IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 01/06/2009

Merlot Red color option comes to Dell Studio XPS 13, 16 laptops
Dell has now updated its laptop offer so as to include a 'Merlot Red' color option for its 13.3-inch Studio XPS 13 and 16-inch XPS 16 laptops. The fancy wine-inspired theme comes at no extra cost over the 'default' Obsidian Black option and is available in the United States and Canada, with Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan set to get it soon.

For more info about Dell's Intel-powered Studio XPS 13 and XPS 16 click here and here.

Snapdragon-powered Eee PC showcased running Android
Computex hasn't even officially started and already it is providing a lot of juicy stuff, with one of them being a prototype Eee PC netbook (smartbook if you want) powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform and the Google-backed Android OS. Seen below, Asus' machine is quite thin, has no fan and features a design resembling that of the Eee PC 1008HA, is equipped with a Snapdragon chipset with a CPU running at 1GHz, and and can run 720p video without much hassle.

Getting Asus to make a design based on Snapdragon is certainly a win for Qualcomm and shows that Atom may be getting some serious competition in the low-power, high-portable PC market. We'll have more of that!

Photo courtesy of TweakTown.

Asus said to be prepping ION-based Eee Box nettop
Despite some more or less up front opposition from Intel, the ION platform is getting its chance to shine, with Acer and Lenovo already announcing products based on it. Apparently not wanting to be left out, Asus is also working on ION products, with the first product coming out being the Eee Box B1006. The nettop is said to arrive in Q3 and, depending on Asus' testing, it will be joined or followed by a ION netbook.

The ION platform consists of an Intel Atom CPU and a motherboard powered the GeForce 9400 chipset and it provides Windows Vista and 7 support, HD video playback, plus (entry-level) DirectX 10 graphics.

Corsair's Hydro H50 liquid cooler revealed
Corsair has been getting itself back into the water-cooling game with the Hydro Series H30 but apparently that's just the appetizer for its next release, the Hydro H50. Seen below, the upcoming CPU cooler is based on Asetek's LCLC unit (which is only sold to OEMs) and is an all-in-one solution that includes the waterblock, pump and radiator, all connected, ready to be installed and work for 50.000 hours without maintenance.

The H50 is said to feature a few improvement compared to Asetek's design and come with Intel LGA775 and LGA1366 mounting options (AM2/AM3 users will be able to get a free mounting bracket from Corsair). The cooler is expected to arrive later this month and cost just about 50 GBP ~ 57 Euro ~ $82.

Pictures courtesy of Hexus.

MSI P55-GD65 motherboard seen at Computex
After already showing off two P55 boards at CeBIT - the G7P55-DC and G9P55-DC, Taiwan-based manufacturer MSI is revealing yet another P55 product this week at Computex, the P55-GD65. Seen below, the board has a nice black PCB, a not yet final cooling system, a seven phase power design and the usual - support for LGA1156 processors, four dual channel-ready DDR3 slots, and two PCI-Express x16 slots for CrossFireX setups (SLI supports still unconfirmed).

The P55-GD65 ans boasts one eSATA and seven SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, one IDE connector, 7.1 channel audio, FireWire, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and Power, Reset buttons. The motherboard should make its way in stores in August or September so just have a bit more patience.

Photo courtesy of bit-tech.

Intel and Psion reported settling netbook trademark issue
Three months after it sued Intel for $1.2 billion for violating its netbook patent, Psion Teklogix is said to have reached a settlement with the chip giant and agreed to let every company use the term 'netbook' freely. Both Dell and Intel contested Psion's netbook trademark by saying that the word has become a general term for ultra-mobile PCs used for browsing and light computing.

If Psion indeed gave up on the trademark then netbook manufacturers can breathe a little easy as they are safe from potentially troublesome lawsuits.

- [Update] - It's official - netbooks for everyone.

Adobe rolls out beta versions of Flash Builder 4, Flash Catalyst
Adobe Systems has now provided Flash developers with a few new, hopefully fun, toys - Flash Builder 4 (formerly Flex Builder), and Flash Catalyst, in public beta form, and the open source Flex 4 framework. Flash Builder is a dev tool designed to help speed up the building of cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs), while Flash Catalyst is a new design tool for rapidly creating application user interfaces without coding.

"People are now expecting the same richness and ease of use in their workplace applications that they have in their daily Web experiences, but companies today are faced with strained development resources and less time to create intuitive applications," said David Wadhwani, general manager and vice president of the Platform Business Unit at Adobe. "The new Adobe Flash Platform tools help solve this challenge by reducing time to market for generating compelling applications and content. Using Adobe Flash Builder and Flash Catalyst, developers and designers can now work together more productively to create rich experiences that employees, customers and partners expect."

Both Flash Builder 4 and Flash Catalyst are based on the Flex 4 framework and are available for download @ Adobe Labs.

Taiwanese manufacturers ship over 1 billion Intel-ready motherboards
Just as Computex 2009 is about to kick off in Taipei, Intel Corp. has proudly announced that Taiwan manufacturers have shipped over 1 billion desktop motherboards for its processors.

"Intel congratulates the Taiwan tech industry on reaching this historic milestone," said Sean Maloney, Intel Corporation executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. "This milestone is another signal that the desktop PC is not dead and that computer users continue to crave the processing power, graphics and storage capabilities that desktop PCs provide."

Maloney is set to expand on the milestone at his Computex keynote tomorrow so we'll just say congrats to everyone who contributed to reaching 1 billion. Now how about those Lynnfield CPUs and P55 motherboards already?

Qualcomm ups the Snapdragon ante with QSD8650A chipset
Qualcomm has now unveiled a new addition to its smartphone and smartbook-targeting Snapdragon line-up, the 45nm-made QSD8650A chipset. Coming in a 15x15mm package, the new offer consumes 30% less power than current Snapdragon chips and features a 1.3GHz processor, UMTS and CDMA 3G mobile broadband connectivity, GPS, a 2D graphics accelerator and 3D graphics core, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and support for a maximum screen resolution of 1280أƒآ—800 pixels.

"This latest addition to the growing family of Snapdragon chipsets will help our customers to develop faster, more power-efficient smartphones and smartbooks," said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of marketing and product management at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "This new 45 nm device shows our continued commitment to extending the capabilities of the Snapdragon platform with leading-edge process technology and an expanded list of integrated features."

The Snapdragon QSD8650A chipset is expected to start sampling by the end of the year so we probably won't see any products based on it until 2010.

Microsoft Zune HD said to debut on September 5th
Just like with Windows 7, Microsoft has only thrown out an estimated release for its upcoming portable media player, the Zune HD, and that's Fall 2009. If that seems to vague for your taste then know that Windows SuperSite admin Paul Thurrott has said on the site's blog that the Zune HD will arrive on September 5th, a date which would fall just around the time Apple would make a refresh to its iPod line.

The new Zune features a 3.3-inch OLED touchscreen with a resolution of 480x272 pixels, a built-in accelerometer, a HD Radio receiver, a HDMI output, WiFi, and support for Xbox LIVE.

Monday, June 1, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 01/06/2009

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