Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Gadgets Desk keeps your computer, lap cool
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Intel Launches New Quad-Core Server Processors
Designed for companies running performance-critical server and workstation applications, the Intel Xeon Processor X5365 is the industry's first 3.0 GHz quad-core processor to fit inside a standard 120 watt power envelope. The X5365 also features front-side bus (FSB) speed of 1333MHz.
With the energy-sipping Intel Xeon Processor L5335, Intel is delivering higher performance quad-core processors designed for servers that require optimal space and power utilization. The processor includes a 2.0 GHz clock speed and 1333MHz FSB within a 50 watt power envelope – or just 12.5 watts per processing core.
"Intel innovation continues to enable us to be the multi-core trailblazer providing a choice of quad-core products for those craving the highest performance, lowest power and all points in between," said Kirk Skaugen, vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, and general manager of the Server Platforms Group. "Moore's Law, Intel's silicon design and process technology and the Core microarchitecture are allowing us to deliver even greater levels of end-user value by essentially enabling price parity between dual and quad-core Intel Xeon processors at a given clock frequency, further accelerating quad-core market adoption."
The processors are ideal for conducting simultaneous design and analysis transactions, improving rendering performance and managing faster analytics for industries such as financial services. Both processors are easily "drop-in" compatible with select existing Intel server platforms.
Using the SPECint_rate_base2006 benchmark, which measures integer throughput, a Fujitsu-Siemens PRIMERGY RX300 S3 server based on the quad-core Intel Xeon Processor X5365 scored 98.9, setting a new world record1. Using the SPECjbb2005 benchmark, a Dell PowerEdge 1950 server based on the quad-core Intel Xeon Processor X5365 broke the previous record with a score of 238,472 business operations per second.
A number of systems vendors are supporting the new processors, including Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, IBM, SGI, SuperMicro, Rackable Systems, Verari and more than 40 others.
Intel also integrated advanced technology capabilities into the Intel Xeon Processors X5365 and L5335 to streamline virtualization and further improve energy efficiency. In addition to Intel Virtualization Technology, which increases the efficiency of virtualization solutions and enables 64-bit guest operating system support, the processors also feature new Intel Virtualization Technology processor extensions for improved interrupt handling in virtualization of 32-bit Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.
As part of Intel's efforts to ensure that system builders can meet energy efficiency requirements, and end-users can continue to manage their overall energy consumption, these processors include new system-transparent energy smart technology that reduces idle power usage by up to 50 percent.
In addition to including this technology on the new quad-core processors, Intel is driving its entire volume server processor line to take advantage of this new lower idle power utilization.
Source: Intel
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Nokia 7705 Twist puts a new twist on messaging
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Verizon Wireless and Nokia introduce the Nokia 7705 Twist, a fun phone with a unique square shape that swivels open to reveal a full QWERTY keypad. The phone's shortcut buttons provide quick access to messaging, the 3.0 megapixel camera, Web browsing, V CAST Music with Rhapsody, voice commands, and speakerphone options.
The Contact Light Ring, located in the lower right corner, can be customized to identify a message or a call from those listed in the contact directory. Customers may purchase the Nokia Twist online at verizonwireless.com beginning Sept. 13 and in
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Features:
- Compatible with services including VZ NavigatorSM, V CAST Music with Rhapsody, V CAST Video, Visual Voice Mail, Mobile Broadband Connect and Corporate Email
- Habitat mode activates a unique interface for visualizing your social circle and allows customers to easily organize their calls and messaging history
- 3.0 megapixel camera/ • Color effects: normal, antique, black & white, negative
• Capture mode: landscape and portrait
• Photo editing: pan and zoom, rotate
• Customized slideshow
• Video capture and playback
- Media Center-capable for downloading games, ringtones and more
- Threaded messaging helps customers keep track of a variety of conversations
- "Post to Blogs" feature allows multimedia to be posted to a blog or social networking site
- HTML browser
- Support for Mobile Email, Mobile Web Mail, Chat and Blogs
- Built-in mirror
- Supported Bluetooth profiles include headset, hands-free, dial-up networking, stereo, phonebook access, basic printing, object push (for vCard and vCal), file transfer, and basic imaging
- 2.4-inch, 262K TFT QVGA screen
- EV-DO Rev. 0
- 2.5 mm headset jack
- Dimensions: 2.71" x 2.71" x 0.59"
- Usage time: up to 270 minutes
- Standby time: up to 312 hours
- Weight: 3.44 ounces
The Nokia Twist will be available for 99.99 USD after a 50.00 USD mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
Source: Nokia
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Freescale manufactures world's first 24-Mbit silicon nanocrystal memory
The 24-Mbit memory array technology was manufactured at Freescale's Austin Technology & Manufacturing Center using 90-nanometer CMOS bulk technology. The production of a working 24-Mbit memory device requires that silicon nanocrystals be deposited with excellent uniformity and integration approaches that keep the nanocrystal properties intact during subsequent processing. In successfully achieving this, Freescale has overcome major challenges to introducing this technology into production.
As the industry begins manufacturing at smaller geometries — 90-nm and smaller — embedding floating gate-based flash becomes difficult to produce cost-effectively. At those dimensions, the chip area consumed by the 9-12V high-voltage transistors required to write and erase the conventional flash module cannot be scaled down. Furthermore, engineers cannot reduce the high voltage in floating gate-based flash without compromising reliability or risking memory failures and loss of data.
Silicon nanocrystal memories are part of an advanced class of memory technologies called thin-film storage. They are more scaleable than conventional floating gate-based flash technology, as their tunnel oxide thickness can be reduced without impacting data retention. The charge is stored on isolated nanocrystals and is lost only from those few nanocrystals that align with defects in the tunnel oxide — while the same defects would result in significant charge loss from a conventional floating gate.
A thinner tunnel oxide permits lower-voltage operation, substantially reducing the memory module area needed to generate the bit-cell programming voltages, and allowing for significant wafer processing simplifications and manufacturing cost reductions. The combination of higher bit density and reduced cost translates to lower cost per bit to embed silicon nanocrystal memories. Freescale expects significant reductions in cost per bit of silicon nanocrystal thin-film storage memories.
"Silicon nanocrystal storage is a promising alternative to industry-standard embedded NOR memory, as it offers the capability of lowering both the size and cost of the device," said Semico Analyst Jim Handy. "Freescale's achievement is a key development in the introduction of the ‘faster, cheaper' memory that the semiconductor industry increasingly requires."
Freescale successfully pioneered the use of nanocrystals in memory devices in March 2003, and discussed the demonstration of its first-of-its-kind 4-Mbit nanocrystal memory device at the December 2003 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) in a paper entitled "A 6-V embedded 90-nm silicon nanocrystal nonvolatile memory."
Source: Freescale
Sunday, 14 April 2013
Gadgets Sonos S5 makes your music wireless
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The Sonos S5 music system is advertised as an all-in-one device for home use and after trying it, I can say it is just that.
With the free SonosController
Photographers have been using the Photoshop software for 20 years and to celebrate that, Adobe has loaded the new CS5 version with some great features.
Manipulating images is now easier than ever to produce outstanding results.
It doesn't matter if you are taking an unwanted object (or person) out of a family reunion image or fine tuning images for clients.
Adobe has added more than 30 features to help photographers of every level improve their daily digital imaging workflow.
New features include automatic image straightening, rule-of-thirds and the ability to save 16-bit images as JPEGs.
I've always been a fan of the Clone Stamp Tool, and a new feature in CS5 called Content Aware Fill takes this to a new level.
Users can paint over anything to remove it from the image, and the software will fill that area with matching pixels sampled and chosen from the surrounding area.
Also new: a Mixer Brush that blends an unlimited amount of colors on a single paintbrush tip and then choose Bristle Tips to make lifelike brush strokes.
Puppet Warp lets users straighten objects in photos such as horizon lines or anything else that's bent or warped and needs a straighter perspective.
Photographers working with high dynamic range (HDR) capabilities can combine the images with speed and accuracy to preserve the highest quality.
Details: adobe.com, $1899 for the suite; prices vary for individual programs.
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The Empire Brands Wicked Audio line headphones have four new earbuds.
They are the top of the line Wicked Empires, which I tested along with the Wicked Little Buds, Jaw Breakers and Metallics.
What makes these different, in addition to the consistent sound, is that each features a design on each earbud with choices of an ace of spade, an eight ball, a skull or a star and knight symbol.
The Wicked headphones have a 10mm drive, 160hm and a frequency of 20-20.00 Hz along with a cord just short of 4-feet.
The custom fitted earbuds come with three sizes to make the right fit for any user.
