If you think that mice are like, so 1998 then you'll likely be interested in Apple's latest 'magical' peripheral, the Magic Trackpad which can connect to Macs via Bluetooth and enable them to be controlled through multi-touch.
The Magic Trackpad has the usual sexy Apple aluminum design, supports gestures and is powered by two AA batteries. The price for a life without a mouse? $69 .
Apple has today also revealed a 'new and improved' LED Cinema Display which features a 27-inch in-plane switching (IPS) panel, a native screen resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, and an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the brightness depending on external conditions.
The LED-backlit screen makes use of arsenic-free glass, an aluminum stand with tilt adjustment, has a built-in iSight webcam, speakers, a USB 2.0 hub, and only Mini DisplayPort connectivity.
The 27-inch LED Cinema Display costs $999 and is set to become available in September.
No surprises from Apple today as the company has pretty much released everything that's been rumored, including updated versions of its iMac All-in-One PCs which come equipped with a Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, a 21.5-inch or 27-inch IPS (16:9) panel, and run Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Apple's refreshed desktops can boast a dual- or quad-core processor, DirectX 10 (Radeon HD 4670) or DirectX 11 (Radeon HD 5670/HD 5770) graphics, a HDD or SSD, an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot, and a DVD drive.
The configurations on sale today are listed just below so choose your poison, or stay a PC.
$1,199
- 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display
- 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
- 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
- ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM
- 500GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- Mini DisplayPort for audio and video output (adapters sold separately)
- AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- iSight video camera
- Gigabit Ethernet
- built-in stereo speakers, microphone
- Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.
$1,499
- 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display
- 3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
- 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3
- 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- same as the model above
$1,699
- 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display
- 3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
- 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3
- 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- same as the model above
$1,999
- 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display
- 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache
- 4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5750 discrete graphics with 1GB GDDR5
- 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- same as the model above
Fruity professionals craving more power from their work rig will soon be able to buy the new Mac Pro which can be equipped with one or two quad-core or hexa-core processors, up to two DirectX 11 graphics card and 8TB worth of storage space (4TB via four SSDs).
"The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we've ever made." said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want."
Apple's updated workstation will be available in the following two base configurations which can be customized with even better (more expensive) hardware.
$2,499
- one 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon W3530 processor with 8MB of fully-shared L3 cache
- 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 16GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
- two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately)
- 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports
- AirPort Extreme 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- Apple Keyboard and Magic Mouse
$3,499
- two 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5620 processors with 12MB of fully-shared L3 cache per processor
- 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB
- ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory
- two Mini DisplayPorts and one DVI (dual-link) port (adapters sold separately)
- 1TB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm
- 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- four PCI Express 2.0 slots
- five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports
- AirPort Extreme 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
- Apple Keyboard and Magic Mouse
SanDisk is back with more flashy fiddling today as it announced the introduction of a new Cruzer series flash drive, the paper clip-sized and capless Cruzer Blade providing super-convenient (easy to carry) storage on-the-go.
"At half the size of some other USB drives, our compact Cruzer Blade provides consumers with highly portable storage at a great value," said Kent Perry, director, retail product marketing, SanDisk. "The drive lets users transfer their digital data quickly between computers, and delivers a storage boost to devices such as netbooks that often need additional memory but are difficult to upgrade easily."
The Cruzer Blade USB drive is now shipping in 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities, priced at $14.99, $21.99, $38.99 and $77.99, respectively.
Santa Clara's own Nvidia Corp. has today updated its professional graphics offering with five new products, all of which are based on the Fermi architecture, the Quadro 6000, 5000 and 4000 cards, the Quadro 5000M mobile GPU and the Quadro Plex 7000 external 'visualization system'.
Backed by new tools like the Nvidia SceniX 6, Cg Tooklit 3, and OptiX 2, the five Quadro offerings feature DirectX 11 support and are claimed to deliver up to 5x faster 3D performance and 8x faster computational simulation across a broad range of design, animation and video applications.
Spec wise, the Quadro 6000 comes with a 384-bit memory interface, 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM @ 2988 MHz, 448 CUDA Cores, a GPU clock of 574 MHz, and a TDP of 225W. This model includes two DisplayPort outputs and one DVI connector and costs $4,999. The Quadro 5000 is priced at $2,249 and has 352 Cores, a GPU frequency of 513 MHz, a 320-bit memory interface, and 2.5GB of GDDR5 memory @ 3000 MHz.
The single-slot Quadro 4000 packs 256 CUDA Cores, a 256-bit interface, 2GB of memory and costs $1,149, while the Quadro 5000M includes 320 Cores and the same 256-bit/2GB memory configuration.
Last but not least, the Quadro Plex 7000 has a price tag of $14,500 but it features 896 CUDA Cores and 12GB of memory.
The Quadro 4000, 5000 and 5000M are supposed to be shipping today, whereas the Quadro 6000 and Quadro Plex 7000 are expected to arrive this fall.
Quadro 6000
Quadro 5000
Quadro 4000
Quadro 5000M
Intel buddy and well-known memory maker Micron Technology has confessed to preparing a nice little 2Gb (Gigabit) DDR2 DRAM which is specifically aimed to be used in tablets and netbooks based on the next-gen Atom platform codenamed 'Oak Trail'.
Micron's 2Gb memory chip is manufactured on 50nm technology, can be used fro 1GB to 4GB UDIMMs, operates at 800 MHz, and is powered at 1.55V.
"Micron's 2Gb 50nm DDR2 device is the ideal memory companion for Intel's upcoming Intel Atom processor-based 'Oak Trail' platform," said Robert Feurle, Micron's vice president of DRAM Marketing. "Given its low-power demands, maximum density and high performance, it is well-suited for the thriving tablet market. Additionally, Micron is committed to this 50nm product line and looks forward to providing ongoing support for customers' innovations around this technology."
Micron is going to start sampling the 2Gb DDR2 DRAM in September and kick off mass production in Q4.
Sparkle Computer is ready to spice up its DirectX 11 offer by introducing a couple of new GF100-based cards - a GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 465 which boast a custom, dual-slot cooling solution but feature stock frequencies.
The cooler used on the Fermi-flavored duo includes an 80mm turbine thruster fan that automatically adjusts its working speed depending on temperatures, and a heatsinks with an aluminum fin array and five copper heatpipes that come in direct contact with the GPU.
As for specs, the GTX 470 and GTX 465 have a core clock of 607 MHz, 448/352 CUDA Cores, a shader frequency of 1215 MHz, 1.28/1GB of memory @ 3348/3206 MHz, and 'the usual' - DirectX 11, 3-way SLI, CUDA and 3D Vision Surround support, plus dual-DVI and mini HDMI outputs.
Today's review round-up...
CPU & Motherboard
- AMD 890GX Gigabyte vs. ASRock @ Metku
- MSI 890FXA-GD70 Motherboard @ [H]ard OCP
Memory
- Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 4GB Dual Channel Memory Kit @ ThinkComputers
Storage
- Cirago USB 3.0 Hard Drive Dock CDD2000 @ Test Freaks
- Synology DiskStation DS411+ NAS @ Hexus
- SSD 2010 report: 13 models compared @ BeHardware
- Corsair Force 120GB Solid State Drive @ Hardware Canucks
Graphics cards
- Sparkle Geforce GTX480 @ OverclockersHQ
- Asus GeForce GTX 460 1GB DirectCu @ OC3D
- NVIDIA Quadro 5000 2.5GB Fermi-based Professional Graphics @ PC Perspective
- NVIDIA Unleashes Quadro 6000 and 5000 Series GPUs @ HotHardware
- Sparkle Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 With Custom Cooler Video Card @ Madshrimps
Enclosures & PSUs
- Rosewill Libertas 800 W Power Supply @ Hardware Secrets
- Corsair Obsidian 700D Case @ HardwareHeaven
- Antec DF-30 Dark Fleet Mid-Tower Case @ Benchmark Reviews
- Lian-Li Pitstop T60 Test Bench @ FunkyKit
Displays
- Samsung LE32C580 @ TrustedReviews
Cooling and modding
- SilenX Extreme Efflizio Silent CPU Cooler @ Tweaknews
- GELID Icy Vision Graphics Card Cooler @ TweakTown
- GPU Air Cooler Royale @ Bjorn3d
Peripherals
- Choiix Cruiser wireless mouse
- Rosewill Super Slim 2.4GHz Wireless Touchpad Keyboard @ Legit Reviews
PCs & tablets
- Dell Inspiron Zino HD @ HardwareZone
- ASUS N61Jv Optimus Core i5 16-in Notebook @ PC Perspective
Photo and video cameras
- Flip Video MinoHd @ CCE Reviews
Other
- IDAPT I3 Universal Desktop Charger @ ThinkComputers
- Choiix Power Fort Advanced battery pack @ DVHardware
- Kodak ESP 7250 and Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro @ TrustedReviews
Number one chip manufacturer Intel may have a miss with Larrabee but it's doing pretty great on other fronts, one of them being the search for new, faster, more cost-effective ways of transmitting data within and between devices.
Present at the Integrated Photonics Research conference in California, Intel has showcased the first-ever silicon-based optical data connection with integrated lasers - the Silicon Photonics Link which is capable of transfer speeds of up to 50 Gbps over longer distances than is currently possible with today's copper technology.
Intel's prototype is made up of a transmitter chip that combines the beams of four 12.5 Gbps lasers, and a receiver chip that separates the four optical beams and directs them into photo detectors, which convert data back into electrical signals.
"This achievement of the world's first 50Gbps silicon photonics link with integrated hybrid silicon lasers marks a significant achievement in our long term vision of ‘siliconizing' photonics and bringing high bandwidth, low cost optical communications in and around future PCs, servers, and consumer devices" said Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer and director of Intel Labs.
Still rather far from being used commercially, the Silicon Photonics Link is currently being improved so as to enable speeds of up to 1 Tbps, making it even more desirable for future applications.
Super Talent Technology of San Jose, California, is currently putting the finishing touches on its newest UltraDrive offering, the UltraDrive MX solid state drive which is equipped with the JMicron 616 controller, MLC NAND Flash memory, and has both SATA 3.0 Gbps and mini USB connectors.
The dual-interface SSD will be available in 60GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacities, have TRIM support, and will deliver maximum read and write speeds of 250 MB/s and 180 MB/s, respectively.
"Most customers know that Solid State Disks offer superior Performance, Reliability and Power Savings, yet they have been unable to makes the switch. The dual-interface on the UltraDrive MX enables a convenient bridge solution during this critical transition period". , Super Talent COO, C.H. Lee.
The UltraDrive MX is set to start shipping on September 1st.
Patriot Memory has decided on expanding its Inferno family of SandForce SF-1200-powered SSDs through the addition of three more capacities - 60GB, 120GB and 240GB, so as to provide more choice for people looking to buy a modern solid state drive and experience under 1ms access times.
The three new drives make use of MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory, have a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, a MTBF (mean time before failure) of over 1.5 million hours, and are capable of maximum sequential read and write speeds of 285 MB/s and 275 MB/s, respectively.
"The Inferno series of SSDs are the fastest and most exciting that Patriot has yet brought to the market," states Les Henry, Vice President of Engineering at Patriot. "Our Inferno series has been well received and reviewed. We are excited to expand the product family with the introduction of the new larger capacity Inferno drives as well as the new 60GB capacity option. With the addition of the 60GB capacity drive, enthusiasts can enjoy the blistering performance of the Inferno SSD at a more affordable price point making it ideal as a boot drive in a high performance system."
Inferno SSDs are offered with a five-year warranty.
To help you and your laptop get through hot summer days and nights, Cooler Master has developed a new notebook cooler called NotePal U3 which takes away from the U2 model but packs three removable fans for greater performance and longer, happy life (for the laptop).
The aluminum-made U3 measures 420 x 320 x 65 mm and weights 1.04kg, has a mesh design, anti-slip rubber bands, a belt for securing the laptop while on the move, a clip-on fan controller, and the three mentioned 80mm fans working at 950 - 1800 RPM, which have a minimum sound output of 18 dBA.
Cooler Master hasn't mentioned the NotePal U3's pricing.
After a small delay Mozilla has now delivered the second beta version of Firefox 4.0 which makes tabs on top available for Mac OS users, includes App Tabs for better tab management and packs some fresh goodies for developers.
The Firefox 4.0 beta 2 can be found here in 23 languages for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The full 4.0 Foxxy browser is planned for a Q4 2010 release.
Nvidia Corp. has now made available the first graphics drivers to support the OpenGL 4.1 API made official by the Khronos Group this past Monday. Dubbed 259.09 for Windows and 256.38.02 for Linux, the WHQL-certified drivers in question can be used to their fullest together with Fermi-based products.
