HTC's new Sense UI to ape iPhone design?
HTC's possible new user interface for its Android phones has been leaked, ahead of a release next year.
A couple of screenshots have appeared on the web from the Italian HD Blog, which claims to have nabbed them ahead of the launch at Mobile World Congress in February next year.
Word is that they're set to land with a new Android phone from the HTC lot - the Espresso, although we know very little about this new handset other than it might be packing this Sense Android overlay upgrade.
Translucent beauty
The new Sense overlay has translucent application squares holding the application icons - a little iPhone-like, casting doubt on whether this would be a road HTC would really want to go down.
There's now also a direct link to your contacts list, which has apparently been upgraded to make your contacts even more intuitive - we'll be intrigued to see how this manifests.
We'll be out and about in Mobile World Congress to check out this new UI if it lands, and if it really looks like a poor Windows Mobile skin in the flesh.
 |  |
Read More ...
WikiLeaks applies for a grant to expand
Since 2006, WikiLeaks has gained plenty of notoriety by publishing leaked documents various authorities didn't want you to see.
Now, according to the New York Times, it's angling for a half million dollar grant from the Knight Foundation to expand its anonymous system for submissions.
The Knight Foundation is set to give $5 million this year to projects that use digital technology to transform community news, and WikiLeaks has applied for $532,000 of that.
The site, which describes itself as the "open government group" or the "whistelblower's site" wants to use the enhanced system to encourage readers of newspapers to submit documents covering scandals local to them via links published in the newspapers.
Anonymity Guaranteed
In its proposal, WikiLeaks states that the newspapers would have the first opportunity to use the material, possibly for two weeks, after which it would appear on the Wikileaks site. It also affirms its commitment to user anonymity:
"We maintain our servers at undisclosed locations, pass communication through protective jurisdictions, keep no traffic logs, and use military-grade encryption to protect sources and other confidential information."
According to Daniel Schmitt, who's the full-time unpaid spokesman for the site: "We are trying to bring WikiLeaks more directly to communities."
Seems like a case of thinking globally and acting locally.
| |
Read More ...
Sky Songs signs deal with Merlin indie label
Sky has announced that it has signed up yet another label to its Sky Songs music streaming service.
The label is Merlin, and it's a significant coup for Sky has its music platform has been lacking in indie music, pitching itself more as a mainstream version of Spotify.
The Merlin catalogue makes up around 10 per cent of the music on Spotify, so Sky will be extremely pleased that is has now got its hands on the likes of Franz Ferdinand and Animal Collective whose labels all come under the Merlin Umbrella.
All you can eat
Sky Songs was launched in October with the backing of all the major music distributors.
It is a subscription-based service, with two all-you-can-eat versions available.
For آ£6.49-a-month you get 10 songs to download or one آ£6.49 album; for آ£7.99 you get 15 songs or a آ£7.99 album. This is coupled with unlimited monthly streaming.
So far, Sky hasn't announced how many people have signed on to Sky Songs but it has revealed it has 4 million song available to listen to now.
Got to songs.sky.com for more details.
| |
Read More ...
BT signs up 5 millionth broadband customer
BT has announced that it signed up its five millionth broadband customer on 9 December, the first ISP to pass that landmark. The total number of broadband users in the UK now exceeds 14 million, a swift increase from the 135,000 who used it just seven years ago.
Broadband is now available at 99 per cent of British exchanges. John Petter, the Managing Director of BT's consumer division, said about the achievement:
"Broadband has the ability to transform people's lives and the fact that we are still showing strong take-up when there are more than 14m ADSL broadband customers in the UK is testament to the unique benefits of being connected.
"The UK's intensely competitive market for broadband has meant that UK customers have enjoyed superb innovation and low prices."
BT has just announced plans to have high-speed fibre connections in 10m homes in time for the 2012 Olympics.
5 millionth gets a prize
The five millionth customer for BT broadband was Elizabeth Patterson, a chip shop worker from East Kilbride, Glasgow. To acknowledge the milestone, BT is giving her an all-expenses paid trip to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Patterson said about the accolade: "I am really excited to have won this prize, as I have never been to Canada before. I decided to sign up for broadband so that I could shop online for Christmas presents and so that my son Jamie, who is 11, can use the internet to help with his homework."
There's no word on whether this special status will give her faster access to a live person on BT's helpline, however.
| |
Read More ...
MSI unveils new power-friendly netbook range
MSI has unveiled its new range of Wind netbooks, with the emphasis very much on saving the battery life while maintaining performance.
The company is claiming that its new U130 and U135 series both have a 15 per cent increase in battery life thanks to the Intel Atom N450 processor drawing only 5.5W of power.
Both netbooks feature a 10-inch LED backlit display with 1024 x 600 resolution, meaning that not only is power saved but contrast ratio is improved too.
It's fun to connect to the Wi... Max
WiMAX is also included for connectivity, but given there aren't any networks in the UK to make use of it, it's not the most important feature.
Both have up to 802.11n standard Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, webcams and a 160GB / 250GB hard drive (U130 / U135).
The U130 comes in two super fun colours: Snow White and Brilliant Black (clearly the naming department couldn't be bothered with the latter). And the U135 - well, that's just as fun: Sterling Silver, Brilliant Black, Midnight Blue and Cherry Red.
If you're after one, the MSI Wind U130 and U135 UK release date has been set for January, with prices of آ£229 and آ£279 respectively.
| |
Read More ...
Firefox 3.5 takes #1 spot from IE7
Firefox 3.5 has become the most popular browser, finally wresting the lead away from industry behemoth Internet Explorer 7 according to StatCounter's latest figures.
StatCounter shows that a huge decline in IE7 use – as people move over to the more modern IE8 – combined with a big rise in Firefox 3.5 that has finally caused a change at the top of the browser leader board.
However, lest the anti-Microsoft brigade get too excited, it should be pointed out that the combined weight of IE6, IE7 and IE8 far outweighs Mozilla's Firefox, which pushed users much more heavily to the latest version.
Delayed
There was a time back in June that Firefox 3.0 looked set to overhaul IE7, but the arrival of 3.5 pushed things back, as early adopters jumped to the new browser.
The uptake of IE8, Microsoft's latest and, to be fair, greatest browser to date, has been steady, but has flattened through December, whereas IE7 has gone from a 43 per cent market share at the beginning of the year to just 21 per cent now.
Microsoft's overall market share has declined over the year, but this is due to a steady decline (23 per cent to 13 per cent) in the use of the terrible IE6 browser that has left the company with a whole host of legacy issues.
It should be noted that StatCounter does not list Google's Chrome browser in the list, although the 'other' category has experienced a significant rise.
| |
Read More ...
Dell Precision M6500 impresses
The team at What Laptop have got their hands on a pre-production unit of the Dell Precision M6500 Mobile Workstation, and believes that its 1920 x 1200 pixel screen is one of the best they've ever seen on a laptop.
The machine – which is pitched squarely at the high-end user – can be upgraded to contain a whopping great 16GB of RAM, although this will set you back almost as much as the already pricey آ£1471 laptop itself.
But the Core i7 power-house certainly caught the eye, with the high end panel for the display winning special praise from the reviewer.
"The 17-inch screen is one of the best we've seen on any laptop and the 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution provides extremely detailed images," What Laptop's blog reports.
Heavy
The hands-on review notes that this is a desktop replacement rather than a laptop you'd want to lug around with you every day, but if you have a spare grand and a half weighing you down, it sounds like you could do much worse.
"We were very impressed by the Precision M6500 Work Station during our time with the pre-production unit," concludes the review.
"It offers unparalleled power right across the board and is an extremely versatile machine as a result."
| |
Read More ...
Kodak wins Samsung fight over camera phones
Kodak has won the first round in a patent dispute with Samsung over technology used in its camera phones.
The suit argues that both Samsung and LG had infringed two Kodak patents, and the International Trade Commission judge has found in the plaintiff's favour against Samsung.
LG has already settled the case out of court, which has seen it purchase Kodak's OLED technology - LG is one of the largest producers of the screen type and was previously licensing Kodak's tech.
Thumbs down
Samsung continued the fight, but faced the thumbs down from the judge who stated that Samsung had used LG technology in its camera phones.
Kodak issued a statement to applaud the decision:
"We are gratified that the judge recognised the validity and infringement of the digital camera patents at issue," it reads.
"We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars creating this technology, and we have an obligation to our shareholders and other licensees to protect that investment."
| |
Read More ...
Updated: O2 apologises for another data outage
O2 has admitted it's been having faults on its data network once more, leaving thousands of customers without internet access on their phones.
We spoke to O2, who declined to comment on the reasons for the outage, but did confirm it wasn't a problem with capacity on its networks.
UPDATE: O2 has been in contact again, giving a little more insight into why the problem occurred (although it probably won't mean much to most people):
"We are aware of an issue currently impacting data access for some of our customers. We have identified a fault with the allocation of IP addresses and are working to resolve this as quickly as possible. We apologise to any affected customers."
Data failure
Anecdotal evidence currently suggested that the problem is contained within London, and given the density of data-loving customers, this would obviously inconvenience a large portion of customers.
However, O2 has also (somewhat mysteriously) told us that this problem is "not geographical" - so we have very little idea what's causing this problem.
O2 data outages over the past year have been well publicised, mostly due to the large portion of iPhone users on its networks, although this data failure isn't just contained to that one phone model.
We're awaiting further information on the root of this problem (we're hoping it's something fun like mice chewing through wires) but don't worry - we're assured it's not going to be a Christmas wrecker.
| |
Read More ...
Project Canvas to be green lit this week?
The BBC's much publicised VOD service is to get the green light this week, albeit with some restrictions put in place.
Project Canvas has risen from the online ashes of Project Kangaroo, with the BBC hoping the service would act as a VOD platform for internet-enabled set-top boxes.
The service is a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT and Carphone Warehouse, and if successful it will be the first time TV on the web (like iPlayer) will be given a mainstream broadcast platform.
Provisional ruling
The Financial Times is reporting that the BBC Trust has given a "provisional ruling" that the service is green-lit with minor modifications to happen before its proposed 2010 launch.
It is not clear what changes need to be made, but Sky will be looking on eagerly to see what Project Canvas will actually look like.
Sky, alongside Sony, has been critical of the BBC's VOD idea, as it "potentially stifles innovation", explaining: "I'd be concerned if they thought that the platform business and the distribution business is something that they really need to address."
If the BBC is successful with Project Canvas, we should see Freeview boxes with the software come into the market some time in 2010, with prices to be between آ£100 and آ£200.
Project Canavas has announced on Twitter that there will be an announcement tomorrow at 10am UK time regarding the BBC Trust's decision - so, stay tuned.
| |
Read More ...
Google hits headlines over UK taxes
Google might dominate search in the UK, but, according to the Guardian, it avoids paying corporation tax on its advertising revenue here by clever use of its Ireland-based European headquarters.
Accounts for Google UK Limited showed that it took in آ£1.6 bn in ad revenues last year, and had administrative expenses of آ£177 m in its London and Manchester offices, including آ£70m in wages for its 800 employees.
Those costs are recognised for UK tax purposes. However, the ad revenues from the UK are diverted to Google Ireland Limited. Corporation tax in Ireland runs between 10 and 25 per cent, as opposed to 28 and 30 per cent in Britain.
In its accounts, Google UK's prime function is described as "the provision of marketing services to Google Ireland Limited and the provision of research and development services to [US parent company] Google Inc".
According to Google Inc.'s annual report, the UK is the largest market outside its home turf in the US, providing 14 per cent of the company's total revenue.
Transfer Pricing
Known as "transfer pricing," Google's actions are commonplace, and quite legal as long as they have the approval of UK tax authorities.
In response to weekend criticism from Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Google said:
"It would be wrong to think of Google's revenues from UK advertisers as solely the result of operations carried out locally. We invest in R&D, data centres and other infrastructure on a global basis, and that then helps generate revenue in different countries."
The company's motto, you might recall, is "don't be evil."
| |
Read More ...
Sony PSP-4000 outed in advertising campaign
A print advert has apparently let slip Sony's intentions to releases a brand-new PSP – The PSP-4000.
The print-based advert, found in industry magazine MCV, shows off a LittleBigPlanet starter pack, and announces that it will be available for the PSP-1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and the PSP Go.
While this could be a printing error, it does look like another PSP (the 4000 version) is on the way, most likely one which uses a UMD drive.
Disc assessment
As the PSPGo is a disc-less device, it has meant that there is no real reason for current PSP users to upgrade – as upgrading would mean that they wouldn't be able to use the games they have bought.
There's no doubt downloading games is the future, but it may have been one step too far for some consumers, so a PSP Go with UMD capabilities does make a lot of sense.
However, as we have seen the PSP go through a number of upgrades and iterations, will another version be a version too far?
| |
Read More ...
Opinion: Twitter: The slacker's protest tool of choice
Mob rule is great fun. Never having been an activist myself – I gave up meat once, but only until I remembered that dead animals are delicious – I've never really had the experience of sitting out in the cold and wet, waving placards at impassive politicians and trying to change the world with slogans.
Still, I won't deny that a little anarchy can be good for the soul, so like everyone who wants to shout and scream without getting tear-gassed in the face, I like Twitter.
Revolution in 140 characters! Resistance as a timewaster, but not necessarily a waste of time!
Just remind me: what are we rebelling against at the moment? No, no, doesn't matter! It's probably important, so I'll just turn my avatar puce in protest anyway, and slap this #cradlebridge hashtag on the end of my cutting political commentary.
Rebel, rebel
First, "I hope they all burn! #cradlebridge", then "Spread the word! Have these #cradlebridge people stabbed in the face!". And later: "Having a bacon and lettuce bap. Mmm! Bacon!" (because, well, all this Internet Justice really makes a guy hungry).
Protesting on Twitter has so many advantages. First, people assume you know what's going on. Just as you'll rarely hear a mob chanting "Hell no, we'll just stay! Unless you can explain your actions in a logical way!", your average Twitter person rarely feels the need for so-called 'arguments' when a simple statement will do.
By the time you see the flood in your client of choice, be it Tweetdeck or one of the rubbish ones, you'll know all you need to know about the important factor: what you're meant to think.
Actually finding out what 'it' is can be done at your leisure, whether it's discovering that #trafigura can be a catch-all for a truly hideous attempt to censor the press, or actually reading Jan Moir's now infamous gay celebrity bashing column in The Daily Mail before politely requesting that she be shot into space at the earliest possible opportunity.
One of the delightful Ms Moir's claims is that the outrage against her was in some way an 'orchestrated' campaign – a touchingly naأ¯ve idea. The internet doesn't go in much for organisation, despite the millions of campaigns and petitions and memes.
The armies of online vengeance are more unleashed than commanded. It's assumed that someone, somewhere has done the necessary research, and that the voice of the mob is the voice of truth. It helps that it's usually targeted against people we all hate (rationally or otherwise), like big companies, politicians and lawyers.
What happens when it all goes wrong? As far as most of us are concerned: nothing. After all, our part in the mob is merely to wave a flag or, if we're particularly riled, throw some cash into a legal fund somewhere in the great PayPal empire.
That makes it all the easier to take part, because even if we back the wrong horse – #supportcancer instead of #beatcancer for instance – the ephemeral nature of a tweet means that a week later, nobody remembers and even fewer people care. Unless you're a big internet celebrity, anyway.
Misguided support
Even then, the casual, off-the-cuff nature of Twitter makes it hard to really shoot yourself in the foot for longer than a week or so. Still, mob justice can't all be fun and games – as in the case of Jon Engle earlier this year.
The pitch was perfect Twitter fodder: a poor artist accused of stealing his own work by a heartless stock image library. It spread like wildfire – a #savejon hashtag, a donation drive, a barrage of angry emails to the guilty parties and their lawyers… all only slightly undermined when it became clear that the images in question pre-dated Engle's site and appeared in assorted artists' portfolios.
The man himself soon dropped off the radar, and even the sternest critic of the stock image company involved had to admit that the torrents of rage were, at the very least, premature.
The question here is whether the rage of the mob was still a good thing. After all, the light of truth did eventually fall upon the situation where otherwise it might not. On the other hand, the whole ordeal can't have been anything less than hellishly stressful for anyone involved, innocent or guilty, decent or otherwise.
Can the satisfaction of hundreds of uninformed people exploding across the net make up for the lack of actual information, the damage to reputations and the general pointlessness of getting unfeasibly angry over something that's, at best, none of anyone else's business? Yes. Yes, of course it does.
