Technology Bang

VisionTek cuts price of its Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card

2010-08-11T08:49:00.005-07:00

Introduced two months ago with a price tag of $129.99, the Bigfoot-powered VisionTek Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card has received a price cut which makes it break the apparently magical $100 mark. Now at $99, the card is hoped to become more enticing for the online gaming crowd.

The Killer 2100 has a PCI-Express x1 interface and features a 400 MHz-clocked network processor (NPU), 128MB of DDR2 memory, Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, the Game Networking DNA which accelerates latency-sensitive game traffic, the Advanced Game Detect function that prioritizes game traffic, Windows stack bypass, and the Visual Bandwidth Control, enabling users to manage their Internet connection with (relative) ease.

VisionTek's network card is selling in North America through Newegg, Buy.com, CompUSA, Dell.com, TigerDirect, NCIX, Amazon and other outlets.

Intel's Q1 Sandy Bridge processor line-up exposed

2010-08-11T08:49:00.003-07:00

There's no doubt about it, by the end of the year Intel will start manufacturing 32nm processors based on the Sandy Bridge architecture and, just as 2011 roll in, will unleash them upon the desktop and portable PC markets to keep the money pouring in and AMD well behind on second place.

Unsurprisingly, although it has confirmed the release schedule of the first Sandy Bridge chips, Intel isn't saying anything (officially) about the specs of the upcoming models but thankfully, a leak is providing a good picture of what's coming.

The Sandy Bridge desktop and mobile offering for Q1 is detailed in the table below and it contains no less than 19 CPUs - 12 quad-cores and 7 dual-cores, going from 2.3 GHz to 3.4 GHz. The chips listed come in LGA 1155 packaging and feature an integrated (dual channel) DDR3 memory controller as well as a graphics core.

The mobile models all include Hyper-Threading technology but this will apparently be absent on certain desktop chips (the Core i5-2500s and i5-2400). To keep things complicated Intel will have several flavors of the same model available, these being set apart with an end letter (or lack of a letter). For example K means an unlocked multiplier, S - lower frequencies and a lower TDP, while T - even lower clocks and TDP ratings. Pricing info hasn't been revealed as it's probably still in the works.

PhotoFast unveils CF card, 1.8-inch HDD/SSD external USB 3.0 enclosure

2010-08-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

PhotoFast has today presented to the world a new G-Monster-branded product, the G-Monster X Drive enclosure which features a USB 3.0 interface and can house either a CompactFlash (Type I) memory card or a 1.8-inch hard/solid state drive with ZIF, microSATA or 50-pin IDE connectivity.

Set to become available in September (in black and white), the enclosure measures 105.25 x 60.95 x 10 mm and weights 95 grams.

Acer launches G5-series monitors in Europe

2010-08-11T08:48:00.009-07:00

Acer's monitor offer for the Old Continent is being expanded this month through the release of the G5-series line which includes the 19-inch G195HQ, 20-inch G205H, 22-inch G225HQ, 23-inch G235H and 24-inch G245H models - all targeting gamers and multimedia enthusiasts.

The G5 LCDs come with an X-shaped stand providing tilt adjustment, have a piano black finish, a contrast ratio of up to 80,000:1 a 5ms response time (2ms for the G245H), DVI connectivity (plus HDMI 1.3 on certain models), and a native resolution going from 1366 x 768 for the G195HQ, through 1600 x 900 for the G205H, to 1920 x 1080 for the rest.

The G195HQ, G205H, G225HQ, G235H and G245H have recommended price tags of €119, €139, €169, €199 and €219, respectively.

New PhysX software released, comes with fixes for Mafia 2

2010-08-11T08:48:00.007-07:00

With the PhysX-enhanced Mafia 2 demo out on Steam, Nvidia has made available a new PhysX software package (version 9.10.0513) that, among other things, fixes some issues with 2K Czech's highly-anticipated action game.

The fresh PhysX release has support for GeForce 8, 9, 100, 200, 300 and 400 series cards and features the following highlights:

- Includes the latest PhysX runtime builds to support all released PhysX content.

- Fixes a bug that prevented PhysX from being accelerated on Optimus PCs.

- Supports Nvidia PhysX acceleration on GeForce via CUDA 3.0 for SDK versions 2.7.1, 2.7.3, 2.7.4, 2.7.5, 2.7.6, 2.8.0, 2.8.1 and 2.8.3 (requires graphics driver v196.21 or later).

- Supports control of your GPU PhysX configuration from the Nvidia display driver control panel. (Requires graphics driver v196.21 or later).

- Bug fixes for Mafia 2

To download the PhysX system software 9.10.0513 check out Nvidia's website .

Acer readies the S222HQL super-slim LED-backlit monitor

2010-08-11T08:48:00.005-07:00

Number two PC maker Acer is planning on bringing to IFA Berlin 2010 (September 3-8) and retail stores a sexy and slim new LCD monitor, the S222HQL. This upcoming model features a 21.5-inch panel, is LED backlit and has smooth black bezel that's just 12.9mm thick.

The display boasts native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a dynamic contrast ratio of 12,000,000:1, a 2ms response time, a brightness of 250 cd/m2, and both DVI and HDMI connectors. No word on pricing yet.

I-O Data preps new 27-inch Full HD monitor

2010-08-11T08:48:00.003-07:00

Japan's own I-O Data will very soon be updating its product offer through the introduction of the LCD-MF271XBR, a 27-inch widescreen LCD monitor claimed to be perfect for gaming, watching movies, and pretty much everything else.

The upcoming display has a stand enabling height, tilt and swivel adjustments and features a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 2ms response time, a 1000:1 contrast ratio (30,000:1 DCR), a maximum brightness of 330 cd/m2, two 1.5W speakers, a 3.5mm audio jack, plus D-Sub, DVI and HDMI connectivity.

The LCD-MF271XBR is set to reach Japanese stores later this month.

EVGA Precision 1.9.6 available for download

2010-08-11T08:48:00.001-07:00

EVGA has once again updated its Precision graphics card monitoring and tweaking tool, bringing the software which can be used with GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 200 and 400 series models to version 1.9.6.

The new Precision release is available here and it comes with the following changes/additions:

- Fixed COM security initialization issue causing task scheduler helper library to fail with error code -2 under certain conditions

- option is no longer set in the startup task settings to allow automatically starting application via the task scheduler on laptops or on some UPS models

- Added On-Screen Display profile for Startcraft II : Wings of Liberty

Plastic Logic axes QUE e-book reader, working on new ProReader device

2010-08-11T08:47:00.008-07:00

Mountain View-based Plastic Logic has officially given up on its CES 2010-revealed QUE ProReader but has announced it's not out of the e-reader game. The company may have lost its flagship but is moving forward and looking towards a second-generation ProReader plastic electronics-based product.

"We recognize the market has dramatically changed, and with the product delays we have experienced, it no longer make sense for us to move forward with our first generation electronic reading product," said Plastic Logic CEO Richard Archuleta. "This was a hard decision, but is the best one for our company, our investors and our customers."

Unfortunately for those excited about Plastic Logic's technology, it hasn't provided any details about the new ProReader device. Hopefully they won't wait until CES 2011 to announce something.

IBM acquires data and document capture software maker

2010-08-11T08:47:00.007-07:00

Still out shopping, IBM has added another company to its ever-growing business, one Datacap of Tarrytown which is known for developing and selling software for data and document capturing with over 200 clients in various industries.

This latest purchase is set to enhance IBM's ability to provide solutions that help companies digitize, manage and automate their information assets. Plus, it will further expand IBM's customer base and unlock more revenue streams.

"Transforming the way organizations do business requires not only a powerful and flexible technology platform to accommodate the wide range of business requirements, challenges and goals, but also a deep understanding of the processes of the industries in which our clients operate," said Ron Ercanbrack, VP of Enterprise Content Management for IBM. "We've chosen to make Datacap's approach the foundation of IBM's document capture strategy. Datacap's approach to image capture, using sophisticated business rules management, sets it above the rest in the industry and provides the most complementary capabilities for IBM."

Datacap is planned to be integrated into IBM's ECM business, which is part of the IBM Software Solutions Group.

EVGA introduces the Classified SR-2 power supply

2010-08-11T08:47:00.005-07:00

Enthusiasts in need of moar (read more) powa' for systems based on the Classified SR-2 dual-socket motherboard can now purchase the Antec-made but EVGA-branded Classified SR-2 power supply which is capable of supplying 1200W on a daily basis.

Featuring a modular design, the 'new' PSU is 80Plus Silver certified (has an efficiency of 85% and over), is Quad SLI and Quad CrossFireX-ready, features active PFC (Power Factor Correction), six 12V rails (rated at 38A), gold-plated connectors, an 80mm PWM fan, and two knobs for tweaking the 12V voltage and adjusting fan speed.

The Classified SR-2 power supply is backed by a five-year warranty and costs $359.99 .

Samsung 7-inch tablet reported to launch next month at IFA Berlin

2010-08-11T08:47:00.003-07:00

The teasing game surrounding Samsung's 7-inch tablet (known as the Galaxy Tab) is expected to end next month as the South Korean manufacturer is said to finally be revealing the mobile device at IFA Berlin 2010 (September 3-8).

Pictured below, the Galaxy Tab features a 7-inch touchscreen, runs Android (2.2) with the TouchWiz user interface, and is supposed to pack a 1.2 GHz Cortex-A8 processor, 16GB of storage, dual cameras, GPS, plus WiFi and 3G. Pricing info is still up in the air.

Zalman coming up with the ZM-SF3 case fan boasting shark fin blades

2010-08-11T08:47:00.001-07:00

Taking a lesson in fluid dynamics from mother nature, Zalman has designed a new case fan that has shark fin-inspired blades providing a higher airflow while reducing turbulence and thus both noise and vibration.

Dubbed ZM-SF3, Zalman's 120mm fan has an ELQ (Ever Lasting Quiet) bearing with a life 'expectancy' of 150,000 hours, silicon pads to help keep vibrations to a minimum, it works at 900 to 1500 RPM (rotations per minute), and has a sound output of 18 - 23 dBA. The spinner is bundled with silicone pins and does not yet have a price tag or retail date.

Adobe fixes more Flash Player bugs

2010-08-11T08:46:00.009-07:00

Adobe Systems has yesterday made available an updated version of Flash Player (10.1.82.76) which fixes multiple critical-rated vulnerabilities that could cause the application to crash and allow an attacker to take control of an affected system.

This latest patch resolves a total of six issues, five of which have to do with memory corruption. An update to Flash Player 10.1.82.76 is highly recommended so see this page for the full download (Windows).

Patriot's 60GB, 120GB & 240GB Inferno SSDs launched in Europe

2010-08-11T08:46:00.007-07:00

Two weeks after their official announcement, Patriot's three new Inferno series solid state drives have also been introduced in Europe. These fresh 2.5-inch SSDs make use of SandForce's SF-1222 controller and MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory.

The three drives also have TRIM support, a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, a MTBF (mean time before failure) of over 1.5 million hours, maximum sequential read/write speeds 285/275 MB/s, and are bundled with a 2.5-inch to 3.5-inch adapter.

The 60GB, 120GB and 240GB Inferno SSDs have EU recommended price tags of €165, €289 and €589, respectively.

Raptor Gaming H3 headset up for pre-order, coming this month

2010-08-11T08:46:00.005-07:00

Initially set for a July release, the H3 headset from peripheral maker Raptor Gaming is still not shipping but is available for pre-order, the promise being that deliveries will start at the end of this month.

The new headset weights 260 grams without its 2m cable (with built-in controls), features an 'Enemy location mode' that will tune the sound output of each speaker so as to provide a sense of where the enemy is coming/shooting from, and has 39mm drivers, a frequency response of 50Hz - 20 KHz, a sensitivity of 121 dB ± 3dB, and a noise canceling microphone.

The H3 costs €49.90.

First HP webOS tablet said to be planned for Q1 2011

2010-08-11T08:46:00.003-07:00

According to a recent report, Todd Bradley, the Executive Vice President of HP's Personal Systems Group, has revealed to HP employees that the company is working on bringing its first webOS-based tablet (codename Hurricane) to market in the first quarter of 2011.

Before trying its luck with weOS, HP is going to play it a little safer and release tablets powered by Windows 7 (Slate 500) and Android 2.1 (?) (eStation Zeen), the former being targeted towards business users, while the latter will go after regular consumers. Both are expected to debut later this year so we're looking like some very busy couple of quarters for HP in terms of tablet moves. And we're liking the situation.

Spire reveals the Slimod 282 dual-fan VGA cooler

2010-08-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

Spire Corp. has now exposed its latest cooling creation, the Slimod 282 VGA cooler that can be used on multiple graphics cards, including the Radeon HD 2400, HD 2600, HD 3600, HD 3800, HD 4600, HD 4800 series or GeForce 4 Ti, GeForce FX 5700/5800/5900, 6600, 7800, 7900, 8600, 8800, 9800, GTX 200s.

The new cooler packs four 6mm Direct Touch copper heapipes, the usual aluminum fin array, and two 90mm sleeve bearing fans that work at 1800 RPM and have a sound output of 24 dBA.

The Slimod 282 is bundled with S420 thermal paste and is set to become available this month @ $49.99 / €36.95.

Dell Streak launching in the US this week, costs $300 with an AT&T contract

2010-08-11T08:45:00.001-07:00

After a little delay Dell's Streak 5-inch tablet is now ready to debut in the US where it will be available for as low as $300, with new two-year AT&T contract, or at $550 without a plan. Pre-sale registrants will be able to place Streak orders tomorrow, while the rest will have to wait for Friday.

The Dell Streak boasts a 5-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 2GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, UMTS, GPRS and EDGE support, plus Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity.

More info about Dell's device can be found here .

Techconnect Review Round-up 10/8/10

2010-08-11T08:44:00.003-07:00

Today's review round-up...

CPU & Motherboard

- ASRock 880G Extreme3 & 890FX Deluxe3 @ Phoronix

- ASUS P7P55D-E PRO @ TechReaction

- ASUS P6X58D-E Motherboard @ Overclockers Club

Memory

- Best DDR3 SDRAM for AMD Phenom II X6 @ X-bit labs

- Patriot Viper II Sector 5 2400MHz 4GB Kit (PVV34G2400C9K) @ Bjorn3d

Storage

- Synology DiskStation DS210+ Network Storage Server @ CCE Reviews

- Super Talent SuperCrypt 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive @ TweakTown

- ADATA Superior Series C905 USB Flash Drive @ Madshrimps

- Crucial C300 256GB SSD @ PureOC

- G.Skill Phoenix Pro 128GB @ bit-tech

Graphics cards

- Sparkle GTX465 Graphics Card @ OverclockersHQ

- MSI GeForce GTX 460 768MB Cyclone in SLI Overclocked @ TweakTown

- GeForce GTX 460 1GB SLI vs. Radeon HD 5870 CFX @ [H]ard OCP

Enclosures & PSUs

- Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 1000W PSU @ APH Networks

- Kingwin ATK-35U3-BK USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure @ Tweaknews

- NZXT Vulcan Micro ATX Case @ BCCHardware

Displays

- Samsung LN55C650 120Hz LCD HDTV @ Hardware Canucks

- Sony Bravia KDL-40NX803 @ TrustedReviews

- Toshiba 40RV753B @ TechRadar

Cooling and modding

- Corsair A50 CPU cooler @ Neoseeker

- Corsair Hydro Series H70 CPU cooler @ Hexus

- SilverStone SST-AP181 Air Penetrator Fan @ Benchmark Reviews

- Antec Notebook Coolers Triple Treat - Basic, Mini, and Designer @ PC Perspective

- Enermax T.B.SILENCE 14cm Fan @ Rbmods

- Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler @ Hardware Secrets

- Prolimatech Armageddon CPU cooler @ OC3D

Peripherals

- Arctic M551 Gaming Mouse @ BCCHardware

PCs & tablets

- HP All-in-One 200-5020 Desktop Computer @ TweakTown

Other

- Siig Wireless-N PCI Adapter @ Bona Fide Reviews

- Dell 5330dn laser printer @ TrustedReviews

- Epson Stylus Photo R2880 @ TechRadar

Razer readies the oh-so-green Orca headphones

2010-08-11T08:44:00.001-07:00

Apparently making a tribute to Green Lantern Razer has now launched the Orca headphones which feature a retina-hypnotizing green paintjob and is claimed to deliver the performance required by both hardcore gamers and music lovers.

Seen below, the new phones have a 3.5mm jack at the end of a 1.2 meter long braided cable, an ergonomic design to provide comfort for hours on end, two 40mm drivers with neodymium magnets, an impedance of 32 Ohms at 1kHz and a frequency response of 15 to 21,000 Hz.

"The Razer Orca marks Razer’s foray into the lifestyle audio world," said Robert 'Razerguy' Krakoff, president, Razer USA. "We specifically designed the Razer Orca for the consumer who demands unmatched comfort and the utmost style, who also happens to game. We wanted a pair of headphones that could transition from your gaming den to the subway by adding a cool look to great gaming sound."

Orca is set to become available this month priced at $59.99 / €59.99.

Motorola Droid 2 finally debuts, to ship on August 12

2010-08-11T08:43:00.002-07:00

Motorola and Verizon Wireless have today officially introduced the Droid 2 smartphone and said it go on pre-sale tomorrow (and ship on August 12) priced at $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year contract.

Pictured below, Droid 2 runs Android 2.2 (spiced up with the Blur UI) and has a slide-out keyboard, a 3.7-inch (854 x 480) multi-touch display, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of built-in memory (backed by an 8GB microSDHC card), Flash Player 10.1, 3G mobile hotSpot capabilities, and DLNA connectivity.

"With the new Droid 2, we've taken a big leap forward from the original Droid," said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home Business. "We listened to consumers and are providing an even more robust experience built on Android 2.2 that includes a new keyboard, increased processing power, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 and 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities to send, access and share information even quicker than before."

A limited-edition R2-D2 version of the Droid 2 has also been confirmed and it will be available only online in September.

Zotac intros USB 3.0-equipped H55-ITX WiFi motherboard

2010-08-11T08:43:00.001-07:00

Confirming our report last week, Zotac has today announced a new mini-ITX motherboard which is based on the Intel H55 motherboard, the H55-ITX WiFi (H55ITX-C-E). This model is based on the H55ITX-A-E board and adds USB 3.0 support via a Renesas Electronics controller.

In all, the compact board features support for LGA 1156 processors, two DDR3-1333 memory slots, six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, one PCI-Express x16 slot, built-in 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, 7.1 channel audio, two USB 3.0 connectors, plus DVI and HDMI outputs.

"We see a trend where gamers are moving towards small form factor systems but want high-end CPUs and graphics cards. With the updated Zotac H55-ITX WiFi (H55ITX-C-E, gamers can build a complete small form factor system with a high-end Intel Core i7 800 series processor and a Zotac GeForce GTX 400-series graphics card," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, Zotac International.

Zotac's H55ITX-C-E is already shipping in China were it costs about $118.

Xigmatek unveils the Aegir SD128264 CPU cooler

2010-08-11T08:42:00.003-07:00

Xigmatek has today officially introduced its newest high-performance CPU cooler, a model which goes by the name of Aegir SD128264 that features a D.L.H.D.T. (Double Layer with Heat-pipe Direct Touch) structure and supports LGA 775/1156/1366 and AM2/AM2+/AM3 processors.

Xigmatek's creation measures 130 (W) x 66.4 (D) x 159 (H) mm, has two 8mm and four 6mm copper heatpipes, and is bundled with one 120mm (20 dBA) long life bearing operating at 1000 to 2200 RPM (rotations per minute), equipped with four white LEDs.

The Aegir SD128264 can be paired up with up to two fans which are mounted with anti-vibration 'rubbers'. Pricing info wasn't provided by we're keeping an eye out for it.

Google offices raided by South Korean police in data collecting probe

2010-08-11T08:42:00.001-07:00

As part of an investigation into Google's admitted snooping and gathering of WiFi data, South Korean police has today raided the company's Seoul offices, looking for evidence that information was collected and stored for later potential use.

Google has previously stated that its Street View cars, which are supposed to just take photos and not much else, have indeed gathered data from unencrypted WiFi networks, but mentioned this was dome by mistake. Even so, this illegal snooping has sparked several probes around the world, the one in South Korea being one of the latest.

The Korean raid was done by 19 agents and saw multiple hard drives and documents being confiscated in order to be analyzed. Google execs are expected to be questioned too, as the investigation moves forward.

ECS Black series P55H-AK high-end motherboard closing in

2010-08-11T08:41:00.005-07:00

First seen at Computex 2010 in June, ECS' high and mighty P55H-AK motherboard has also been added to the manufacturer's website although there's still no info regarding its release. Part of the Black series, the new board is based on Intel's P55 chipset and targets gamers.

The P55H-AK comes with a dark color theme and features support for LGA 1156 processors and DDR3-2600+ memory, has 15μ gold contacts on the CPU socket and RAM slots, packs an Nvidia NF200 bridge chip and provides three PCI-Express x16 slots enabling 3-way SLI or Quad CrossFireX setups.

The board also includes a PLX PEX 8608 PCIe bridge, two SATA 6.0 Gbps and six SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, two USB 3.0 and two eSATA connectors, dual Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, a debug LED, and Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons. All in all, this is an interesting offering from ECS, it just needs to reach stores already.

NEC MultiSync E231W monitor to reach Europe next month

2010-08-11T08:41:00.003-07:00

Announced last week in North America, NEC's MultiSync E231W 23-inch LCD monitor has also been introduced in Europe although here on the Old Continent you'll have to wait until September to have it shipped.

The upcoming widescreen display is EPEAT Gold and TCO 5.0-certified, has an LED backlight and features a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 5ms response time, a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 (25,000:1 DCR), a maximum brightness of 250 cd/m2, a 4-way ergonomic stand with 110mm height adjustment, tilt, swivel and pivot functions, a built-in carbon footprint meter, and D-Sub, DVI and DisplayPort connectors.

The MultiSync E231W has an EU recommended price tag of €299 and will be offered with a three-year warranty.

Nvidia rolls out new OpenGL 4.1-supporting driver

2010-08-11T08:41:00.001-07:00

Developers and enthusiasts can now get their hands on Nvidia's second OpenGL 4.1-supporting graphics driver for both Windows (version 259.31) and Linux (v256.38.03). OpenGL 4.1 can only be 'unlocked' on Fermi-based products like the GeForce GTX 400 series the new Quadro cards.

The 259.31/256.38.03 driver is available for download on this page in both 32bit and 64bit flavors to keep everyone happy.

MXI Security adds 64GB Stealth series secure flash drives to its offer

2010-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

MXI Security has just announced the introduction of a few new, high-capacity models in its Stealth M-Series and Stealth MXP Bio lines of secure flash drives which feature FIPS 140-2 Level 3-certified on-board hardware AES 256-bit encryption.

The added drives can store up to 64GB of data, are powered by the Bluefly security processor, have a waterproof and dustproof construction, a USB 2.0 interface, and provide advanced manageability and identity capabilities like device recycling, key generation, and digital signatures. The Stealth MXP Bio also boasts biometric security.

The full Stealth M-Series and Stealth MXP Bio offer can be found on MXI's website .

Apple servers up the Magic Trackpad for more multi-touch fun

2010-07-28T12:03:00.005-07:00

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 comes up with 27-inch LED Cinema Display

2010-07-28T12:03:00.003-07:00

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.

New iMacs pack Core i3/i5/i7 processors, have DirectX 11 graphics option

2010-07-28T12:03:00.001-07:00

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

Apple Mac Pro added hexa-core CPUs, DirectX 11, more flashy storage

2010-07-28T12:02:00.008-07:00

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 releases the Cruzer Blade flash drive

2010-07-28T12:02:00.007-07:00

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.

Nvidia launches Fermi-based Quadro solutions

2010-07-28T12:02:00.005-07:00

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

Micron readies 2Gb DDR2 memory for 'Oak Trail' Atom-powered devices

2010-07-28T12:02:00.003-07:00

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 reveals new, custom-cooled GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 465

2010-07-28T12:02:00.001-07:00

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.

Techconnect Review Round-up 27/7/10

2010-07-28T12:01:00.003-07:00

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 Ares @ bit-tech

- 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

Intel Labs demonstrates 50 Gbps laser connection, wires need not worry yet

2010-07-28T12:01:00.001-07:00

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 preps the UltraDrive MX SSDs with SATA/USB connectivity

2010-07-28T12:00:00.010-07:00

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 adding three more Inferno SSDs to its offer

2010-07-28T12:00:00.009-07:00

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.

Cooler Master unveils the NotePal U3 notebook cooler

2010-07-28T12:00:00.007-07:00

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.

Second Firefox 4.0 beta released, awaiting testing

2010-07-28T12:00:00.005-07:00

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 delivers OpenGL 4.1 drivers for Windows and Linux

2010-07-28T12:00:00.003-07:00

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 .

Panasonic also presents the HM-TA1 pocket-sized HD camera

2010-07-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

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.

Bose debuts the A20 Aviation Headset

2010-07-28T11:59:00.007-07:00

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.

Adobe buying Day Software for $240 million

2010-07-28T11:59:00.005-07:00

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.

Microsoft makes street navigation faster with slide panoramas

2010-07-28T11:59:00.003-07:00

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.

EVGA lets loose new SLI enhancement patch

2010-07-28T11:59:00.001-07:00

EVGA has yesterday rolled out its 30th SLI Enhancement Patch and the second to be based on the GeForce 258.96 driver. This new release adds two SLI profiles over those included in the driver - one for Valve's Alien Swarm and one for IO Interactive's Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days.

The new SLI patch can be downloaded via this page for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

AOC preps 10 new widescreen LCD monitors

2010-07-28T11:58:00.008-07:00

AOC is making a big back-to-school push as it's planning on releasing ten new LCD monitors for business and home use in August. The upcoming displays feature 18.5-inch, 19-inch, 21.5-inch, 22-inch and 23-inch panels - four models boasting a WLED backlight, while the rest have a CCFL backlight.

AOC's LCDs go from 1366 x 768 to 1920 x 1080 in terms of resolution, have a contrast ratio of 60,000:1 (CCFL) or 20,000,000:1 (WLED), a 2/5ms response time, and D-Sub and DVI connectors. Certain models also include built-in speakers, and a USB hub.

The monitors' prices have not been revealed.

Elpida claims to have the smallest 2Gb DDR2 Mobile RAM ever

2010-07-28T11:58:00.007-07:00

Japanese memory manufacturer Elpida has started bragging about the fact that it managed to develop the world's smallest LPDDR2 DRAM, a 2Gb (2 Gigabit) DDR2 Mobile RAM chip which is set to be used in devices like smartphones and tablet PCs.

The 2Gb DRAM (ECB240ABBCN) is made using 40nm process technology, has a data transfer rate of 1066 Mbps, is powered at 1.2V, and can operate at -30 to 85 degrees Celsius.

Elpida's DDR2 chip is set to start sampling in August and will enter mass production in September. It will be available as a bare chip for MCPs (Multi-Chip Packages) and in PoP-type FBGA and 134-ball FBGA packages.

Opera Mini userbase falls below 60 million in June

2010-07-28T11:58:00.005-07:00

The World Cup month hasn't been all that great for Opera Mini as the latest State of the Mobile Web Report provided by Opera Software shows that in June, 59.4 million people used the browser, down 3.2% compared to May, but up a healthy 124.7% over June 2009.

The drop in user base is said to be the result of "technical and political challenges" that were encountered in certain countries, but are now being resolved. The top 10 countries by Opera Mini users are, in order, Indonesia, Russia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, the USA, Vietnam, Nigeria and Great Britain.

For more info about Opera Mini's performance in June you can see Opera's report here .

Rambus develops speedy DDR3 controller for consumer electronics

2010-07-28T11:58:00.003-07:00

When it's not suing everybody Rambus can actually come up with some pretty interesting technology, like the newly-developed DDR3 memory controller interface solution targeting consumer electronics that has a low power consumption and supports a fast data rate of 1866 MT/s (megatransfers per second).

"Our licensees benefit from Rambus' patented innovations and leading design expertise in a silicon-proven DDR3 interface solution they can customize to their needs," said Sharon Holt, senior vice president of Licensing and Marketing at Rambus. "This high-performance DDR3 solution tailored for wire bond packaging is ideally suited for a broad range of consumer electronics including next-generation HDTVs, digital set-top boxes and Blu-ray players and recorders."

In hopes of getting people interested in using its controller, Rambus is demonstrating the DDR3 solution at the Denali MemCon 2010 conference in Santa Clara.

Safari updated to version 5.0.1, Extensions get activated

2010-07-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

Apple has just let loose the 5.0.1 version of Safari, enabling the use of Extensions - tools built with HTML5, CSS3 or JavaScript that can add extra functionality to the browser. The Safari Extensions Gallery has also been opened to the public so it can browse and choose what additions to make.

"Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic," said Brian Croll, Apple's vice president of OS X Product Marketing. "We're thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari."

NZXT Phantom full-tower chassis reaching Europe in mid-August

2010-07-28T11:57:00.003-07:00

US company NZXT is readying the roll out of a new Crafted series PC case, the Phantom full-tower coming in three colors - black, white and red, and featuring a wannabe sleek and futuristic, asymmetric design.

The upcoming chassis measures 222 x 541.3 x 623.8 mm and weights 11kg, has a steel structure, and provides five exposed 5.25-inch bays, top-mounted USB, eSATA and audio ports, tool-free installation for optical, hard and solid state drives, as well as for PCI cards, a motherboard tray cut-out to help with coolers that require a backplate, and a few LED lights, you know to pimp that up.

NZXT's creation also includes four pre-drilled holes at the back for watercooling tubes, a 5-channel (20W per channel) fan controller, and packs one 200mm fan on top, one 120mm spinner at the rear and two side 120mm fans.

The Phantom cases will start shipping on August 13 and can now be found on pre-order priced at €139.90.

Samsung countering Panasonic's HM-TA1 with the HMX-E10 camcorder

2010-07-28T11:57:00.001-07:00

Samsung Electronics has announced its intention to roll out a few new digital cameras in September, including the HMX-E10 pocket-sized camcorder which features a 270-degree swiveling lens and is capable of recording 1920 x 1080 video in the H.264 format.

The compact device packs a 1/3.2 inch CMOS sensor, offers 2x digital zoom, and includes a 2.7-inch (230,000 dots) touchscreen LCD, a microSD slot, USB and HDMI connectors, and a one-touch button to quickly upload videos to YouTube.

According to its maker, the HMX-E10 will hit stores priced at $200.

Samsung announces the WiFi-packing ST80 compact camera

2010-07-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Samsung's point-and-shoot camera offering it set to grow this autumn when the South Korean company will let loose the ST80, a model boasting WiFi connectivity and support for the AllShare (DNLA) technology which enables the easy, wire-free sharing of videos and pictures.

Seen below, Samsung new compact camera has a 14.2 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, a 3-inch (230,000 dots) touchscreen, 720p HD video recording capabilities, the Smart Auto (Still & Movie) scene recognition technology, plus the Smart Crop feature for on-the-go 'trimming' of images taken at any angle.

The ST80 is set to become available in September bearing a price tag of $250.

Mushkin intros two 8GB and 12GB Ridgeback DDR3 memory kits

2010-07-28T11:47:00.000-07:00

Mushkin has today announced the expansion of its March-introduced Ridgeback DDR3 memory line with two new, high-capacity offerings, an 8GB dual channel kit for LGA 1156-based systems, and a 12GB triple channel kit for LGA 1366-powered PCs.

Both kits make use of the Ridgeback heatsink boasting low-profile cooling fins, and they are certified to work at 2000 MHz with 10-10-10-27 timings, while powered at 1.65V.

The 8GB (996953) and 12GB (998953) DDR3 kits are backed by a lifetime warranty, the latter being currently available for $419.99.

Nvidia CUDA Toolkit 3.1 up for grabs

2010-07-22T07:25:00.001-07:00

Developers enticed by using GPU power to accelerate their applications can download, use and abuse a new version of CUDA Toolkit which is available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux, and includes extra features and support.

The CUDA Toolkit 3.1 packs the following updates and additions:

- GPUDirect gives 3rd party devices direct access to CUDA Memory

- Support for 16-way concurrency allows up to 16 different kernels to run at the same time on Fermi architecture GPUs

- Runtime / Driver interoperability enables applications to mix-n-match use of the CUDA Driver API with CUDA C Runtime and math libraries via buffer sharing and context migration

- New language features added to CUDA C / C++:

Support for printf() in device code

Support for function pointers and recursion make it easier to port many existing algorithms to Fermi GPUs

- Unified Visual Profiler now supports both CUDA C/C++ and OpenCL, and now includes support for CUDA Driver API tracing

- Math Libraries Performance Improvements, including:

Improved performance of selected transcendental functions from the log, pow, erf, and gamma families

Significant improvements in double-precision FFT performance on Fermi-architecture GPUs for 2^n transform sizes

Streaming API now supported in CUBLAS for overlapping copy and compute operations

CUFFT Real-to-complex (R2C) and complex-to-real (C2R) optimizations for 2^n data sizes

Improved performance for GEMV and SYMV subroutines in CUBLAS

Optimized double-precision implementations of divide and reciprocal routines for the Fermi architecture

- New and updated SDK code samples demonstrating how to use:

Function pointers in CUDA C/C++ kernels

OpenCL / Direct3D buffer sharing

Hidden Markov Model in OpenCL

Microsoft Excel GPGPU example showing how to run an Excel function on the GPU

... and can be found on this page .

Hitachi shows off enterprise SSDs at uValue 2010

2010-07-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

At this year's uValue convention in Tokyo, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has (finally) exposed its first solid state drives, ultra-high-performance 2.5-inch models that are specifically designed for the enterprise market.

Going after business customers first, just like rival Seagate, Hitachi will introduce SSDs with SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) and Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop interfaces that will likely feature SLC (single-level cell) NAND Flash memory chips and go up to 512GB in terms of capacity.

Hitachi's SSDs are set to begin shipping later this year.

Apple has record breaking quarter, iPhone and Mac sales up

2010-07-22T07:16:00.003-07:00

The iPhone 4's controversial antenna may experience drops in signal, but there's no dropping when it comes to Apple's financial results. They exceeded even Apple's own expectations leading them to break all sorts of records.

In the third fiscal quarter of 2010 (which ends on June 26), Apple's revenue is 15.7 billion US dollars and the net profit is 3.25 billion dollars. Just an year ago those figures were 9.73 billion dollars revenue and 1.83 billion dollars net profit.

The record income comes from record sales - 8.4 million iPhones were sold during the quarter (an astonishing 61% growth compared to last year's third quarter) and the Mac lineup of computers sold 33% more units as well. The iPads reached 3.27 million units sold.

About 52% of the revenue is due to international sales. It seems the only things that have fallen down are the iPod sales, which took an 8% dip (not really unexpected), and the gross margin which fell to 39.1% (down from 40.9%).

All eyes are on the fourth quarter now - and Apple has some bright plans for it. They are predicting a revenue of 18 billion US dollars for Q4. Considering they over-fulfilled their expectations for this quarter, they'll probably reach that goal and maybe even go further.

Source

Apple squeezes the reception out of Nokia N97 mini

2010-07-22T07:16:00.001-07:00

Apple seem keen to prove other smartphones have the same reception attenuation as the iPhone 4. And they are getting back with a video of Nokia N97 mini that suffers from the same grip of death as the iPhone.

Back at Apple Antennagate press conference last week Apple failed to show a faulty Nokia handset(probably because Nokia has a smaller smartphone market share in the US), but nonetheless Nokia came forward with a statement on the matter last weekend.

So Apple is keen to strike back at Nokia and the N97 mini is the next victim of Apple's accusations.

As the following video reveals, the S60-based smartphone loses signal if you cover its antenna with a hand. As a result, the N97 mini drops from 7 to only 2 bars. The question remains though - would that drop be bad enough to cause a dropped call as it is on the iPhone 4?

It's not even funny anymore. Who's next? Motorola? Sony Ericsson? We'll see. Stay tuned.

Source

Nokia reports sales growth, profits slip for Q2

2010-07-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

The CEO seat of Nokia's Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo continues to look shaky as the Finnish company has today presented its Q2 results which include a small rise in revenue but a double-digit fall in earnings per share.

To detail, Nokia's revenue this past quarter was €10 billion, up 1% on-year and 5% sequentially, while the EPS was of just €0.06, down 40% compared to the same period of 2009 and 33% compared to Q1.

Average selling price for mobile device was down a bit, to €61 but the company managed to deliver no less than 111.1 million units in Q2 (up 8% on-year and 3% sequentially). Smartphone and netbook sales topped 24 million, up 42% on-year and 12% sequentially.

"Despite facing continuing competitive challenges, we ended the second quarter with several reasons to be optimistic about our future," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo while trying to keep safe from investors. "For one, the global handset market has continued to grow at a healthy pace, led by some of the less mature markets where Nokia is strong. We are also encouraged by the solid second quarter performance of our Mobile Phones business, helped by an improving line-up of affordable models."

Nokia is expecting Q3 revenue to hover between €9.4 billion and €10.3 billion.

MSI unveils the Wind Top AE1920 All-in-One PC

2010-07-22T03:04:00.007-07:00

Continuing its all-in-one push, MSI has developed and now announced a new such machine which goes by the name Wind Top AE1920 which is based on Intel's Pine Trail platform and utilizes the recently-released Atom D525 dual-core processor.

MSI's latest all-in-one has a shiny white casing and packs a 18.5-inch (1366 x 768) single touch screen, the mentioned Atom D525 (1.8 GHz), 2GB of RAM, a 250, 320 or 500GB hard drive, GMA 3150 integrated graphics, a DVD writer, Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and a 6-in-1 card reader.

The Wind Top AE1920's price tag and release date were not revealed.

Asus MS208N and MS228H LED-backlit monitors released in Europe

2010-07-22T03:04:00.005-07:00

Asus has this week began to ship in Europe two more Designo MS Series LCD monitors, the 20-inch MS208N and 21.5-inch MS228H featuring LED backlighting, a glossy piano black frame with a 16.5mm-thick profile, and a maximum power consumption of just 25W.

Priced as low as €136, the MS208N has a native resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, a 5ms GTG response time, a brightness of 250 cd/m2, a dynamic contrast ratio of 50,000:1, and D-Sub and DVI inputs.

As for the MS228H, it can be found @ €170 and boasts a top resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 2ms GTG response time, 250 cd/m2 brightness, a DCR of 10,000,000:1, plus D-Sub and HDMI connectors.

Panasonic reveals the LUMIX FZ100 and FZ40 24x zoom-capable hybrids

2010-07-22T03:04:00.003-07:00

Panasonic has now announced its summer/autumn digital camera update plans and among the models prepared are the LUMIX FZ100 and FZ40, two hybrids that make use of the newly developed LEICA DC VARIO-ELMARIT lens enabling 24x optical zoom.

The new cameras also feature a 14.1-megapixel sensor, the POWER Optical Image Stabilizer, SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card support, can record HD (720p for the FZ40, 1080p for the FZ100) video, and a 3-inch LCD screen. The FZ100's display is 'free-angle' and has a resolution of 460,000 dots, while that on the FZ40 is limited to 230,000 dots.

The LUMIX FZ100 and FZ40 are scheduled to become available in late August and will cost $500 and $400, respectively.

LUMIX FZ100

LUMIX FZ40

Google Images gets a new layout, improved navigation

2010-07-22T03:04:00.001-07:00

After nine years of more or less significant improvements, Google Images is ready to feel pretty again and because of that, the good people working on it have prepared and already began to roll out a redesigned version that's supposed to "match the scope and beauty of this fast-growing visual web."

One of the most obvious changes made is the introduction of a tile layout which enables more images to be displayed on a results page. And speaking of pages, there's also the instant scrolling feature which makes going though the pictures found a lot faster as you can have up to 1,000 pictures on one page.

Other tweaks and modifications made include:

- Larger thumbnail previews on the results page, designed for modern browsers and high-res screens.

- A hover pane that appears when you mouse over a given thumbnail image, giving you a larger preview, more info about the image and other image-specific features such as “Similar images.”

- A new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it's hosted on visible right behind it.

- Optimized keyboard navigation for faster scrolling through many pages, taking advantage of standard web keyboard shortcuts such as Page Up / Page Down.

The new and improved Google Images should already be accessible to English users and will be available globally in the coming days.

VLC media player updated to version 1.1.1

2010-07-22T03:03:00.003-07:00

The VideoLAN team has today made available a new version of the VLC multimedia player, the 1.1.1 build which is available for Windows (and Linux and Mac OS too) and includes libVLC and translation updates, as well as some tweaks and fixes for stability and functionality problems.

The changelog for VLC 1.1.1 is available below while the link to get the updated player is here (Windows setup).

libVLC

- New capabilities for libVLC

- Various fixes and crash preventions, especially when video functions were called early

Decoders/Demuxers

- Fix performance issues with GPU decoding using DxVA2 using ATI graphic cards (Catalyst 10.7 is required)

- Fix :program selection in TS and DVB-T

- Fixes and improvements for MKV, Avformat and Avcodec modules

- Fix mod (.xm, .s3m, .it) files support on Windows and Mac builds

Stream output

- Fix h264 streaming in ts

Interfaces

- Qt: fix preferences, hotkeys, messages and some fulscreen behavior

- Skins: support for mousewheel in fullscreen, fix radialsliders

- Http: fix fullscreen toggle

Linux

- Fix pulse closing

- VAAPI small improvements, notably for extraction mode selection

Mac OS

- Multiple interface and crash fixes

- Deinterlace selection is repaired

- Crashes when playing multi-channel tracks fixes

Windows

- Activation of DEP on XP SP3

- Fix opening of .m3u and .pls playlists

- Fix crash when My Document isn't available

- Fix crash when Windows was getting into standby while playing video

Translations

- Update translations for Spanish, Polish, German, Sinhala, Hungarian, Khmer, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Hebrew, Slovak and Galician

Chrome 6.0.472.0 is ready for testing

2010-07-22T03:03:00.001-07:00

Yet another Chrome 6.0 build has been let loose through the Dev Channel and it currently available for Windows and Linux users (a Mac version is coming too) who'd like to try out the latest public release of Google's browser.

Dubbed Chrome 6.0.472.0, the new pre-beta build includes the following changes:

All

- Chromium stops saving files for any large downloads (Issue 49216)

- Fix crash with SSL client auth (Issue 49197)

- Option clicking a link now saves a resource directly without triggering a “Save As...” dialog (Issue 36775)

Mac

- Implement the upgrade available notification on the Wrench menu (Issue 45147)

- Implement the new, unified Wrench menu (Issue 47848)

Linux

- Fixed tab dragging glitches with newer GDEs (Issue 48774)

- Access GNOME Keyring on the main thread to fix a crash for some users (Issue 48343)

To download this Chrome check out this page .

Dell to start selling Streak MID by the end of the month

2010-07-22T03:01:00.000-07:00

July 19, the rumored US launch of Dell's Streak, has passed but there's still hope for people who want the mobile device as the PC maker has confirmed Streak will be available for purchase in the US of A 'in late July'.

To help pass the time until the MID (mobile internet device) goes on sale, Dell is inviting everyone to sign up for a notification and a special 24 hour pre-sale opportunity - just check out this page and fill in your name and email.

Streak, which is currently available in the UK, features a 5-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 2GB of internal storage, and runs Android.

Facebook passes 500 million: milestone or mildly horrifying? [Poll]

2010-07-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Facebook announced today that it has surpassed 500 million users, an obvious indication that the social network’s growth is yet to slow. Jeremiah Owyang of Altimeter Group told CNET’s Caroline McCarthy that Facebook is beginning to threaten even niche, regional social networks, and area that many had hoped would stay segregated for the sake of their communities. So, while Facebook is celebrating this milestone, one must wonder whether or not this is a good thing? Why? Because Facebook still hasn’t figured out how to deal with its privacy issues to the level that many users require, nor is there yet a decent amount of clarity around terms of service and the fate of millions of users’ content.

I still use Facebook. Call me a sheep, call me lazy. It’s a great way to share information and keep up with friends. But I am much more careful than I ever was before in what I share and with whom I connect. With the ease of use of social networks, some people truly are putting their privacy and intellectual property worries aside for convenience. What about you? Please take the below poll.

IBM unveils hybrid mainframe; 'System of system' eyes data center consolidation

2010-07-22T02:47:00.004-07:00

IBM on Thursday will unveil a new hybrid mainframe design that aims to cut data center sprawl and be a bridge to other systems.

All of the hardware giants—IBM, HP, Cisco, Dell and Oracle—are producing magic boxes (or armies of them) to modernize data centers and bridge them to cloud computing. IBM is aiming its hybrid mainframe, which is designed to manage other systems too, at the data center simplification effort.

The lead-in to IBM’s zEnterprise System (right) was interesting as rivals were pooh-poohing the effort before the launch. IBM CFO Mark Loughridge foreshadowed the mainframe launch during the company’s earnings conference call.

What’s the hubbub about? IBM is looking to bridge enterprises that run on mainframes with other industry standard servers. While hardware vendors take shots at each other, the reality is that most data centers have multiple hardware components. The key is to integrate those components, cut down on sprawl and save on energy—all while handling massive computing loads.

