IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 29/10/2009

JVC Announces Ultra-Thin $199 XV-BP11 Blu-ray Player

JVC today announced the availability of a new entry-level Blu-ray player. The new JVC XV-BP11 is a truly versatile high definition player, offering playback of high definition Blu-ray discs, plus playback of the AVCHD format, the high definition format widely used for HD camcorders, including the JVC HD Everio line. The new JVC XV-BP11 Blu-ray player is available immediately for $199.95. I wonder if they are hoping that this player will be a big hit this holiday season!

Features:
BD Profile 1.1
Playable Media: BD-ROM, BD-R/RE, DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, +R/+RW, CD, CD-R/RW, USB
1080/24p Playback
HDMI with x.v.Color(TM)/Deep Color
Dolby Digital+/Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Decoding
Slim and Compact Design 16-15/16" (430mm) W x 1-9/16" (39mm) H x 7-7/8" (200mm) D
AVCHD, MP3, WMA, JPEG Playback
USB Host
HD Audio Bit-Stream Output for HDMI
1080/24p Playback
HDMI with x.v.Color(TM)/Deep Color
Dolby Digital+/Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD Decoding
Composite Video Out
Analog Audio L/R and Coaxial Digital Outputs
Quick Disc Loading

October 28 News from Around the Web

Review of the XFX HD 5870 @ Neoseeker and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

"For the time being, we think most gamers would be better embracing this new generation and going for a HD 5000 series video card over other options -- and the XFX HD 5870, at a touch under $400, is a good one to go with."

Chip Recovery Underway

This news is another indicator that the tech sector is getting healthy again and a sign that we will see an increase in new technology products which stagnated during the recent economic downturn.

The chip recovery is under way, with quarterly sales forecast to increase year-over-year for the first time in 2009, according to a report from market researcher iSuppli on Tuesday. Revenue from chip sales is expected to rise by 10.6 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2008. This would mark the first time this year that revenue has risen compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Dale Ford, senior vice president, market intelligence, for iSuppli.

ASUS P7P55D-E / P7P55D First Motherboards with USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s

ASUS today announces a range of enhanced motherboard solutions that deliver true USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s data throughput. The ASUS Xtreme Design P7P55D-E Series motherboards feature onboard support while the ASUS Xtreme Design P7P55D Series utilize ASUS U3S6 PCIe x4 expansion cards to deliver the latest USB and SATA data transfer capabilities. Equipped with the Intel P55 Express chipset, the P7P55D-E / P7P55D Series support the latest LGA 1156 socket for Intel Core i7/Core i5 Processors. Additionally, they also feature exclusive Hybrid TechnologyHybrid Processor, Hybrid Phase, and Hybrid OSoffering intelligent performance enhancements, active cooling, and rapid online access. Faster than EverTrue USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s Performance with Bridge Chip

ASUS Xtreme Design P7P55D-E Series motherboard

ASUS unique expansion bridge* fully unleashes USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s transfer rates for both the P7P55D-E Series and the U3S6 expansion card. This specially-designed onboard IC doubles the bandwidth of the PCIe interface from Gen 1 to Gen 2, delivering ten times faster USB 3.0 throughput than the previous USB 2.0 standard. Additionally, by eliminating transmission bottlenecks, the expansion bridge increases hard disk read and write speeds by up to 50%**. Transferring a 20GB high definition movie now takes less than 70 seconds, while a 4MB song requires less than 0.01 sec. Similarly, by inserting the ASUS U3S6 PCIe x4 expansion card into P7P55D Series motherboards, users can achieve the same rapid throughput with the latest USB 3.0 devices and SATA 6 Gb/s hard disks.

Vivante GPUs Power Marvell ARMADA Application Processors

Vivante Corporation, a leader in consumer oriented 3D graphics processors, today announced that Marvell has deployed Vivante's GC-series graphics processors in the new Marvell ARMADA range of application processors. Marvell ARMADA products are designed specifically for next generation ARM instruction set smartphones, smartbooks, consumer and embedded devices, and displays.

Vivante's innovative ScalarMorphic GPU architecture combines the latest in high performance arithmetic computing, graphics and embedded system design to produce breakthrough levels of performance and image quality for high performance integrated graphics processing at HD 1080p resolutions. Vivante's underlying ScalarMorphic GPU architecture is highly scalable in terms of triangle, texture, pixel and shader performance and requires only a few megahertz of CPU to deliver high resolution graphics.

Intel pulls 34nm SSD Trim Firmware for bricking drives using Windows 7

It seems the new firmware update for Intel drives might be killing some of the SSDs rather than improving the performance of them. I personally updated my 160GB drive in IDE mode and then switch back to AHCI mode and it still appears to be running okay. I am no longer running the TRIM command until Intel gets things sorted out on this though. If you haven't upgraded yet I'd advise waiting and it ran fine for a while, then windows crashed and I get an error on one of my drives. It may be something else, but you may want to wait a while before installing to make sure this isn't a common issue. Below is the quote that Intel sent us this afternoon.

Yes, we have been contacted by users with issues with the firmware upgrade for our 34nm SSDs and we are investigating. We take all sightings and issues seriously and are working toward resolution. We have temporarily taken down the firmware link while we investigate.

Ex-AMD CEO Hector Ruiz linked to Galleon via info leak

A former chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices became the biggest name to be linked to the Galleon Group insider-trading scandal, when the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that he leaked information about the microprocessor maker in 2008 to a hedge fund manager. The Wall Street Journal reported that Ruiz specifically imparted sensitive information about the restructuring of AMD at the time, in which it spun off its manufacturing operations into the Globalfoundries joint venture with an Abu Dhabi firm. Ruiz is now chairman of contract chipmaker and AMD-affiliate Globalfoundries. Here is a recent picture of Hector Ruiz from the Globalfoundries Fab 2 ceremony in New York back on July 24th, 2009.

Hector Ruiz is the unnamed AMD executive accused in a criminal case, filed by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office this month, of sharing information with New Castle portfolio manager Danielle Chiesi, the newspaper reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. New Castle was among the funds accused by U.S. authorities of engaging in the insider-trading scheme that has engulfed hedge fund Galleon Group. New York-based Galleon is at the center of the biggest insider-trading case in decades.

Plantronics Discovery 975 Bluetooth Headset Reviewed

Today, Legit Reviews examines Plantronics' latest Discovery Bluetooth Headset - the Discovery 975. Beneath the sleek exterior of the Discover 975 headset are the advanced technologies that keep your calls clear and your voice sounding natural, even in a noisy environment. Providing the simplicity of one touch control, this headset offers Dual-mic AudioIQ and WindSmart technologies that keep your conversations crystal-clear.

People will ask, "Is this headset really better than the Jawbone or BlueAnt?" If you are strictly measuring the overall quality of the headset by the sound volume and ability to dampen or reduce environmental noise, then picking a winner out of this lot is a toss-up. On the other hand, if you are looking for the best sounding, best looking, most comfortable, and longest battery life in the bunch, the Plantronics Discovery 975 wins hands down. The fact that Plantronics improved their battery case and included a never-before-seen LCD screen to give you battery status on the headset and case is amazing...

L4D2 Demo Available Today for Pre-Purchasers!

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will be available for those that have pre-ordered the full-up game to be released November 17th. Today at approximately 12-Noon PST, gamers can input a code to unlock the demo. Players can obtain their "demo launch code" from the same retailers that they purchased their L4D2 pre-order. The demo will contain gameplay from the Parish campaign level allowing for you and up to three other players a chance to sample the new gaming environment. If you didnt pre-order the game, the L4D2 demo will be available November 3rd for PC and Xbox Gold members, while Xbox Silver members will get the demo on November 11th, 2009.

Left 4 Dead 2 is an upcoming cooperative first-person shooter game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation's award-winning Left 4 Dead.

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X HD 5870 1GB Video Card Pictures and Specs Announced

Sapphire just sent over some specifications and pictures of their Vapor-X HD 5870 1GB Video Card. It has been just recently revealed that the Vapor chamber technology used in SAPPHIRE Vapor-X coolers comes from Microloops. Vapor-X has very efficient heat dissipation, which helps to remove heat quickly GPU better than the stock cooling solution by ATI. The card is rumored to be coming out on November 3 along with a new Sapphire Radeon HD 5750 with Vapor X. The ATI Radeon HD 5870 reference model comes clocked at 850MHz on the stream processors and on the Vapor-X edition they are clocked 20MHz higher at 870MHz. That means this card is slightly overclocked right out of the box, which is nice for an extra performance boost. You can find tons of pictures and the full specs of the card in our forums by following the link below.

Vapor Chamber Technology is based on the same principles as heatpipe technology. A liquid coolant is vaporised at a hot surface, the resulting vapor is condensed at a cold surface then the liquid is returned to the hot surface. The recirculation process is controlled by a wick system. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X flattens the whole system into a slim chamber - which in the graphics application is mounted in contact with the surface of the graphics chip. Actually, the coolant is water but because the chamber is evacuated to a very low pressure, the vaporisation process occurs at a much lower temperature than normal boiling point. The complex wick arrangement inside the module controls the flow of water and water vapor so that the system can be used in any orientation.

AXLE Announces GeForce GT 220 and 210 Video Cards

AXLE International Holding Limited (a Hong Kong Company) recently released the new series of GeForce GT 220 and GeForce 210 which bring you a new definition of HD entertainment with affordable price. We've never heard of AXLE before, but they are make NVIDIA based graphics cards and power supplies. Keep on eye on this company as they are starting to make their very first marketing push in the United States.

Applying the new 40nm GPU technology from NVIDIA, AXLE GeForce GT 220 and AXLE GeForce 210 deliver a more advanced level of performance than the predecessors 9500GT and 8400GS. In terms of the number of shaders, GT220 has 50% more than that of 9500GT whereas G210 has 100% more than that of 8400GS. AXLE GeForce GT 220 comes with 2 versions of memory, 128-bit 1.6GHz DDR3 memory and 800MHz DDR2 memory. The card features NVIDIA Unified Architecture, NVIDIA CUDA technology, Microsoft Windows 7 support, NVIDIA PureVideo HD and NVIDIA PhysX technologies, HDMI ouput with HD 1080p display support, PCI Express 2.0 support and Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1 support.

Gigabyte GTX 260 Core 216 Super Overclock Video Card Review

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Super Overclock Video Card comes factory overclocked if you couldn't figure that out by the name. The standard core clock of 576MHz has been bumped up to 680MHz, which is an 18% frequency boost over the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 reference design. With clock speeds like this you can expect 3% better performance than standard GTX 275 graphics cards!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

IT News HeadLines (Legit Reviews) 29/10/2009

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