a new set of drivers for both Windows XP and Windows Vista, just in time for you to upgrade before the Crysis game launches. The drivers apply to those with GeForce 6, 7, and 8 series of video cards. The driver is beta, but offers game fixes and performance improvements.
With this driver, SLI will deliver 40-50% speedup over a single GPU for Crysis. In addition, Crytek will release a patch in the next week or two that will improve SLI performance further. It also adds SLI support for Crysis, fixes a water reflection bug in Crysis and adds Control Panel anisotropic filtering support for Crysis.
Posted by | Wed, Nov 14, 2007 - 09:49 AM | Comments
AMD Delivers HDTV Experience for Mac Users
AMD today announced the new ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB for Mac - a new HDTV experience for Mac users. ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB for Mac integrates two TV tuners to receive off-the-air ATSC/HDTV broadcasts as well as analog television programming. This new TV tuner solution joins AMD's six TV Wonder offerings for the PC platform.
"AMD continues to bring The Ultimate Visual Experience to consumers' displays and screens including HDTVs, PCs and game consoles. Today AMD expands that visual experience with high definition multimedia entertainment for Mac customers," said Matt Skynner, vice president, AMD Graphics Products Group. "AMD is enhancing the Mac experience with HDTV support from ATI TV Wonder 650 Combo USB for Mac, alongside cutting-edge 3D game and HD acceleration performance of ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO and ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT."
Posted by | Wed, Nov 14, 2007 - 09:44 AM | Comments
November 13 News from Around the Web
Hi-techreviews.com posted a review on the Antec TruePower Quattro 1000 watt Power Supply. Find this and other reviews from around the 'net by visiting our forums!
We have been quite fortunate to review numerous Antec cases and power supplies in the past, so we were very excited when the TruePower Quattro 1000-watt power supply arrived at our door for testing. After we ran it through our normal battery of tests, we were impressed by its ability to maintain near perfect voltage regulation even during the grueling stress tests. To see just how well the Antec TruePower Quattro performed you will need to read the review.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 13, 2007 - 10:25 AM | Comments
Microsoft Tries to Quiet Vista Complaints
Microsoft is planning to release three service updates to Windows Vista designed to fix top issues impactinig the platform this week. The patch is to be released over the "Windows Update" service and will help with system compatibility, performance, USB components and other issues.
Microsoft plans to release a trio of updates for Windows Vista this week, a move the company said should help ease some of the top complaints leveled against the operating system. One update aims to improve battery life on mobile devices, boost stability of wireless connections, and improve the operating system's response time following a period of inactivity. The final software update deals with the Windows Media Center component of Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate, offering fixes for the way the software interacts with an Xbox 360 that is acting as a Media Center extender.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 13, 2007 - 09:50 AM | Comments
China May Sell iPhones
It seems that China Mobile is in talks with Steve Jobs and Apple Computers to sell the iPhone in China in the not-so-distant future. There are still details to be worked out, but this would be a huge revenue generator for Apple - as well as another popular Western product to be introduced to China.
Apple has said it will roll out iPhones in Asia next year, and China Mobile would be a good catch for the company. It is the world's largest mobile operator, boasting almost 350 million subscribers at the end of September. However, China Mobile is also a member of Google's Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of technology and service companies that will develop products based on Google's Android mobile phone platform, which will be a competitor for the iPhone.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 13, 2007 - 09:44 AM | Comments
Western Digital Announces GreenPower family of Hard Drives
Western Digital Corp yesterday announced its new environmentally friendly, energy-conscious GreenPower family of WD enterprise hard drive products. The new WD RE2 GreenPower (GP) family offers capacities of 500 gigabytes (GB), 750 GB and one terabyte (TB), and provides data-hungry organizations with a money-saving solution to combat the challenges faced in the enterprise IT sector, such as, total available drive slots, maximum capacity, and available power and budget. Addressing a growing high-capacity enterprise market, WD RE2 drives are reliability-rated at 1.2 million hours MTBF (mean time between failure) in high duty cycle environments.
“Delivering up to 40% savings in hard drive power consumption, Western Digital’s new RE2-GP hard drives are an excellent choice for customers deploying Rackable Systems’ newest generation of Eco-Logical storage systems -- enabling even greater efficiency and performance,” said Tony Gaughan, Chief Products Officer of Rackable Systems. WD’s RE2-GP hard drives are designed with power savings as the primary attribute. The WD RE2-GP offers massive capacity with significant power savings and lower total cost of ownership compared to other competitive enterprise-class drives.
Posted by | Tue, Nov 13, 2007 - 05:44 AM | Comments
Super Talent Receives ISO 9001 Certification
Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced that the company has passed an ISO audit and has been awarded ISO 9001 certification.
The company in recent years has invested heavily in upgrading and expanding its San Jose based manufacturing facility, which now boasts 14 state-of-the-art surface mount (SMT) lines. At the same time, Super Talent has honed its manufacturing processes to further improve quality. Super Talent VP of Business Operations, Mr. CH Lee noted, "This ISO 9001 certification is the result of years of work implementing rigid quality standards across our organization. It's a significant milestone that demonstrates Super Talent's commitment to constant improvement and to customer satisfaction."
Posted by | Tue, Nov 13, 2007 - 05:38 AM | Comments
Cray Launches XT5 Family of Supercomputers
Cray Inc. today launched the Cray XT5 family of supercomputers, marking a significant step toward Cray's vision of adaptive supercomputing. Incorporating all the benefits of the successful Cray XT line, the Cray XT5 massively parallel processor (MPP) system includes a new compute blade that quadruples local memory capacity, doubles processor density and improves energy efficiency for a significant reduction in total cost of ownership for customers. Continuing to drive industry leadership in extreme scalability, the Cray XT5 family also includes the industry's first integrated hybrid supercomputer, the Cray XT5h TM system. With new programming paradigms and processor technologies, the Cray XT5h system optimizes application efficiency and helps customers tackle problems that cannot currently be solved on a single architecture system.
The Cray XT5 system is the world's most scalable Linux-based supercomputer. It combines unprecedented sustained application performance with exceptional manageability, lower cost of ownership and broad application and tools support to large supercomputer class machines. A number of prominent independent software vendors (ISVs) have pledged their support of the new system, including CD-adapco, Exa Corporation, Livermore Software Technology Corp. (LSTC) and Software Cradle.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 12, 2007 - 10:42 AM | Comments
AMD cuts Radeon HD 3870 (RV670) video card chip price
With Nvidia launching its GeForce 8800GT (G92) early on October 29, AMD has dropped its ATI Radeon HD 3800 series (RV670) price from US$199-259 to US$179-239 in preparation for its launch later this month, according to sources at graphics card makers.
The ATI Radeon HD 3800 will be available in two versions, the 3870 (RV670 XT) and 3850 (RV670 PRO), noted the sources, adding that the chips also support CrossFire X technology when combined with the upcoming 790FX chipset platform allowing to up to four graphics cards to work together. In an update to a previous report, the Radeon HD 3850 supports 256/512MB GDDR3 memory with a core frequency of 750MHz and memory frequency of 1.8GHz, while the Radeon HD 3870 adopts 512MB GDDR4 with a core frequency of 825MHz and memory frequency of 2.4GHz.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 12, 2007 - 09:10 AM | Comments
NVIDIA and the Electronic Sports World Cup Now Partners
The Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) Organizing Committee today announced NVIDIA as the Worldwide and Main Partner of the Electronic Sports World Cup 2008. The ESWC is also announcing that the event’s Grand Final will be held in the USA in summer 2008. NVIDIA will support the ESWC preliminaries in over 50 countries and finals in major cities worldwide. The company will also be part of the ESWC International Masters, which regulates the new e-sports pro-season until the ESWC Grand Final 2008.
Matthieu Dallon, CEO of Games-Services, explains: “NVIDIA has an international reputation for graphics excellence, so they are the ideal partner for us in this event. ESWC champions rely on NVIDIA technology to give them the killer edge in competition. ESWC 2008 is a milestone for us as the Grand Final will be held in the USA for the first time. We made the decision to move because we felt it will be great for competitors, spectators and e-sports as a whole. It’s part of our continuing efforts to ensure ESWC’s skilled cyber-athletes gain the recognition they deserve by creating our most spectacular event ever in California. With representatives from all over the world, this will be a truly global event.”
Posted by | Mon, Nov 12, 2007 - 08:12 AM | Comments
November 12 News from Around the Web
News from around the web is posted in our forums, including this article on the EnzoTech Sapphire CPU Water Block from Virtual Hideout:
When EnzoTech told us about their newest CPU cooler, it wasn't a big surprise since water cooling is still the most cost efficient and aggressive form of cooling. While phase cooling may be a more extreme form of cooling, it isn't affordable and is really intended for extreme overclockers. Since we're partial to what gives you the best cooling performance per cost, we were honored to receive the EnzoTech Sapphire CPU Water Block. It's EnzoTech's first premiere launch in to the water cooling market. And incidentally, they also released the SNBW-SLI (Northbridge) Water Block which looks to further compliment the CPU cooler since most users who go for that excellent system overclock will also appreciate a well cooled Northbridge chipset. Unfortunately, that wasn't included in the box. None the less, let's take a look at the Sapphire Water Block.
Posted by | Mon, Nov 12, 2007 - 07:48 AM | Comments
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