Also: As IBM preps mainframe launch, war of words with Oracle’s Sun, HP heats up

The design was developed with $1.5 billion in R&D funding with input from 30 customers and more than 5,000 employees around the world. Will this effort work? Ultimately, the IT buyer will decide, but for now there are multiple moving parts to ponder. In a nutshell:

The zEnterprise 196 is the core server in the package. It contains 96 processors running at 5.2 GHz each. The server can handle 50 billion instructions per second.
IBM is looking to bring central governance and mainframe management tools and extend them to Power7 and System X servers. Think of IBM’s new mainframes as a virtualization hub that manages other workloads in the data center.
The new hybrid machines will offer faster analytics capabilities.
zEnterprise will be up to 60 percent faster than the predecessor System z10 and use the same amount of energy.
The system also rides shotgun with technology called IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension and the IBM Unified Resource Manager to manage workloads across multiple systems.

As for the bottom line, IBM is claiming the zEnterprise System can reduce acquisition costs by 40 percent with total cost of ownership falling 55 percent.

IBM’s move is likely to raise the debate about the mainframe, which has had obituaries written about it for years. Some companies, which are on the scale out with standard servers bandwagon, wouldn’t be caught dead with mainframes. Enterprises that already have mainframes to process a massive amount of transactions—think financial services companies like Citi—will be receptive. Add it up and every big tech company has some spin on converging infrastructure to create efficient, automated computing systems. IBM has the same message with a mainframe twist.

In many respects, IBM is touching on the database and computing consolidation preached by Oracle with its Exadata machine. Here’s an example from IBM’s statement:

Using the zEnterprise System with the zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension and IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager, a financial services company that is managing credit card transactions on the mainframe and using an IBM blade optimized for analytics, can gain insights from the information in seconds rather than waiting hours for the two disparate systems to integrate their databases. IBM estimates that complex database queries can experience up to a ten-fold performance improvement in this hybrid environment. In addition, with IBM’s new architecture, the financial services company can extend the mainframe’s unique, always-on, ultra-secure and reliable qualities to its customer service applications running on IBM blades.

If successful, folks may be calling for the demise of the mainframe another three decades from now.

Here’s a deeper dive on the moving parts of the zEnterprise launch:

The IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension is designed to allow applications to be run on general purpose blade servers from Big Blue for specific tasks. These blade servers will be managed as if they were mainframes and be integrated with System z. IBM plans to launch blades running IBM’s flavor of Unix, dubbed AIX. IBM next year plans multiple blades running Linux that will extend to the mainframe.
IBM software called Unified Resource Manager will be the firmware that integrates computing resources so zEnterprise can manage it. One system can manage more than 100,000 virtual servers. Unified Resource Manager will also b able to find bottlenecks and failures and fix them.
The zEnterprise 196 server is designed to optimize heavy workloads. IBM claims that the zEnterprise 196 will run Oracle workloads for 74 percent less than x86 systems. The system also has a water cooling system that can connect to standard chilled water systems in data centers. The server also has a bundle of IBM software from Tivoli and can be optimized to work with Cognos and SPSS for analytics. Rational and Lotus are also in the mix.

Separately, BMC Software, a leading mainframe software management company, said it will support IBM’s hybrid mainframe with its Business Service Management tools. BMC sees the hybrid approach as a logical way to bring systems together. “IBM’s mainframe approach brings the cloud opportunity to the forefront,” said Bill Miller, president of BMC’s Mainframe Service Management business unit. “This could be a lot more than a traditional server and with its split personality could offer scalability like nothing else out there.”

At the very least, IBM has another data center stack to evaluate.

Google Tags: Now free for 30 days

2010-07-22T02:47:00.003-07:00

If you own a local business, and you are looking to gain a bit of an edge over your competition, Google says the answer is Google Tags. Last month they launched this service, but likely due to a tepid response, Google is offering business owners 30 days free.

What does it give you? Well, when someone searches for anything relevant to your business — either in their browser at home, or on the go, your listing in Google Maps will be “Tagged”. Tagged items are visually different from the rest, and usually offer up deals or coupons.

Once the trial period of 30 days is over (on July 23rd), you will be charged $25 a month if you don’t cancel. If you decide to give this a shot, I’d be interested to know if it made a difference for your business.

Lexar unloads hefty 128GB Echo SE USB drive

2010-07-22T02:47:00.001-07:00

With the latest installment of the Lexar Echo SE USB drive, you can now fit 128GB into your pocket. But it will certainly cost you dearly.

Compatible with both Mac OS X and Windows systems, a drive such as this is recommended for backing up your computer rather than just the simple transfer of files. For that purpose, you can expect read and write speeds up to 28MB/s and 10MB/s respectively. And since such a little storage device could get lost so easily, you can opt for 128-bit AES encryption for some extra security.

Available now, the Echo SE 128GB-capacity USB drive will cost you a lot: $499.99. It’s amazing how something so small can cost so much. If that’s just a bit too much for you, you can opt for one of the previously available, smaller capacities (8GB/16GB/32GB). Or you could just carry around a much cheaper, larger capacity but slightly bigger portable hard drive.

Droid X Screen Problems Nipped in Bud

2010-07-22T02:45:00.000-07:00

By Katherine Noyes
TechNewsWorld
07/21/10 11:48 AM PT

Reports of Droid X display problems may have triggered some alarm, having come on the heels of Apple's 'Antennagate' debacle, but there's little similarity between the two. In particular, Motorola and Verizon didn't drag their heels either in addressing or correcting the problem. Apple has taken sharp criticism for its slow, somewhat grudging response.

The Verizon Droid X by Motorola

Even as Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) suffers the continuing pains of its iPhone 4 "Antennagate" brouhaha, it appears at least one competing device is now facing problems of its own: Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Verizon on Tuesday acknowledged faulty screens on some Droid X handsets and offered affected consumers a free replacement device.

"We are aware of a very small number of Droid X units that have experienced a flickering or banding display," Motorola spokesperson Juli Burda told TechNewsWorld. "The exposure of devices is limited to less than one-tenth of a percent."

Motorola has already resolved the issue, Burda said, and it continues to ship the product.

"Any consumer who experiences a flickering or banding display should contact Motorola's customer support center or Verizon Wireless for a replacement," she added.

Those experiencing issues "will have their phones replaced in a timely manner," Verizon Wireless spokesperson Marquett Smith told TechNewsWorld.

'Most Will Be Pleased'

The Android-based Droid X just hit the stores last week after considerable fanfare, particularly given the iPhone 4's ongoing problems.

Many affected users apparently found the device worked fine at first, and then problems began to crop up, according to reports, in some cases rendering the display useless. At least one user posted a YouTube video demonstrating the problem.

Whereas Apple has suffered sharp criticism for taking too long to respond to the iPhone 4's antenna issues, the quick response from Motorola and Verizon should come as a pleasant surprise, Alex Spektor, a wireless analyst with Strategy Analytics, told TechNewsWorld.

"For those consumers who are suffering from the problem, it can certainly be a frustrating experience, but I think most will be pleased with Verizon's almost immediate offer to replace the device," Spektor explained.

Of course, the alacrity of that response is not too surprising, given that the device is not only still under warranty but within the 30-day return period, he noted. "It would make sense for Verizon to keep those consumers as happy as possible."

'The Best Way to Do It'

Indeed, the companies' response has been "very good," agreed Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile and wireless with the 451 Group.

"In today's terms, with all the other issues out there, they reacted very swiftly," Hazelton told TechNewsWorld.

"I'm not comparing this with the iPhone's antenna issues, but the fact that Motorola and Verizon acknowledged the problem right away and reacted with a solution -- that's the best way to do it," he added. "Acknowledge it, disclose how big the impact is, and offer a resolution."

'There Will Be Devices in the Channel'

Though there were reports as early as last weekend that the Droid X had already sold out online, there are typically always devices in the channel that can be accessed for priority needs such as this replacement program, Hazelton pointed out.

"With the retail channel control that Motorola and Verizon have, there will be devices in the channel that they can prioritize and that may be easily accessible," he explained.

Although this particular problem affects just a very small proportion of buyers, it still "speaks to the pressure that smartphone vendors are under right now to get their devices to market on time," Spektor noted.

"There's a lot of competition for Motorola from Samsung, Apple and HTC," he concluded. "As we've seen with the iPhone antenna issue, and as we've seen with component shortages for other vendors, there's a lot of pressure to get these devices onto the market as quickly as possible in order to remain competitive."

T-Mobile USA is latest rumored iPhone suitor

2010-07-22T02:44:00.002-07:00

Will the iPhone come to T-Mobile before Verizon?

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

We still don't know when AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple will expire, but that doesn't stop the continued rumors of the iPhone expanding to new carriers in the United States.

Usually it's Verizon Wireless that we hear is close to signing up to service the iPhone, but a report in Cult of Mac on Wednesday says it's actually T-Mobile that "is very close to getting the iPhone in the fall."

The report quotes an anonymous "highly placed" source at T-Mobile, who says the negotiations between Apple and the carrier are in an "advanced stage" and that it's "80 percent likely" the phone will arrive on T-Mobile's network in the third quarter.

It's unclear from where the 80 percent figure is derived. We do know that at one point, Apple and AT&T had a five-year exclusive service agreement. USA Today originally reported the contract length in 2007, which would keep the iPhone away from other U.S. carriers until 2012 at the earliest. Whether that has changed is not clear, but "this fall" or "third quarter" seems a little early. AT&T did, however, suddenly allow current customers whose contracts expire anytime this year to get an early upgrade for the iPhone 4, which could be a sign that AT&T is anticipating the end of its exclusive contract.

It's pretty clear that Apple is interested in expanding its device to other carriers--it's already done so in several countries and has seen an uptick in new subscribers, according to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. If Apple were to pursue that strategy in the States, T-Mobile is a much more natural fit for the iPhone than Verizon, when put in proper perspective.

Both AT&T and T-Mobile use SIM cards and operate GSM networks. Verizon, on the other hand, does not use SIM cards, and it is a CDMA operator. Apple has been rumored on several occasions to be building a CDMA version of the iPhone. But on Monday, Wired reported that Apple had even spoken to Qualcomm about using its chips for such a phone--a move that would have required overhauling the design and manufacturing of the iPhone--and ultimately dropped the idea.

Besides being more realistic for the iPhone, the two companies already have a relationship: T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom offers the iPhone through T-Mobile and Orange in Europe and the United Kingdom.

It's also clear that Apple and AT&T aren't trying to pretend that they have a great relationship anymore. During Apple's earnings call on Tuesday, when pressed about adding carriers, Cook had even less to say on the topic than ever.

"We are very happy to be partnering with AT&T, and they've been a first-class partner and really pioneered the smartphone growth from a network point of view in the U.S.," Cook said. "And that's all I have to say about that."

His comment on the matter was, on the whole, complimentary. But it was definitely a bit more clipped than usual. Of course, if Apple does go with another carrier, it's extremely unlikely that it would leave AT&T, so bad-mouthing the company outright doesn't make a lot of sense. Rather, Apple would likely use another carrier to augment the iPhone's current availability. T-Mobile definitely doesn't have as large a network as AT&T, specifically in rural areas of the U.S., so it would function well as a complement to the iPhone's availability on AT&T more than anything.

A new carrier, however, does not signal an automatically better experience for iPhone users in places like San Francisco and New York. It's not clear that T-Mobile (or any other carrier) wouldn't experience problems with its network similar to what AT&T has dealt with, should it start offering the iPhone. It's likely that the amount of data users Apple generates for any carrier would be overwhelming.

CNET's Kent German contributed to this report.

Dell to start selling Streak MID by the end of the month

2010-07-22T02:44:00.001-07:00

Streak, which is currently available in the UK, features a 5-inch touchscreen, a 1GHz Snapdragon chipset, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 2GB of internal storage, and runs Android.

HP TouchSmart tm2 added Core i5 power

2010-07-22T02:43:00.006-07:00

Two months after making the move to 32nm computing through the adoption of Intel's Calpella platform and Core i3 processors, HP's TouchSmart tm2 convertible tablet has received another upgrade by being added one Core i5 CPU option.

Beside the 'new' 1.20 GHz Core i5-430UM chip, HP's 12.1-inch portable PC packs up to 8GB of RAM, a 320/500/640GB hard drive, integrated graphics or a Mobility Radeon HD 5450 discrete card, a 5-in-1 card reader, a TrueVision webcam, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and a 6-cell battery.

The TouchSmart tm2 can be found here and has a starting price tag of $830.

Western Digital once again beats Seagate in drive shipments

2010-07-22T02:43:00.005-07:00

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended on July 2nd, Western Digital has managed to keep the hard drive crown it pulled from Seagate in Q3 as it shipped no less than 49.7 million units, whereas its arch-rival 'only' sold 46.8 million units.

In Q4 Western Digital's revenue was of $2.4 billion, up from $1.9 billion a year ago while the net income was $265 million or $1.13 per share. Analysts were expecting earnings per share to reach $1.35 but increased competition and a lower demand have taken their toll on WD's numbers.

“Despite softer than anticipated June quarter demand, fiscal year 2010 was another year of significant growth and profitability for Western Digital,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer. “The long-term demand for low-cost, high-volume storage driven by the proliferation of data and content-hungry consumer and commercial devices remains strong. With our focus on customer needs, quality, low cost, and high asset efficiency in the highest growth markets, we believe WD is well positioned to continue to generate growth on a sustained and profitable basis.”

Western Digital expects a revenue for the current quarter of $2.35 billion to $2.45 billion.

Autodesk snaps up Illuminate Labs

2010-07-22T02:43:00.003-07:00

3ds Max and AutoCAD creator Autodesk has moved swiftly and managed to acquire for an undisclosed sum Sweden-based Illuminate Labs, the company known for making the Beast tool for advanced global illumination and the Turtle rendering and baking plugin for Autodesk Maya.

“We welcome Illuminate Labs customers and employees to Autodesk,” said Marc Stevens, VP Games, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “Technological progress is a mainstay of the games industry. Autodesk is committed to helping game developers be more competitive with modern pipelines. We want our customers to spend less time building workflows and solving redundant problems, and more time realizing their creative vision for the game.”

Autodesk is promising to continue developing and selling Illuminate Labs’ offerings, with the Beast middleware expected to still be a standalone product, while Turtle will be incorporated in future Autodesk software.

Samsung keeps it low-cost with the PL200 point-and-shoot camera

2010-07-22T02:43:00.001-07:00

Beside the dual-screen-equipped ST600 and ST100, Samsung has yesterday unveiled another camera coming out in September, the PL200 point-and-shoot compact which is supposed to be "one of the most well-rounded digital cameras on the market."

Looking pretty stylish, Samsung's compact has a 14.2 megapixel sensor, dual image stabilization, 7x optical zoom, a 3-inch (230,000-dot) LCD screen, built-in flash, features like Blink Detection, Face Detection, Beauty Shot and Smile Shot, and can record 720p video.

The PL200 is expected to cost just about $180.

Antec KÜHLER Flow cooler makes stealthy debut

2008-12-26T05:52:00.001-08:00

If the KÜHLER Shelf isn't to your liking then know that Antec has begun to ship another wannabe high and mighty CPU cooler, the KÜHLER Flow model which, like Shelf, has support for Intel LGA 1366, 1156, 775 and AMD Socket AM2, AM2+, AM3 processors.

Seen below, the new cooler measures 122 (H) x 157 (W) x 108 (D) mm, weights 0.7kg, has seven copper heatpipes, and a 120mm PWM fan with rubber grommets that reduce vibration. The KÜHLER Flow can currently be found in Australia @ AUD 74 / 65 USD.