IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 30/10/2009

Arctic Cooling intros the Arctic RC Pro RAM heatsink
Arctic Cooling has just revealed the Arctic RC Pro, its newest RAM cooler which is compatible with both single- and double-sided DDR2 and DDR3 memory modules. Pictured below, the aluminum-made cooling solution measures 126 (L) x 76 (H) mm, weights 74 grams and features fins that extend 5cm, pre-applied thermal pads, a 3-screw securing system, and the ability to lower DRAM temps by up to 50% (compared to modules without any heatsink).

The Arctic RC Pro will start selling in dual-sink packs in November and cost about $9.95 / 6.95 Euro (without VAT).

Symbian shows its age at empty exhibition
Nokia took a rather embarrassing hit this week, as London's Earls Court was graced by just a handful of visitors for the company's Symbian Exchange and Exposition tradeshow.

The likes of Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson had nothing new to unveil on the ailing mobile operating system - and with Symbian remaining the most awkward platform to develop for, the likes of Apple's mobile OS X and Google's Android are stealing away even the strongest of Symbian allies.

Apple and Google's offerings continue to conquer new territory, and with the demand for Android and iPhone app developers on the up, Symbian is well and truly being left behind. However, Bjorn Wigforss, senior marketing manager of Nokia's business and market development technology platforms, argued that Nokia still has the advantage as "Symbian was the first smartphone platform."

Right... great argument Bjorn. So its goodbye for Symbian soon folks (BEd: I disagree sir) - get your party hats ready.

Ubuntu 9.10 final goes live
Right on schedule the Tux-loving Karmic Koala (aka Ubuntu 9.10) has made its debut, as expected in all shapes, sized and flavors. Being free as a bird and like most Linux distros, Ubuntu 9.10 features a redesigned, faster boot and login experience, a revamped audio framework, improved 3G broadband connectivity, a refreshed Software Center, the Ubuntu One online service suite that offers simplified backup, synchronisation and sharing of files, it comes with Firefox 3.5, OpenOffice.org 3.0, the F-Spot phone app, and is translated in 25 languages.

Ubuntu 9.10 is available in three versions - Desktop Edition, Netbook Remix and Server Edition, with derivatives like Kubuntu and Edubuntu also being updated to Koala status. To find out more about Ubuntu see this page, while for a download click here.

One more Opera 10.10 build released
The Desktop Team has now rolled out a fresh beta build of the Opera 10.10 browser which is paired up with the Opera Unite service. This release is available for Windows, Mac and Linux and features the following updates:

User Interface

- Added a progress spinner in Unite/Link setup dialogs
- Updated searches, bookmarks and Speed Dials
- Fixed Speed Dial background image leak
- Fixed Bug DSK-256527 (Crash on startup when upgrading due to "Newest Used Version" format in operaprefs.ini)
- Fixed Bug DSK-257319 (Master password prompt on startup even when it isn't needed)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267351 ("Search the Web for ..." doesn't work when selected with the mouse)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267710 (Troubleshooting steps missing from error pages)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267821 (Security buttons in address can be colorized)
- Fixed Bug DSK-268460 (Ctrl+Enter in F2 dialog on mail view opens page in background and removes focus from application)

Core

- Fix to prevent ambiguities relating to Turbo context
- Fixed a bug related to incomplete page loading when running Turbo
- Fixed Bug CORE-21663 (Crash on some JavaScript heavy sites (such as Facebook))
- Fixed Bug DSK-258083 (Turbo cache is deleted on restart)
- Fixed Bug DSK-263736 (Setting JS error.message = "" crashes opera)

Opera Unite

- Unite app upgrade/launch dialog redesign
- Fixed links for sample index.html generation on the webserver service configuration page
- Fixed Bug CORE-25144 (.isDirectory check fails for directories with only folders when zipped using "Send to > Compressed folder" on Windows)
- Fixed Bug DSK-261326 (No UI feedback when trying to install already installed service located in the trash can)
- Fixed Bug DSK-265774 (Red dot on unite icon): Changed the tooltip text to say something about the red dot (attention) state
- Fixed Bug DSK-265897 (Add information about the opened port (and more UPnP related info) to the status dialog)
- Fixed Bug DSK-266209 (Changes needed to downloading Unite Application security dialog): Making sure strings fit, pre-select cancel button in security warning, change strings to make dialog less confusing
- Fixed Bug DSK-266553 (Opening a shared Unite URL from trash opens a blank page)
- Fixed Bug DSK-266987 (Installing a new Unite application does not switch focus on unite panel on the app itself)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267234 (The device name does not accurately reflect user input on first installation)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267633 (Nothing happens when trying to install a lower version of a unite service)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267701 (Users not informed that a valid name already is being used): Added a new error message
- Fixed Bug DSK-267957 (Service icons become black is icon size set to 40%)
- Fixed Bug DSK-268101 (Obsolete confirmation dialog when starting Unite)
- Fixed Bug DSK-268107 (Wrong page opened for Home application)
- Fixed Bug DSK-268664 (Add https://unite.opera.com to trusted websites)
- Fixed Bug US-1238 (Media Player app broken when upgrading from previous snapshots)

Windows

- Fixed Bug CORE-24560 (voice crash)
- Fixed Bug DSK-241262 (Error message when opening HTML files if Opera is not already running)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267812 (IME is automatically turned on when focusing text fields even if set to be turned off)

Unix

- Fixed Bug DSK-263446 (Chat notifications don't always work)
- Partiual Fix of Bug DSK-267319 (Sleepless main loop with Qt 4.5.3)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267467 (Crash when exiting KDE 4 and Opera is running)
- Fixed Bug DSK-267167 (Problems locating turbosettings.xml)

Macronix develops the world's first 256Mbit Serial Flash
Taiwan's own Macronix International has today proudly announced the MX25L25635E, the first ever 256Mb Serial Flash memory chip. Targeting networking systems, WiMax, set-top box, servers, high-end projectors, and Digital TVs, the 256Mb flash works powered at 2.7 to 3.6V and supports single, dual, and quad I/O, which translates into speeds of 80, 140 and 280 Mbps, respectively.

Current Serial Flash products make use of a 24-bit addressing protocol which limits their capacity to 128Mb so to reach 256Mb Macronix used an innovative 32-bit addressing scheme that enables the chip to still be backwards compatible. Basically, the new chip powers up like a 128Mbit device in 24-bit mode but will switch to 32-bit addressing when needed.

"Macronix has enhanced its leadership position in Serial Flash by being the first company to offer the highest density 256Mbit product in the market," said Alan Niebel, CEO and founder of Web-Feet Research. "The Serial Flash market is the fastest growing NOR Flash segment increasing from $645M in 2009 and with the addition of the 256Mbit Serial part it should reach $2,036M by 2014."

The MX25L25635E is currently being sampled and is scheduled to enter mass production in December.

ASRock to release the ION 330HT nettops
As just revealed, ASRock will soon be letting loose a couple of updated versions of its ION 330 nettops, the ION 330HT and ION 330HT-BD. Both new mini PCs come in an enclosure measuring 195 (W) x 70 (H) x 186 (L) mm and weight 1.7kg, are powered by a dual-core 1.6 GHz Atom 330 CPU, and feature 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and GeForce 9400 DX10-supporting integrated graphics.

The PCs also have Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, 7.1 channel audio with DTS, an optical drive (Blu-Ray for the 330HT-BD, a DVD writer for the 330HT), D-Sub and HDMI outputs, an eSATA port, and are bundled with an MCE remote.

Picture courtesy of xbmcfreak.nl.

Eye-Fi cards added Facebook video upload functionality
Sure we were sold at wireless, but the people that made the Eye-Fi memory cards aren't the ones to stop improving a product and so they have now released an update that will enable Eye-Fi users to upload their videos to Facebook as soon as they are recorded, without connecting to a PC.

The Eye-Fi card also got a new feature that makes it post Facebook notifications (with links) whenever you upload a picture or video to more than 25 sharing sites, including Flickr, Picasa, and others.

"We make sharing videos with friends and family as easy as possible, so memories are fresh and relevant when they hit the Web," said Jef Holove, CEO of Eye-Fi. "Facebook is clearly a favorite site to share videos and we've made it effortless to do so, just in time for Halloween, one of our users' most popular memory sharing holidays."

To get more info about the Eye-Fi cards and what other features they offer see this page.

Silicon Power preps line of Class 10 rated SDHC cards
Silicon Power has now unveiled a new family of speedy SDHC memory cards which are aimed at photographers who require sufficient storage and good transfer speeds for continuous photo shots. Coming in 4, 8 and 16GB capacities, the cards are compliant with the latest SD Association specifications, weight 2 grams, and have a Class 10 speed rating, meaning they deliver write speeds of at least 10 MB/s.

Silicon Power's SDHC cards are backed by a lifetime warranty and should reach stores in the coming weeks.

Samsung readies the Lapfit LD220Z multi-touch monitor
South Korean electronics company Samsung is working away on a new Lapfit monitor called LD220Z that, to the shame of the recently-released LD190N and LD220G, will feature multi-touch support. The new 22-inch LCD, which is set to act as a secondary display for your laptop, has a glossy black frame, an adjustable stand, a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 5ms response time, and two 1.5W built-in speakers.

The SyncMaster LD220Z Lapfit monitor provides D-Sub and HDMI connectivity and is expected to become available at the end of this year. Its pricing will be revealed closer to the actual release.

Nvidia delivers the OpenCL-ready GeForce 195.39 beta driver
The Santa Clara-based Fermi designer, Nvidia has now released a new driver for its desktop graphics cards, the beta-labeled GeForce 195.39. This fresh driver has support for the GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, 100 and 200 series cards, as well as for the ION/ION LE IGPs, and features the following:

- Added support for OpenCL 1.0 for all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs.
- Added support for CUDA Toolkit 3.0 features and performance enhancements.
- Added SLI and multi-GPU support for Borderlands, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, G-Force, FIFA Soccer 2010, League of Legends: Clash of Fates, NHL 2009, Order of War, Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, Race On, Star Trek: D-A-C. Improved SLI and multi-GPU support for Champions: Online and Dragon Age: Origins.
- Over 200 bug fixes.

To download the new GeForce 195.39 beta simply click on the following links:

- GeForce 195.39 beta (Windows XP 32bit)
- GeForce 195.39 beta (Windows XP 64bit)
- GeForce 195.39 beta (Windows 7/Vista 32bit)
- GeForce 195.39 beta (Windows 7/Vista 64bit)

Friday, October 30, 2009

IT News HeadLines (TechConnect Magazine) 30/10/2009

No comments: