MSI takes a jab at Gigabyte and claims to offer 'true X-Fi'
Entitled "True Hardware Decoding X-Fi high-fidelity, only from MSI" a new MSI write up comes to set the record straight when it comes to audio solutions provided with some of today's motherboards. According to the Taiwanese company, in order to deliver high quality audio it use a "true" hardware decoder solution which includes an original Creative DSP, DAC, ADC audio decoder chip as well as optimized Creative software, whilst other manufacturers, although waving around the 'X-Fi' brand, only utilize common HD Audio Codecs which are not "true audio cards."
This claim sees like it's meant to counter Gigabyte's fairly recent move though which it provided support for X-Fi technologies for a number of its motherboards, none of them featuring anything special in terms of audio, just a ALC888 or ALC889A audio codec. According to MSI, that not the type of solution to deserve the X-Fi name and while it may be right, that's Creative property and it can lend it to whoever it wants (and pays). PR battle over, hopefully.
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AMD delivers ATI Stream SDK v1.4 beta
AMD has now let loose a new version of the ATI Stream SDK (Software Development Kit) to help developers make applications that utilize Radeon GPUs to accelerate compute-intensive tasks. The Nvidia CUDA-rivaling ATI Stream SDK 1.4 beta adds support for the Radeon HD 4870 X2 and ATI FirePro 3D V8750, V8700, V7770, V7750, V5700, V3750 graphics cards, and features:
- Enhancements to Brook+:
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for multiple GPUs in a single program
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for 8-bit and 16-bit integer types
أ¢آˆآ™ Interoperability with DirectX API
أ¢آˆآ™ Access to thread-level data sharing
أ¢آˆآ™ Improved support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
- Performance enhancement to the Brook+ runtime:
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for memory pinning to optimize data transfers
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for asynchronous stream write calls
- Additional hardware features exposed in the Compute Abstraction Layer (CAL):
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for texture sampling (bilinear)
أ¢آˆآ™ Support for FETCH4
To download the fresh SDK visit this page.
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Microsoft sets new goal for cutting carbon footprint
In an email sent yesterday to all Microsoft employees, CEO Steve Ballmer has talked about the company's focus on environmental sustainability and set a goal to reduce the carbon emissions per unit of revenue by at least 30% (in comparison to 2007 levels) by 2012. This target will be achieved by reducing energy consumption in Microsoft buildings and operations, cutting down on air travel, and increasing the use of renewable energy.
"As a technology company, we believe that our footprint goals will be met by leveraging software and technology," said Rob Bernard, Microsoft's Chief Environmental Strategist. "We will work to provide advances in our building operations, we will continue to expand our use of our Unified Communications tools (just last year we saved over $90 million on travel through the increased use of our UC tools), and will look for new ways to reduce our use of resources in our data centers by continuing to push the envelope on innovation in how data centers are designed, built and operated."
For more info on the environmental efforts of Microsoft and its partners you can visit microsoft.com/environment.
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AOL hires Google exec as CEO
Wanting to seize some of the Google magic, Time Warner-owned AOL has appointed Tim Armstrong, Google Senior Vice President, as its Chairman and CEO. Following a transition period, AOL's current Chairman and CEO Randy Falco, as well as COO Ron Grant will be leaving the troubled internet company.
"Tim is the right executive to move AOL into the next phase of its evolution," said Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. "At Google, Armstrong helped build one of the most successful media teams in the history of the Internet - helping to make Google the most popular online search advertising platform in the world for direct and brand marketers. He's an advertising pioneer with a stellar reputation and proven track record. We are privileged to have him preside over AOL as its audience and programming businesses continue to grow and its advertising platform expands globally. He'll also be helpful in helping Time Warner determine the optimal structure for AOL."
That "optimal structure" Bewkes is talking about may see AOL and its parent company part ways as Time Warner has been thinking about spinning off AOL. If that happens, a man like Tim Armstrong would certainly have the expertise to help with getting an independent AOL back on track.