Each earbud is made with high-quality construction. Since they are in-ear style, they are noise isolating, blocking out a good amount but not all of your surroundings.
Details: empirebrandsinc.com, Wicked Empire WE-8800 Earbud - Ace is available online for $22.85
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Far Cry 3 delayed until December 4
Ubisoft announced earlier today that Far Cry 3 will be delayed until December 4, three months later than the previous planned release date of September 4.
In Far Cry 3 you play as Jason Brody who is searching for a missing girlfriend on a stranded island full of insane mercenaries, especially Vaas—the lead antagonist. In the demo at E3, the sceneries are spectacular, but that’s if you have the time to actually catch a glimpse as you have to constantly stab or gun down the enemies.
The new Far Cry will be powered by the Dunia 2 engine, and three other studios are involved in the game development. Ubisoft has yet to confirm why the game is delayed, and releasing the game three months later means that there are stiff competitions from titles such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Halo 4. However, since the Far Cry 3 new release date is around the holiday season, the competition factor may be negated by demands during Christmas.
Ubisoft raked in $1.3 billion in sales last year and the Far Cry franchise has to do a lot with it. The third installment is highly anticipated, and hopefully Ubisoft doesn’t disappoint now that they’re taking an extra three months to work on the title.
Source: ubi.com
Friday, 15 March 2013
Dark Souls 2 wordt toegankelijker, andere director Xbox 360 games
Dark Souls 2, dat vannacht is onthuld tijdens de Spike TV Video Game Awards, moet toegankelijker dan het eerste deel worden. Dit is een gevolg van de twee nieuwe game directors die het stokje overnemen van bedenker Hidetaka Miyazaki, meldt Edge.
Hij blijft de ontwikkeling van het spel overzien, maar doet een stapje terug als director en laat deze taak over aan Tomohiro Shibuya en Yui Tanimura. Shibuya zegt dat hij de voorkeur geeft aan een meer "directe aanpak" van de serie, in plaats van een subtiele. Dit moet ervoor zorgen dat het spel meer "rechttoe rechtaan en begrijpelijk" wordt.
Uitgever Namco Bandai belooft wel dat het tweede deel de typische uitdaging behoudt waar Dark Souls bekend om staat. Het spel krijgt een vernieuwde multiplayer, die een variant wordt op hoe het in Dark Souls en Demon's Souls ging, namelijk dat spelers berichten konden achterlaten voor anderen en hen in de eigen spelwereld konden oproepen. Dark Souls 2 komt uit voor Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 en PC.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
DFI LAN Party CFX3200 DR Motherboard Sneak Preview
We have just received a review sample of the DFI LAN PartyCFX3200-DR Motherboard based on the ATi Cross-Fire Xpress 3200 chipset. It looksvery similar to the RDX200 motherboard wereviewed a while back.
However, notice the diagnostic LED Code panel at the bottomleft of the motherboard. This is the first LAN Party board to sport it, andis definitely a refreshing and more informative change for users who are usedto staring at the 3 red spots flash at every bootup. Other than this and theATi Cross-Fire Xpress 3200 chipset, this board also differs from the RDX200in it's Southbridge, which is the ULi M1575 core logic. This should at leastsever the board from the sub-par USB performance legacy of the RDX200. Formore pictures and details, feel free to peepin.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Un trailer pour Professeur Layton et la Flte du Dmon
Attendu pour le 26 novembre prochain au Japon, Professeur Layton et la Flûte du Démon se dévoile sous nos yeux ébahis non pas par l'intermédiaire de screens mais d'un premier trailer que vous pouvez visionner à cette adresse. Pas de date annoncée pour l'Europe qui accueillera, elle, le deuxième épisode, autrement dit Professeur Layton et la Boîte de Pandore, le 25 septembre.
Monday, 4 March 2013
AMD releases the HD6700 series offically
This new cards would come with added support for HDMI 1.4a compared to the older HD5700 series, which features enhancements for 3D applications. However, the HD6700 series would be mainly for OEMs and unlikely to be seen in retail.
The HD 6770 features 800 stream processors, DirectX 11 support and a 128-bit memory interface coupled with GDDR5 memory. The younger brother, HD 6750 will feature 720 stream processors instead. Both of these cards is expected to have the same clock speed as the old HD 5700 series.
Both cards are listed on AMD's website here.
Source: Fudzilla News
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Angry Birds for Windows Phone 7, or not
Microsoft had conveniently placed an icon of the highly popular Angry Birds game on its Windows Phone site. Naturally, we would all assume that this hit game would be ported over to Microsoft's new mobile platform very soon.
However, the folks at Rovio Mobile weren't too happy once they realised that their Angry Birds icon had appeared completely out of the blue, and made an announcement on their Twitter page saying that they are currently not committed to making a Windows Phone 7 version of Angry Birds, and that "Microsoft had used the Angry Birds icon on their site without (Rovio Mobile's) permission".
Microsoft later issued a statement to apologize for the oversight, claiming that "information was mistakenly posted". That alone won't make their marketing team (antics included) angels overnight, for they allegedly tempted iPhone developers of popular applications with a wad of cash to port apps over to the new Windows platform a couple of months ago.
Microsoft definitely needs the support of popular applications and games in order for its Windows Phone 7 to gain market share; well, we know of people out there who buy an iPhone just to play Angry Birds. Rovio Mobile also commented later on in a follow-up that whether a Windows Phone 7 version appears is solely at their discretion, so riling a flock of angry birdsmight not bethe smartest thing to do...
Sources: Engadget, Rovio Mobile
Monday, 25 February 2013
ASUS GameFace Messenger Gameference Feature
Taipei, Taiwan; June 15 , 2005 – ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS) and ByteSwarm, a division of AceGain, Inc., today announced the release of ASUS GameFace Messenger – the world's first Instant Messenger for gaming that provides video conferencing, voice chat and game server browsing packed in one cool client.
Aiming to improve online gaming interaction, ASUS introduced GameFace Messenger. This revolutionary innovation doesn't stop at just providing instant messaging or point-to-point video conferencing. It also enables multiple players to join a video game conference and voice chat with each other. GameFace Messenger is a multi-dimensional collaboration tool that brings online gamers together like never before.
“We were really looking at changing the way online gamers communicate with each other. We wanted to take it to the next level,” says Jerry Shun, General Manager of ASUS Graphics Business . “We needed a software partner that was really on the edge of technology and pushing the boundaries of what existed out there. We were sold with the ByteSwarm GameONE platform”.
ByteSwarm GameONE is a suite of online collaboration applications and services that provide everything a Gamer might need—except the game. For GameFace Messenger, ByteSwarm provided the core technology for instant messaging, game server browsing, contact management and data delivery mechanism.
As a newcomer to the gaming scene, ByteSwarm wanted to prove to the market that it is ready for prime time by working with ASUS, the leading company in the market.
ByteSwarm GameONE is based on AceGain's DRAMA Distributed Platform. AceGain DRAMA (Dynamic Routing Adaptive Mobile Agent) is a software platform that provides fundamental application infrastructure for routing-based data networking, management, security, and content distribution across heterogeneous operating environments.
“Now, gamers can create live video conferencing sessions with other gamers, as they strategize on a map, collaborate as a team or just shoot the breeze before or after a game,” said Shun. “This is truly the next generation of interactive gaming”.
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Des nouvelles infos pour The Walking Dead
Niveau scénario, le jeu ne suivra pas les aventures de Rick (le héros du comics et de la série) mais d'un nouveau personnage appelé Lee Everett, un ancien prisonnier qui voit l'épidémie de zombie comme un moyen de racheter ses fautes. L'histoire se déroulera chronologiquement avant le comic, c'est à dire durant la période de coma du shérif Rick Grames. Cependant, les développeurs nous rassurent qu'entre les nouveaux personnages, des têtes connues comme Gleen ou Herschel croiseront le chemin du joueur.
Le jeu sera plus proche du comic que de la série.
Les graphismes en cel-shading ressembleront au jeu XIII d'Ubisoft sorti en 2003 ainsi qu'à Borderlands sorti en 2009.
L'histoire sera coupée en 5 épisodes comme tous les autres jeux estampillé Telltale Games tirés d'une licence.
Un site officiel flambant neuf vient par ailleurs tout juste d'ouvrir ses portes. On y trouve notamment une Foire Aux Questions, une nouvelle vidéo et six images inédites.
· Forum The Walking Dead : The Game
Sunday, 17 February 2013
AMD Unveils SSE5 For Bulldozer Core In 2009
AMD today announced further plans to innovate the x86 architecture byintroducing SSE5, a new extension of the x86 instruction set that is designed toallow software developers to simplify code and achieve greater efficiency forthe most performance-hungry applications. SSE5 will give developers additionalcapabilities to help maximize the performance of applications that have dailyimpact on consumers and enterprises, including high performance computing,multimedia and security applications. By making the SSE5 specification availableto developers today, AMD expects to ease the adoption of the new instructionsfor tool providers and software vendors who develop these performance-intenseapplications.
Chip advancements and software improvements go hand-in-hand, to the benefit ofconsumers and enterprises alike," said Phil Hester, senior vice president andchief technology officer, AMD. "The impact of our designs are best realized whenAMD-based servers, PCs and devices enable software to more effectively solveevery-day problems and enhance every-day experiences. By announcing our plans toadd SSE5 instructions to the x86 instruction set -- and by making thespecification available today -- we are enabling open and collaborative softwareinnovation that will bring AMD's advancements to life for our customers andend-users."
As the industry's focus is shifting from processor speeds to increasing powerefficiency, the number of instructions executed per second on one processor coreremains relatively constant. As a result, both software and hardware vendorsmust pursue new approaches to improving computing performance.
AMD is once again helping advance this process by making technical detailsavailable to the software developer community early, to foster an industrydialogue and solicit feedback. For example, AMD released an early version of theAMD Virtualization(TM) specification in 2005, at the time codenamed "Pacifica,"to the benefit of that technology's further development. Additionally, AMDrecently released the Light-Weight Profiling proposal, which is designed toenable software developers to fully leverage the benefits of multi-corecomputing. The early release of the SSE5 specification to the software developercommunity follows AMD's philosophy of open collaboration, a model thateffectively drove x86, 64-bit computing to the masses.
"PGI's goal is to provide high-performance, cross-platform, production-qualityparallel compilers and software development tools to the developer community,"said Douglas Miles, director, The Portland Group. "We are working closely withAMD to enable developers to quickly and easily leverage the SSE5 instruction setto enhance high performance computing, and the multi-core and multi-mediacapability of their software applications."
Multi-core processor technology and the integration of specialized co-processorsare effective methods for extending performance limits. Equally important isenabling the ability to maximize the efficiency of each core by reducing thetotal number of instructions needed to achieve the same result. SSE5 helpsmaximize the output of each instruction and consolidates code base byintroducing functionality previously only found in specialized, high-performancearchitectures, to the x86 platform:
3-Operand Instructions
A computing instruction is executed by applying a mathematical or logicalfunction to operands, or inputs. By increasing the number of operands an x86instruction can handle from 2 to 3, SSE5 enables the consolidation of multiple,simple instructions into a single, more effective instruction. The ability toexecute 3-Operand Instructions is currently only possible on certain RISCarchitectures.
Fused Multiply Accumulate
The 3-Operand Instruction capability enables the creation of new instructionswhich efficiently execute complex calculations. The Fused Multiply Accumulateinstruction combines multiplication and addition to enable iterativecalculations with one instruction. The simplification of the code enables rapidexecution for more realistic graphics shading, rapid photographic rendering,spatialized audio, complex vector mathematics and other performance-intenseapplications.
The SSE5 specification, which is being made available to the developer communitytoday at http://developer.amd.com/SSE5,will be implemented in products based on AMD's next-generation "Bulldozer" core,available in 2009.
Download the Techdocs
Sunday, 3 February 2013
ASUS Mars II Sneak Preview
ASUS is known for taking the fastest graphics cards and making them even bigger and badder. Their last headline-grabbing attempt with a Nvidia GPU was back in 2009, when they released the dual-GTX 285 Mars.
This time round, ASUS has shoehorned two GTX 580s onto a single PCB to create the Mars II. Each GPU is clocked at 782MHz, making the Mars II even faster than the (already discontinued) GTX 590.
GTX 580GTX 590Mars IICore Clock772MHz607MHz782MHzShader Clock1544MHz1215MHz1564MHzMemory Clock(effective)1002MHz
(4008MHz)854MHz
(3416MHz)1002MHz
(4008MHz)Memory1.5GB2 x 1.5GB2 x 1.5GB
ASUS has spared no expense here: the Mars II sports a sturdy metal shroud with two 120mm fans, and a metal backplate covers the entire rear.
However, the Mars II is considerably wider than usual, in addition to taking up three slots. Its dimensions are 13" x 6.2" x 2.5", so chances are that it will only fit into the very largest casings out there.
Three 8-pin PCIe connectors are required, and ASUS has also thrown in a 100% fan speed button. If you have too much money, you can even buy two of these and run them in quad-SLI.
One NEC Proadlizer is used for each GPU.
Each GPU gets an 8-phase power delivery system, and each set of memory 2 phases, making for a total of 20 phases on a single PCB.
To help cool this beast, each heatsink has four copper heatpipes.
Word has it that the Mars II will retail for a wallet-blowing S$2499 starting from late August. This is a limited edition card so only 999 units will be sold worldwide.
Stay tuned for our full review of the ASUS Mars II !
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Apple's iPad 2 to come in white
For those who are following close to months and months of iPad 2 rumours would know that the upcoming tablet from Apple would feature front and rear cameras, thinner design and an improved (but not Retina) display. With just about a few days away from Apples iPad media event, this new (and rather interesting) rumour pops up from nowhere.
Originating from Shenzhen, China, this front bezel in white does include a hole for a front-facing camera. But what really surprised us is the colour. Apple originally announced the white iPhone 4 alongside with the black iPhone 4, but till this date have yet to deliever their flagship phone in white.
But on a personal note, I feel that having the iPad 2 in white just looks a tad weird.
In white or not, well find out soon on this Thursday morning at Apples iPad media event.
Source: 9to5Mac
Sunday, 27 January 2013
ASUS launches Eee PC 1025 Flare series, world's fastest netbook with 2 sec resume
The ASUS Eee PC 1025 Flare Series netbook sports a new design with several color options, and incorporates 1.8GHz Intel Atom Cedar Trail dual-core processor, which claims to offer four times the graphical performance to previous generations while consuming less power. It also supports up to 2GB of DDR3 memory, up to 500GB hard drive, and comes with Smart Camera with 4x zoom, built-in USB 3.0, DLNA, and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity. The netbook features the proprietary ASUS Super Hybrid Engine II with Instant On technology that offers two-second system resume from sleep mode, and up to 21 days of standby. It also supports Blu-ray 2.0, and full high definition 1080p video playback via HDMI output. With the built-in data security features, it ensures zero data loss, with user data automatically saved to the hard drive when the battery drops below 5%. Available in eleven different colors, including Addict Pink, Mysterious Blue, and Plucky Purple, the ASUS Eee PC 1025 Flare Series netbook is now available in Singapore at S$499. Users will also receive 3GB of cloud storage space on ASUS WebStorage.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Apple unveils Apple Design Award winners at WWDC
Apple has announced the Apple Design Award winners at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in Moscone West, San Francisco.
Out of over half a million apps across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Apple selected just a handful which it believed deserved special mention at its event.Winners in the iPhone Developer Showcase include Jetpack Joyride by Halfbrick Studios, Wheres My Water by Disney, and National Parks by National Geographic, by none other than the National Geographic Society.Jetpack Joyride is a game that lets players fly around platform levels in a variety of jetbacks, collecting coins along the way. Apple said it was one of the winners because “it uses iOS graphics and audio frameworks extensively to enable really fun graphics, its optimized for Retina Display on iPad and iPhone, has a great soundtrack, delivers outstanding responsiveness and performance, and integrates with Game Center, In-App Purchase, Facebook and Twitter.” Basically it shows off the iPhone and iOS at its best.Wheres My Water is another game, but this time a physics-based puzzle where players help navigate water around various levels in order to help Swampy the Alligator have a shower. It won one of the awards due to its personality, consistent narrative, vibrant graphics, intuitive controls, simple game mechanics, and great sountrack. Its optimisation with iOS and integration with various iOS features was another selling point.National Parks by National Geographic is an informational app, providing details about popular parks throughout the United States. It was chosen for its strong design, attention to detail, high production quality, subtle and compelling animations and transitions, beautiful photo galleries, and photo tips. Maps integration was another factor in its win.Winners in the iPad Developer Showcase include Bobo Explores Light by Game Collage LLC, DM1 – The Drum Machine by Fingerlab, and Paper by FiftyThree, by FiftyThree Inc.Bobo Explores Light is an educational app that teaches basic scientific concepts relating to light, such as lasers, reflection, refraction, photosynthesis and bioluminescence, all with the use of experimentation, self-driven discovery and humour. Apple selected it because it is “state-of-the-art” and for making learning fun compared to more traditional digital textbooks.DM1 is, as its extended name suggests, a drum machine app that lets users turn their iPad into a virtual sound engine. It won an award for its “tight integration with iOS audio frameworks,” in addition to its high performance, rich feature set, finely-tuned interface, and beautiful visual design.Paper by FiftyThree is a creativity app that lets users draw sketches, diagrams, and illustrations in a way that makes them look high quality. Apple picked it for its excellent concept and execution, the feeling it gives when people draw with it for the first time, its innovative tools and rendering style, and the fact that it takes full advantage of the Retina Display to create the illusion of drawing on real paper.Winners in the Mac Developer Showcase include Deus Ex: Human Evolution – Ultimate Edition by Feral Interactive Ltd, Limbo by Playdead Aps, and Sketch by Bohemian Coding.The Deux Ex title is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing game available on OS X. It was selected for its compelling and immersive gameplay, great graphics, and enormous environments. Apple called it “one of the … most impressive AAA games on the Mac App Store.”Limbo is a side-scrolling puzzle adventure for OS X, winning an Apple Design Award for its minimal UI, unique and compelling graphics, strong narrative, fluid movements, simple controls, and strong integration with OS X graphics and audio technology.Sketch is a professional vector graphics app for OS X, chosen for its integration with OS X and powerful design capabilities, including “non-destructive boolean operations on curves and objects.”Apple also selected two winners in its Student Developer Showcase: daWindci by Reality Twist GmbH, Mimimi Productions and Little Star by BiBoBox Studio. The former is a 3D project created by students at Mediadesign Highschool of Applied Sciences in Munich, winning for its clever design, simple gameplay, integration with iOS and 3D visuals.Little Star is a 30-page interactive childrens book designed and developed by students at Dalian Nationalities University in China. Apple selected it for its beautiful illustrations and unique interactivity, learning and gameplay, and touted it as “a great example of the results students can produce on iOS.”Monday, 21 January 2013
Apple loses 4 patent claims against HTC in the U.K.
U.K’s court has determined that HTC does not infringe four of Apple’s patent, and thereby opening the door further for other smartphone manufacturers to compete in a $219 billion global market.
Apple tried to knock out HTC in the U.K. by claiming that its patents regarding photo management, slide to unlock, changing of the alphabet through scrolling, and software allowing users to touch two spots at the same time were infringed.
The court ruled, however, that HTC did not infringe three of the patents, and one was invalid.
The disappointment continues as Apple is faced with trademark lawsuits in China, and failed attempts at banning HTC’s One X, among others, in the U.S.
Earlier this year, and late last year, Apple won various patent suits against big brands such as Samsung across the globe, but that rush of victories have been slowed in recent months.
“Competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours,” Apple spokesperson said in an email to the press.
While Apple remains adamant about protecting its interest in the court room, competitors worldwide are seeking to compete with Apple through innovations in the marketplace.
Andrea Sommer, spokeswoman for HTC, addressed the press by saying HTC was happy with the U.K’s court ruling, and that HTC (among others) was “disappointed that Apple continues to favor competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.”
Sunday, 20 January 2013
AMD's 28nm Brazos successor to be manufactured at TSMC
With theKrishna/Wichita APUs now canceled, ExtremeTech has shed some light into AMDs strategy. The Deccan platform APUs were indeed planned for fabrication at GlobalFoundries, unlike Brazos which is manufactured by TSMC. Anticipating problems with the move to gate-first with GlobalFoundries, AMD canceled the Krishna and Wichita APUs and the entire Deccan platform. The short term solution is Brazos 2.0 - nothing but a minor tweak of Brazos. Long term, AMD is planning to move back to TSMC for its power efficient APUs.
Brazos 2.0 will have to hold fort till a direct 28nm shrink of Brazos is now expected some time in 2012 - well after the release of Intels 32nm Atom and 28nm ARM SoCs. The true successor to Brazos 2.0 - presumably an enhanced version of Krishna and Wichita featuring upto 4 cores, if not Kabini/Samara - is at least 18 months away, according to ExtremeTech.
In the mainstream APU segment, the successor to Trinity - Kaveri - is scheduled for 2013 on GloFos 28nm.
Source: ExtremeTech
Sunday, 13 January 2013
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
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
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.
Monday, 7 January 2013
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.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
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
Friday, 4 January 2013
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.