IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 18/06/2009

Auzentech starts providing Windows 7 drivers for its sound cards
Sound wave harbinger Auzentech has this week start to deliver Windows 7 beta drivers for its audio card line-up, and the first to enjoy this little treat are owners of the X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema and X-Mystique 7.1 Gold models.

The Windows 7 RC-tested drivers, which have the same feature-set those for Windows XP and Vista, can be downloaded from this page, with more releases, supporting the X-Fi Prelude 7.1, X-Fi Forte 7.1, and X-Meridian 7.1 cards, set to come by the end of this month. Be sure to keep an eye on Auzentech's site for when they become available.

Brazilian city orders Classmate PCs for all its schools
A hapy camper Intel has just named the city of Pirai in Brazil, the first '1:1 Computing City' because of its decision to acquire Classmate PCs for the students in all its 21 public schools. Together with the netbook orders, Pirai is planning to roll out city-wide network connectivity through the Digital Pirai Project and thus provide each student with full-time access to a computer and the internet.

The investment is hoped to spur social and economic transformation within the city, and will truly kick off in August when the Classmate PCs will start being delivered.

Toshiba, NEC to work with IBM on 28nm process development
The IBM Semiconductor Alliance is going strong, with Toshiba and NEC both announced that they have extended their collaboration with Big Blue and will participate in the development of a 28nm high-k metal gate (HKMG), low-power chip technology for consumer products. Going to 28nm will help the companies manufacture faster, power-efficient chips for future mobile devices and consumer electronics.

"The advanced 28nm low-power process technology will dramatically enhance the product's density, performance, as well as power consumption compared to the former 40nm node, providing highly competitive solutions, especially in the fields of consumer electronics and automotive." said Masao Fukuma, senior vice president of NEC Electronics. "Utilizing this process technology with NEC Electronics' proprietary eDRAM, high-reliability, and low-power consumption technologies, we will focus on being the first to market with the SoC products that can meet our customers' expectations with added value."

While the Semiconductor Alliance partners haven't provided a clear schedule for the 28nm roll out, Toshiba has said that it plans to start manufacturing of 28nm chip in the next fiscal year which will start in April 2010.

Shuttle unveils the AM3-ready SA76G2 barebone
Compact computer promoter Shuttle has now introduced a little new mini-PC barebone that's ready to house AMD's 45nm AM3 processors. The SA76G2 comes in a black-painted G2-type aluminum chassis measuring 30 (L) x 20 (W) x 18.5 (H) cm (LWH), and features the Shuttle FA76 motherboard powered by the AMD RS760/SB710 chip combo which provides support for AM2/AM2+/AM3 processors with a TDP of up to 105W, has two DDR2 memory slots, one PCI-Express x16 slot, plus Radeon 3000 integrated graphics.

The SA76G2 packs a 250W PSU, offers 5.1 channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet, DVI and D-Sub outputs, and support for up to three SATA HDD/SSDs. According to Shuttle, its new barebone is already shipping and has a recommended price tag of 191 Euro (without VAT).

Super Talent delivers the MasterDrive SX solid state drives
As if didn't have a large enough offer, Super Talent has now introduced a new family of 2.5-inch solid state drives, the MasterDrive SX. Coming enclosed in an aluminum casing, the 64, 128 and 256GB SX drives feature MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chips, a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, 128MB of cache memory, an 8-channel controller, a MTBF of over 1 million hours, and deliver maximum read and write speeds of 220 and 200 MB/s, respectively (200/120 MB/s for the 64GB model).

"We developed the MasterDrive SX series to offer extreme reliability at an aggressive price point that makes sense for mobile professionals and enthusiasts. Moreover, these drives boast power efficiency and write speeds that few SSDs can match," said Super Talent Director of Marketing Joe James.

Said to consume just 0.15W when idle and 0.5W while reading, the MasterDrive SX SSDs have begun shipping the US, with the 128GB drive being priced at about $359. All SX series SSDs are backed by a one-year warranty.

Microsoft 'Morro' to be known as Security Essentials
Confirmed to be "coming soon", Microsoft's free antivirus codenamed 'Morro' seems to have got itself a name as few new images of an internally tested build show it being branded 'Microsoft Security Essentials'. Said to be coming in a public preview form in September, the software is based on Microsoft's malware protection engine, will have a small footprint and deliver protection from viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

The 1.0 version of Microsoft Security Essentials is expected to arrive for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 by the end of this year.

Picture courtesy of Neowin.

iGoogle gets a bunch of nature themes
People with their very own iGoogle homepages can now customize them with som new themes showing just a little bit of the beauty of Mother Earth. The newly-added 'Nature' category includes 20 themes with images from organizations and professional photographers, including:

- Ocean Blue', 'Under the Sea' and 'Colorful Creatures' from National Geographic
- 'Birds of Prey' from the National Audubon Society
- Art Wolfe's 'Travels to the Edge'
- 'Man & Nature' from BBC Earth
- and more.

To see all the nature themes for iGoogle simply visit this page.

Google introduces Chrome 3.0.189.0 through the dev channel
A new Chrome toy has now been made available to developers and people who simply enjoy testing out the freshest software. The 3.0.189.0 version of Google's browser comes with an updated V8 engine (1.2.8 V8), crash fixes and code stabilization, the requirement for all extensions to be signed, and a fix for a session history bug which prevented proper backward and forward operation for certain sites.

To download Chrome 3.0.189.0 and use it at your own risk click on this link.

Microsoft extends Windows 7-to-XP downgrade availability
One day after Gartner analyst Michael Silver called its Windows 7-to-XP downgrade plans a "real mess," Redmond-based software supplier Microsoft has stated that it will allow PC makers to sell machines with XP downgrades for longer than previously said. That 'previous' meant that 'downgraded' PCs would only be available for six months following the Windows 7 launch which is scheduled for October 22nd, a short period according to Silver, who believed the policy would be troublesome and costly for companies upgrading to Windows 7.

Microsoft's 'new' plan is to allow for XP downgrades to be made available 18 months after the release of Windows 7 or until the release of a service pack for the upcoming OS, whichever comes sooner. Given the feedback generated by Windows 7, an SP is likely to not arrive too soon after launch so let the downgrades flourish. More or less.

Samsung makes first ever 32GB DDR3 registered DIMM
Flashy chip manufacturer Samsung Electronics has claimed a new world's first title by making a 32GB DDR3 memory module for Intel-powered servers. The record-breaking RDIMM requires just 1.35V to work (down from the standard 1.5V), and makes use of no less than 72 4Gb DRAMs produced using the 50nm process.

"Compared to the 8GB memory modules used in today's servers, our new module packs an eco-sensitive wallop with four times the density at significantly reduced power levels and no increase in the overall footprint," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor. "For data centers, itأ¢آ€آ™s a powerhouse in energy efficiency and performance."

Samsung didn't say when the 32GB module will enter mass production. But it's coming.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 18/06/2009

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