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Analysts expect new iPhone model this summer, really
Not at all surprisingly, after finding out that Apple will start talking about the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS next week, several analysts have expressed their belief that a new iPhone model is coming up and will be released this summer.
Apple's plan to give out details about the iPhone OS 3.0 would line up with the idea that it is preparing developers and partners for a new iPhone that will feature the updated software. The 3.0 OS may finally enable video recording, add MMS, the possibility of running applications in the background and, why not, even support for Flash. As for the actual hardware, which may be announced in June during the yet un-dated Worldwide Developers Conference, and start selling the following month, nothing is really known about it. You can bet it have a touchscreen and be all shiny though.
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Winamp gets a new update
AOL has released a small update for the still popular Winamp media player. The 5.551 version includes:
- Fixed: [libsndfile] CAF Processing Integer Overflow Vulnerability
- Updated: libsndfile 1.0.19
... and can be downloaded from this page.
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Twitter co-founder insists on being independent
Micro-blogging stars Twitter have completely ruled out the possibility of a merger or acquisition of the company.
Twitter executives hinted at interest in a partnership with companies such as Google, but the speculation at the moment is that, like other sites such as Facebook, Twitter really needs to find a way of monetising its service in order to survive the troubles of the economic downturn.
Co-Founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, said in an interview with the press that the company is more than capable of developing itself and its business model, and by no means needs financial security of a mothering parent company. He also added that Twitter would be open to working with Google in the future, especially as it has just launched its own real-time search functionality on the site.
Twitter was one of the fastest growing web sites in the UK last year, according to figures released in January by online research firm Hitwise.
The traffic in the UK that visits the website has shot up by an incredible 974 percent in the past year, which has been sky rocketing ever since celebrities, including now U.S. President Barack Obama, have used the tool to properly reach out to fans.
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Propaganda 1.2.5 update
Propaganda lets you create commercial-quality Podcast shows with a minimum of effort. Whether it's voice recordings, music, or sound effects, Propaganda can record it, import it, and store it. All your audio clips can be labeled and organized for later reference. Then just drag your audio clips into a show sequence, and preview how everything sounds. Reorder clips on the time line, add some more content, or delete entire segments at will. And beyond sequencing, you can edit any clip to make it shorter, louder, or quieter.
Website: Mixmeister
Download: Propaganda 1.2.5 Demo
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OLPC planning to use ARM chip for XO-2
Although it's taking it down a notch with actual hardware in hopes of creating popular designs and not necessarily popular machines, the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization is still working on the successor of the XO educational laptop. Named XO-2, the upcoming laptop will not be using AMD's Geode chip anymore, and will likely adopt an ARM-powered SoC (system-on-chip) for its computing needs.
Set to feature a whole new look, the XO-2 will need to have lower power needs than the XO(-1) and the ARM solution would be one of the most energy-efficient ones out there. The problem with using ARM is that Microsoft doesn't have a 'full' Windows OS that supports it but the OLPC is talking with the Redmond company about making one as the XO-2 will have to be a dual boot - Windows/Linux laptop.
The XO-2 is still some 18 months away but we should be able to see ARM-equipped netbooks a lot sooner than that (sometime this year).
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Epson Home Servers get a revamp
After tapping into the Japanese Windows Home Server market last summer with the Endeavor SV110H, well known printer manufacturer, Epson has recently revealed a new Endeavor model.
The Endeavor SV120H comes with a choice of processors أ¢آ€آ“ a Celeron 575 (2GHz) or Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz) so youأ¢آ€آ™ll have plenty of grunt going on under the bonnet. Youأ¢آ€آ™ll have 1GB of RAM and the choice of storage from 160GB up to 1TB (2 x 500GB ).
Akihabara News are quoting pricing at 65,000 Yen (EUR 520) for the entry level Celeron model. A minor upgrade, but a decent reduction in price from the previous model.
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