OpenGL 4.1 and GLSL 4.10 support is provided for the GeForce GTX 400 series cards, as well as the Quadro Plex 7000, Quadro 6000, Quadro 5000, Quadro 5000M and Quadro 4000.
The 32-bit and 64-bit OpenGL 4.1 drivers can be downloaded via this page .
Since size does matter (the saying goes both ways) Panasonic has went on and developed its first compact (2.09 inch (W) x 0.70 inch (D) x 4.09 inch (H)) HD camcorder which can record 1080p video on the move and also double-up as a webcam.
Dubbed HM-TA1, the Full HD-certified camera can take still photos with up to eight megapixels and has USB connectivity, 4x digital zoom, SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card support, a 2-inch LCD screen, E.I.S. (Electrical Image Stabilization), a built-in LED light, plus a wrist strap.
"The new Panasonic TA1 is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, extremely easy and intuitive to use, and yet it is still powerful enough to shoot full-HD video and high-quality photos," said Chris Rice, Senior Product Manager, Imaging, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "Designed to integrate easily with popular online social networks to quickly share videos, the TA1 can also be used as a Web camera, allowing users to make video chat calls - making this extremely portable video camera a truly versatile gadget."
The HM-TA1 is set to go on sale next month in three color versions - purple, dark grey and red, bearing a price tag of $169.95.
Audio equipment guru Bose has now introduced to the world the A20, "its best-performing, most advanced aviation headset ever" which is supposed to deliver "significantly greater noise reduction," great comfort, clear audio reproduction, plus a Bluetooth communications interface.
"Since introducing the industry's first active noise reduction headset in 1989, we've continued our aviation research with a very specific goal: to improve the flying experience for pilots," said Sean Garrett, general manager of the Bose Noise Reduction Technology Group. "With the A20 headset, several proprietary technologies work together to deliver a combination of benefits that wasn't available until today."
The A20 makes use of technology found on the QuietComfort 15 consumer headphones to offer a high level of active noise reduction, features a new proprietary ear cushion and a new earcup design for better passive noise reduction, is powered by two AA batteries and comes with multiple connection options, including a 3.5mm adapter.
The A2 headset is backed by a five-year warranty and costs $1,095 or $995 - with or without the Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity feature. We guess using this for Starcraft II would be sort of a waste but we still want one.
Flash maker Adobe Systems has today announced the signing of an agreement to launch a public tender offer through which it aims to acquire all the shares of Basel-based Enterprise Content Management (ECM) expert Day Software for about $240 million.
The purchase is expected to enhance Adobe's enterprise software line with top Web Content Management (WCM), Digital Asset Management and Social Collaboration offerings. This will help organizations using Adobe software and services to better integrate their global web presence and business applications.
"Adobe's acquisition of Day represents a key milestone in our efforts toward delivering best-in-class customer experience management solutions to enterprises and governments worldwide," said Rob Tarkoff, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Enterprise Solutions, Adobe. "With the addition of Day to our enterprise portfolio, we will be able to enhance the value of our offering and deliver on our vision of the web as the hub of customer interaction."
Day Software is expected to join Adobe's Digital Enterprise Solutions Business Unit by the end of the year.
While potentially creepy, Street View is a very useful tool when trying to find your way around a new city, so Microsoft has been working on improving this feature, with one way to achieve that being presented at SIGGRAPH 2010 under the name of 'Street Slide'.
Street Slide basically provides people with a panorama of a street, enabling fast navigation through the multiple images that make it up. It's a 2D view, as opposed to the 3D bubble of a regular Street View caption, but it can provide a good overall perspective of a street. Better still, you can transition from Street Slide to Street View (and back) practically instantly anytime, so there should be no loss of direction and location.
"As the user slides sideways, the multi-perspective panorama is constructed and rendered dynamically to simulate either a perspective or hyper-perspective view. This provides a strong sense of parallax, which adds to the immersion. We call this form of sliding sideways while looking at a street façade a street slide. Finally we integrate annotations and a mini-map within the user interface to provide geographic information as well additional affordances for navigation."
The team behind Street Slide is currently working on a snapshot of the application for Apple's iPhone but didn't provide a time line for it.
