IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 03/08/2009

UK girl's iPod Touch explodes
Apple wanted to silence a British iPod touch owner whose device exploded. Ken Stanborough from Liverpool, dropped his daughterأ¢آ€آ™s iPod last month and it immediately "made a hissing noise" and claimed that that he "could feel it getting hotter in my hand, and I thought I could see vapour". Within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it went 10ft in the air".

Mr Stanborough made his complains to Argos and Apple, and he received a letter from Apple requesting that the whole matter remains confidential. In the opposite case it "may result in Apple seeking injunctive relief, damages and legal costs against the defaulting persons or parties".

Mr Stanborough was unhappy with the 'settlement' from Apple UK, and refused to sign the agreement. Apple and Argos are not commenting on the matter, at the moment. This is the second time an iPod Touch explodes this year. Back in March, the mother of a boy from Kentucky filed a lawsuit against Apple for burns allegedly caused by an iPod Touch.

Nvidia rolls out first OpenGL 3.2-supporting drivers
The Khronos Group has barely announced OpenGL 3.2 and Nvidia has already jumped out of its pool of green fluid (read goo) to say that it has the first driver that supports the new API. The GeForce 190.56 (Windows) and 190.18.03 (Linux) beta drivers provide OpenGL 3.2 and GLSL 1.50 functionality and support the following cards:

- Quadro FX 370, 570, 1700, 3700, 4600, 4700x2, 4800, 5600, 5800, Quadro VX200 and Quadro CX
- GeForce 8000 series or higher; Geforce G100, GT120, 130, 220, GTS 150, GTS 250, GTX 260, 280, 285 and 295, any ION based releases
- Quadro FX 360M, 370M, 570M, 770M, 1600M, 1700M, 2700M, 3600M and 3700M
- GeForce 8000 series or higher (notebook GPUs)

To download the first OpenGL 3.2-compliant drivers visit this page.

Khronos Group delivers OpenGL 3.2
The Khronos Group has started off the week with quite a bang by announcing a new update for its OpenGL 2D and 3D graphics API. OpenGL 3.2 comes with improvements and features that deliver enhanced performance, increased visual quality, accelerated geometry processing and easier portability of Direct3D applications.

To get into the details of the updated API, OpenGL 3.2, which already has a growing install base of over 150 million compatible GPUs, delivers increased performance for vertex arrays and fence sync objects, improved pipeline programmability, including geometry shaders in the OpenGL core, and boosted cube map visual quality and multisampling rendering flexibility.

"The strategy behind OpenGL 3 is to bring revolutionary changes to OpenGL through a rapid sequence of evolutionary updates, and the ARB continues to effectively execute to that plan," said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group and vice president at Nvidia. "OpenGL 3.0 set the stage with new mechanisms to enable OpenGL to respond to diverse market needs, OpenGL 3.1 used those mechanisms to streamline the API while adding new functionality. Now we have OpenGL 3.2 that fully exposes state-of-the-art GPU capabilities in a form that meets the needs of both new and experienced OpenGL developers."

Those interested in learning more about OpenGL 3.2 can check out the OpenGL Registry.

MSI readies its first SLI-supporting AM3 motherboard
OC Genie master MSI is gearing up to introduce the NF750-G55, the the first AM3 motherboard in its line-up to provide SLI support. Based on the nForce 750a SLI chipset, the upcoming board features support for AMD AM3 processors, has four dual channel DDR3-1800 memory slots, two PCI-Express x16 slots (2-way SLI/Hybrid SLI), and DirectX 10 integrated graphics.

The NF750-G55 also boasts the Active Phase Switching technology, an Easy OC switch, one eSATA and five SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, 7.1 channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and has D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI outputs. MSI's new nForce 750a motherboard is expected to cost just under 100 Euro and hit stores in two-three weeks.

CyberLink releases PowerDirector 8
PowerDVD producer CyberLink Corp. has now introduced a new version of its PowerDirector video editing software. Still betting big on ease of use, PowerDirector 8 includes the following:

- Video Enhancement Tools to improve the video quality of users' projects, offering SD-to-HD quality up-scaling, video noise removal, smooth slow-motion playback, virtual surround sound, and lighting adjustment.

- CPU/GPU Optimization - As the first consumer editing software to be optimized for Intel Core i7, ATI Stream and Nvidia CUDA technology, PowerDirector delivers faster video rendering and saves production time.

- Particle Effects Designer expands the creative possibilities for adding animated objects to projects. Users can begin with PowerDirectorأ¢آ€آ™s built-in templates then customize to match their video content.

- Power Tools - Video cropping, reverse video, and precise أ¢آ€آœzoom inأ¢آ€آ‌ trimming deliver pro-like editing results with just a few clicks.

- Improved Timeline Interface - 16 timeline tracks, an adjustable workspace, and easier media management, provide a flexible working environment for creating more advanced projects.

- Sharable Effects, Disc Menus, and Timeline Views - The DirectorZone.com website features uploaded content created by other PowerDirector users - such as customized effects and DVD menus - which can be downloaded for free. More importantly, users can also share their creative processes in the form of a timeline view published on DirectorZone.com.

- Multiple Publishing Options - Direct uploading of HD videos to Facebook and YouTube, and output to playback devices such as iPhone and PSP. Users can also author Blu-ray, AVCHD and DVD discs.

- Customizable Photo Slideshows - Editable slideshow styles generate stylish video-like productions in minutes. Users can automatically sync their slideshows to music, reposition photo framing, and rearrange the sequence of each photo.

"CyberLink PowerDirector 8 gives users the power they need to create great home videos," said Alice H. Chang, CEO of CyberLink. "From video upscaling, faster video rendering, to unique video editing tools, PowerDirector takes a step further to enable the video editing community to help each other in creating better videos through DirectorZone.com."

CyberLink PowerDirector 8 also comes with support for six languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese) and can is available for purchase in two versions - Ultra @ $99.95, ad Deluxe @ $69.95.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt leaves Apple board
Shiny tech thingie designer Apple has announced that Dr. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, has decided to resign from the Apple Board of Directors.

"Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple's Board."

Schmidt, who's been on Apple's board since 2006, is the reason for an investigation started by the Federal Trade Commission in May in regards to the ties between Google and Apple. The FTC will likely close this 'case' following today's announcement.

Intel to keep supplying netbooks makers with Atom Z CPUs
Kicking off the week with a smash, Intel has denied a recent rumor that claimed it would stop shipping Atom Z series processors to netbooks makers at the end of this year.

Calling the rumor "100% inaccurate," Intel reiterated that it will continue to provide customers like Asus, MSI and Acer with Atom Z models, and that it will not stop making these parts this year. Intel is currently hard at work at the Pine Trail platform for MIDs and netbooks which it plans to launch in Q4 but until it ramps up production on the dual-chip solution, both the current Atom Z and N series CPUs are pretty much safe.

Sony Reader PRS-300 and PRS-600 specs revealed
PlayStation 3 Slim or not, Sony is going to bring some cool hardware to market in the relatively near future, two new ebook readers, the PRS300-RC and PRS600-SC. According to HiPDA, the cheapest of the upcoming pair, the $199 PRS300 will measure 6.2" (L) x 4.2" (W) x 2" (D), weight 7.76 oz (220 grams) and feature a 5-inch (800x600 pixels) E-Ink screen with an 8-levels gray scale, 512MB of built-in memory, and USB 2.0 connectivity.

Going for $299, the PRS600 is 6.9" (L) x 4.8" (W) x 4" (D) and 10.1 oz (286 grams), and boasts a 6-inch 800x600 display, 512MB of memory, and a battery lasting up to two weeks or 7,500 page turns.

Both readers have support for EPUB, BBeB Book, PDF, Text, RTF, and Word file formats, with the PRS600 also supporting MP3, AAC, JPEG, PNG, GIF and BMP files. No word on the readers' release date.

Bing continues to gain US search market share, says StatCounter
After a quick stats-crunching session, web analytics firm StatCounter has concluded that Microsoft's Bing search (or decision) engine, has increase its share in the US search market in July. According to StatCounter, which collected date from over three million websites, Bing has ended July with a share of 9.41%, up just over 1% compared to the June-recorded 8.23%.

While Bing made gains, Google and Yahoo both slipped last month, the former from 78.48% (in June) to 77.54%, and te latter from 11.04% to 10.95%.

"Bing continues to make slow but steady progress but the combined Yahoo! figures suggests that the deal announced last week will have to demonstrate major future synergies if it is to make any dent in Google's dominance," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO and founder, StatCounter.

While in the US they had a 20.36% share in July, on a global scale Bing and Yahoo only have a 8.77% piece, while Google dominated with 89.23%, so it's pretty safe to say the partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo won't be challenging the king of search too soon.

Radio Shack to shake things up with a rebranding
US electronics retailed Radio Shack has started hyping up an event scheduled for August 6th to 8th that is said to mark the launch of a major rebranding campaign. According to info caught in the interweb, Radio Shack's new direction will first see it drop the 'Radio' and go by the name of 'The Shack', and increase its focus on technology, especially the mobile, or better yet, the smartphone, market.

For up-to-date info about the upcoming even, which will feature concerts, contests and lots of live streaming, be sure to check this page.

Monday, August 3, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 03/08/2009

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