IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 07/04/2009

Sparkle brings 2GB GeForce GTX 285
Although the GTX 285 party, after party and after after party have ended months ago, Sparkle has only now announced a GeForce GTX 285 of its own. To be more exact, the company has introduced four cards, two with 1GB and two with 2GB of onboard GDDR3 memory, all of them based on Nvidia's reference design and with stock clocks - 648 MHz for the GPU, 1476 MHz for the shaders and 2448 MHz for the memory.

The GTX 285s also feature a 512-bit memory interface, 240 Processing Cores, 3-way SLI support, dual-DVI connectivity and PhysX, CUDA capabilities. The 1GB Sparkle GeForce GTX 285 can be found in Europe at just under 294 Euro.

EU legislation forces ISPs to record everything
An all new legislation from the European Union came into effect yesterday, requiring all Internet Service Providers to store information regarding the transfer of data on the internet, including emails, visited sites, etc. The laws are intended to aid in police investigations and to allow public organisational bodies to access the information.

The former British Home Secretary Charles Clarke pushed for this move back in 2005 following the aftermath of Terror attacks in London, stating that:

"Modern criminality crosses borders and seeks to exploit digital technology. The measure is an important step in delivering the right to citizens across the EU to live in peace and free from the negative impact of terrorism and serious crime. By voting in favour of this directive, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament have shown their commitment to strengthening security across the EU."

Neil Cook, head of technology services for EMEA at message security firm Cloudmark, expects the directive to cause many headaches for ISPs. "Quite clearly this new legislation opens up a whole can of worms for the ISPs when it comes to potential security implications," he said. "Considering the sheer volume of high-profile security breaches hitting the headlines in the UK, the protection and storage of data is of paramount importance to an organisation."

The United Kingdom's Home Office stated yesterday that the government's priority is purely to protect public safety and national security". They continued to say "That is why we are completing the implementation of this directive, which will bring the UK in line with our European counterparts. Access to communications data is governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 which ensures that effective safeguards are in place, and that the data can only be accessed when it is necessary and proportionate to do so."

New iPhone and iPod Touch to boast 802.11n wireless hardware
As we reported earlier, the rumoured models of the iPhone that are to come to light with their own feature-sets. Interestingly, once again according to AppleInsider, rumours are circulating that the next generation iPhone and iPod Touch will support wireless 802.11n, as opposed to current models which only support 5GHz 802.11a and 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g networks.

The new models are also said to support FM radio signals, with both receiving and transmission abilities, allowing users to listen to their favourite stations, or tune into their player using their car radio to listen to music through the car's speakers.

There is, however, no mention if the FM transmitter will be an internal or external device, but the nice addition to the next gen device will hopefully be an internal one without the need to purchase addition hardware.

A-Data intros co-branded Intel X25-M SSDs
As revealed back in February, memory, flash and solid state drive manufacturer A-Data has inked a deal with Intel giving it the possibility to offer co-branded X25-M SSDs. Coming in 80 and 160GB capacities, the 2.5-inch drives feature a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, Native Command Queuing to enable up to 32 concurrent operations and 50nm MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chips.

The not so new SSDs offer maximum read and write speeds of 250 MB/s and 70 MB/s respectively.

Watercooled Radeon HD 4890 coming next week
PowerColor can claim the "world's first" medal as it has now announced that first watercooled Radeon HD 4890, less than one week after the RV790 card was officially launched. Part of PowerColor's Liquid Cooling Solution aka LCS series, the upcoming wet wet wet Radeon comes with a single-slot EK-made waterblock that has a copper base and high-flow 3/8" and 1/2" fittings, and is claimed to be help lower the GPU temperature by up to 20أ‚آ°C compared to the reference fansink. To further show its confidence in the cooling solution used, PowerColor will ship the Radeon HD 4890 LCS with GPU and memory clocks of 900 and 4000 MHz respectively.

"PowerColor created the LCS line to meet the needs of the most extreme gamers. The most demanding gamers need a cooling solution that can keep up with their demands," said Ted Chen, CEO of TUL Corporation. "We know not all enthusiast gamers are created the same. That's why our LCS line is the most flexible VGA liquid cooling solution on the market."

Boasting 1GB of GDDR5 memory, the RV790 card will become available on April 16 at about $339.

EVGA's GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked detailed
After a less than impressive first wave of GTX 275s, EVGA is getting back to its usual self and is now providing details of an upcoming Superclocked Edition GTX 275. Based on Nvidia's reference design, the card has a dual-slot cooler, a 448-bit memory interface, 240 Processing Cores, 896MB of GDDR3 memory, and 3-way SLI support.

The GeForce GTX 275 has a GPU frequency of 648 MHz (633 MHz stock), a shader frequency of 1458 MHz (1404) and a memory clock of 2376 MHz (2268). The card has a recommended price tag of $269.99.

PowerColor preps custom-cooled, overclocked Radeon HD 4890
Already out with a couple of RV790 cards, PowerColor is working on another Radeon HD 4890. Seen below, the card has a red PCB and a ZeroTherm dual-slot cooler with four heatpipes, 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 800 Stream Processors, a 256-bit memory interface and two DVI outputs.

The upcoming Radeon also features CrossFireX support and is said to be gunning for 950 MHz and 4400 MHz for the GPU and memory respectively, up 100 and 500 MHz over stock models. The card is not yet dated or priced but it should be ready for launch later this month.

Picture courtesy of Fudzilla.

PhotoFast G-Monster-eSATA drive announced
Flash drives (or SSDs if you want) boasting both USB and eSATA connectors are no longer new but Mobile Mode's upcoming PhotoFast G-Monster-eSATA can still impress as it is claimed to offer read and write speeds of up to 175 MB/s and 100 MB/s respectively. Coming in 32, 64 and 128GB capacities, the G-Monster-eSATA measures 80 x 40 x 15 mm and weights 25 grams, has a MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1.5 million hours.

The PhotoFast G-Monster-eSATA is set to start shipping in Japan later this month and will be offered with a one-year warranty.

Google Search becomes more local
Searching for hangouts like restaurants, hotels, shops just got a little easier thanks to an update Google has rolled out for its search engine. Previously users had to type in both the thing they were looking for and the location desired to get (more or less) useful results, but now, the location becomes optional as Google will use the IP address of their location and provide results based on that.

Moreover, people can use the 'Change location' link on the top right corner, above the map, to 'tell' Google where they are and make it easier for the search engine to deliver relevant results to queries.

HP's AMD Neo-powered Pavilion dv2 goes on sale
Presented back in January as the first machine based on AMD's 'Yukon' ultrathin notebook platform, the HP Pavilion dv2 is now shipping. Going for $750, the dv2 features a 12.1-inch LCD (1280x800 resolution), a 1.6 GHz Neo (codename Huron) MV-40 processor, 4GB of RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 integrated graphics card, and a 320GB hard drive.

The notebook also comes with a DVD writer, Ethernet and WiFi, a webcam, Altec Lansing speakers, and a 6-cell battery. The Pavilion dv2 is backed by a one-year warranty.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 07/04/2009

No comments: