Apple believes that the iPad mini will sell well (report)

Quite a bit is already known about a product that doesnt officially exist yet. That product is the rumored upcoming iPad mini, a smaller version of Apples iPad tablet. Sporting a screen of approximately 7.8 inches, the smaller iPad is believed to be a competitor to other small and inexpensive tablets on the market, such as Amazons Kindle Fire.

Today, The Wall Street Journal reported from Taipei that Apple placed an order for ten million panels to use in the manufacturing of this product. This report follows a similar one from the Taiwanese tech website Digitimes, which has a mixed reputation for the validity of its reports.

Purported leaked photo of the iPad mini, by Sonny Dickson

If the news is true, Apple obviously believes that the iPad mini will sell well. That is not a far out conjecture, judging by the success of other comparatively miniature tablets, and the high volume sales which always seem to follow Apple’s iOS products wherever they go.

It is believed that the iPad mini will sell for less than Apple’s iPad, and more than its iPod touch. This will make it a more affordable choice for people who would like an Apple tablet, but can’t quite cough up the $500 it costs for a 16 GB iPad without cellular access, and $629 with cellular access. Currently, that price can easily buy someone a laptop computer.

Since there has been no official word from Apple on the product whatsoever, it is unknown when (if ever) it will release. However, if the past behaviors of the company are to be taken as a template, then an invitation to an event within the next week would be good indication of a product announcement, followed by sales in November.

Source: The Washington Postvia The Wall Street Journal

AMD ATI vs NVIDIA Mobile Graphics Line-Up

We have revealed earlier about Nvidia'supcoming line-up for mobile graphics and now we check out how theircompetitor, AMD/ATI line-up for their mobile graphics. AMD plans to have dualgraphics mobile solutions for their top end line; the Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2and 3850 X2. It seems Nvidia's top solution is a single GeForce 9800M GTX here.However, notebook maker Dell has offered dual graphics solution before with thedual GeForce 8800M GTX (G92) card equipped with 1GB memories so we wouldn't besurprised if there is a similar solution for the GeForce 9800M series offered bynotebook makers themselves.

Apple stock closes at an all-time high riding iPhone 5 rumors

Apple shares closed at an all-time high today at $648.11, which, undoubtedly, is due to speculations of the iPhone 5’s launch in September and the iPad mini in time for the holidays.

The Cupertino-based consumer electronics giant currently holds $607 billion in the bank, and the $1 trillion mark doesn’t seem out of reach. Apple’s stock increased by 57 percent this year, and if the trend continues, who knows how much money it’ll have stashed up under the bed by the end of next year.

Once Apple’s stock price hits $1,072 per share, the company will become the first company ever to achieve the $1 trillion market cap. The numbers are amazing, and it doesn’t seem like there’s much standing in the way of Apple breaking some Wall Street records.

Apple Wins Samsung Galaxy Nexus Injunction

The Galaxy Nexus smart phone by Samsung and Google has been barred from the US market - the worlds largest just ahead of China – due to the probality that it is engaging in patent infringements against competitor Apple Inc.

Judge Lucy Koh of the US District Court for the Northern District of California found the Galaxy Nexus probably infringes four patents belonging to Apple Inc and agreed to grant an injunction to Apple while the court considers Apples claim that the South Korean company has infringed its patents.

"Apple has clearly shown that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary injunctive relief," Judge Lucy Koh stated.

The four patents that Samsung has likely breached are: Slide-to-lock/unlock, Data tapping, Auto correct and Siris unified search function.

Judge Koh then ordered Apple to post a $96 million bond — the sum being an estimation of the damage suffered by Samsung from the temporary ban on its sales —should the iPhone maker lose to Samsung in later proceedings, scheduled for 2014. The sales ban in the United States will be effective immediately when Apple posts the bond.

With the Galaxy SIII already the subject of preliminary legal proceedings by Apple, there is little doubt that either a settlement or further legal proceedings lie ahead for the Samsung Google partnership.

This case has ramifications for future patent disputes relating to fair and reasonable, non-discriminatory licensing.

Asrock released quot;real AM3+ quot; motherboards

The company makes the 6 following claims regarding their new motherboards:

1.The new "black" AM3b CPU socket make you recognize the new AM3+ motherboard at the first sight!With the 11% bigger pin hole size, it can get rid of the possible mechanical mismatch when installing the CPU, and avoid the CPU pin-bent problem.

2.Thanks for the AM3+ MB 3.4 MHz Serial VID support, it providesfaster link between CPU and power controller. Compare to the old AM3 MB 400 KHz link,the new AM3+ MB can support better power management & Power saving.

3.Not only meet AMDs requirements, the new AM3+ MB designprovides efficient power supply up to 11.8% better CPU power saving.An added bonus will be its environment-friendly feature.

4.As we know, the lower CPU noise, the better system stability. When the system isat the same loading, the new AM3+ MB design improves theVcore variation and reduces the CPU power noise up to 22%!

5.Compare to the old AM3 CPU only needs 110A current,the new AM3+ CPU needs higher 145A current!The New AM3+ MB can satisfy the demand of 32% higher currentand get rid of any power shortage issue.

6.With the new C.C.R. (Combo Cooler Retention Module) design,the ASRock new AM3+ MB can get better cooling effect for CPU, memory and power components.According to our test result, it makes the CPU power choke 5.4 °C cooler!Besides, the C.C.R. is backward compatible with the old AM3 / AM2+ CPU cooler as well.

Source : ASRock

2012-12-21-96

[Rumour] ATI's next generation - Southern Islands

ATI's next generation was revealed to be N. Islands on an officialroadmap back in 2009. It was meant to be a 32nm process, with releasesometime between Q4 2010 and Q1 2011. Unfortunately, thanks to TSMC's40nm botch-up, they lost confidence in the 32nm half-node, and canceledit completely - seeking to put their focus on 28nm.

This meant ATI's N. Islands had to be moved to 28nm, with a delay. TSMCkept slipping 28nm as well, and soon, it was quite apparent 28nm wouldnot be ready in time for the delayed release of NI in Q1 2011.

This led to rumours that N. Islands will be moved to Globalfoundries. However, even they would not be ready for 28nm by Q1 2011. So, it seems AMD will be stuck with the 40nm TSMC bulk process for a while now.

Recent rumours have suggested that N. Islands will be moved to 40nm. However, this would be quite an issue for a GPU originally designed for 32nm.

So, it seems the best solution in this case is a half-generation at 40nm, called Southern Islands. SemiAccurate suggest S. Islands is a hybrid between Evergreen and N. Islands, but, in general, details are lacking. It wouldn't be surprising if S. Islands turns out to be nothing but a refresh of the Evergreen series, before moving to a mature 28nm process either at TSMC or Globalfoundries. AMD's advantage is that they can afford to play it safe for now, considering the competition's weakness.

As for Nvidia - GF100 is no doubt a promising architecture, but it is screaming for a 28nm die shrink. Either that, or a complete revision from scratch. It seems unlikely either would happen before ATI releases S. Islands, which could be by the end of this year.

Reference: SemiAccurate

2012-12-21-339

A Visit To ASUS Headquarters In Taipei

Cecilia Huang, marketing directorof ASUS, gave the media a deeper insight of the company and what it does.

"ASUS is a global technology leader in the digital era and we focus on the mastery of technological innovation and design perfection. And in ASUS, we are in search of the incredible. We have over 11,000 employees worldwide, with over 3,000 are inR&D, 77 support centres and 50 branch offices globally. Last year, we reached US$10.1 billion revenue and we target US$12 billion this year," Huang said.

The notebooks, Eee PC netbooks and desktops (including EeeTop and EeeBox PCs) account for 74.7 percent of ASUS global revenue, while components like motherboards and LCD displays make up 24.2 percent; the remaining 1.1 percent come from other product categories.

Henry Lin, engineerof ASUS Golden Ear Team, was also present to talk about the companys proprietary SonicMaster technology and let the media listen to the difference in audio quality from ASUS laptops speakers compared to conventional ones.

Michelle Hsiao, designer for ASUS, talked about working with the Taiwanese celebrity Jay Chou on the special edition N-series laptop. Hsiao said that Chou began working with the ASUS design team earlier this year for a period of six months. The first production unit came out in April but becauseof colorselections and corrections,the final approved version was out only in June. Heres a look inside the work room which is laid with the various design revisions.