Righteous indignation is what the internet was created for (if you ignore all the stuff of actual benefit to humanity), and there's no justice like mob justice.
The more time we spend worrying if we've got things right, the less time we'll have to get cross, and we're busy people with busy lives to attend to away from the Twitter screen. We've got TV to watch and everything.
| |
Read More ...
Superfast broadband for the Olympics, says BT
British Telecom had anticipated completing its superfast broadband network by March 2013, but is now spending an extra آ£1.5 billion in order to have the work complete in time for the 2012 Olympics.
The company has been trialling the network and now plans to have it in place by June 2012, one month ahead of the Olympic Games in London.
The new network will offer download speeds of about 40 megabits per second, about 10 times the current rate. However, the high-speed network will only reach about 40 per cent of UK homes by that point.
Will there be a government subsidy?
BT chief executive Ian Livingston has voiced concern about whether there will be a future government subsidy to allow further expansion of the network.
Currently, the proposed آ£6 a year fixed-line levy the government, which would raise آ£175 m a year, would be used to for an increased network.
However, the Conservatives have said they might scrap that tax if they win next year's general election.
Mr. Livingston told the Financial Times: "We need our politicians to decide how much of a priority fibre broadband is. BT is the only company currently planning to invest large sums in this area but we can only go so far with our shareholders' money."
| |
Read More ...
Sony cements RealD 3D glasses deal
Sony has signed on the dotted line to use RealD technology to power the glasses for its next-generation of 3D televisions.
Although the company has been using RealD tech in its demos since the company unveiled its 3D Bravia TVs, it has only just made the relationship official.
Thankfully, Sony hasn't retained the full rights to using RealD, so there is no proprietary issues (the proprietary tech is within the Sony panel) with the technology – so expect to see a raft of 3D TVs from other manufacturers which are compatible with RealD glasses.
"Sony has its proprietary LCD panel driving technology to reproduce full HD 3D images on the screen of new Bravia LCD TVs, which will work in sync with new 3D eyewear based on RealD's technology. We are excited to work with RealD in bringing 3D to the home." explained Hiroshi Yoshioka, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation.
Crisp and clear
Sony also notes that "the RealD Format is a side-by-side 3D format capable of delivering crisp, clear, high-quality 3D utilizing all channels of the existing HD broadcast infrastructure."
So, hopefully this means that the TVs will be compatible with the upcoming 3D channel from Sky.
To celebrate everything 3D, Sony has also announced a new website to show off its 3D endeavours.
You can find it at: www.sony.net/united/3D.
| |
Read More ...
Vodafone's iPhone gets 14 January UK release date
Vodafone has announced that its iPhone offering is available for pre-order, as well as dropping all the pricing and availability info.
The Vodafone iPhone UK release date has been set as 14 January, and you can register your interest for one now, from آ£30 per month.
That low-end price is on a 24-month deal, so any one hoping to nab a new year cut price iPhone will be left disappointed.
The 24-month deals come in آ£30, آ£36 and آ£45 offerings, with unlimited texts on each and voice minutes ranging from 300 to 1200.
Text appeal
On the 18-month side, you'll be looking at forking out between آ£40 and آ£80 per month, with unlimited texts again and between 600 and 3000 minutes per month.
All of the plans come with 1GB of data and unlimited Wi-Fi as well, so we'd imagine unofficial tetherers will be pushing that figure as hard as they can.
The three iPhones on offer (the 3G 8GB, the 3GS 16GB and the 3GS 32GB) will also cost you for most of the price plans, costing between آ£59 and آ£239 depending on your price plan (although the cheaper models are free on the higher costing tariffs.)
If you want to see the full details, then point your browser to vodafone.co.uk/iphone.
| |
Read More ...
In Depth: Nvidia's Fermi graphics architecture explained
Hardware comes and goes, sometimes we get a little damp in anticipation, but usually its nothing you want to run out into the street and proclaim.
There is an exception to this – high-power graphics cards, we love these. They make games sexy and that makes us sexy. At the heart of these is the GPU, and when Nvidia announces it has a new and wonderful one, it is time to take notice. It's codenamed Fermi, after renowned nuclear physicist, Enrico Fermi.
From being a humble bit-player (geddit?) the GPU has grown to be a crucial component, next to the processor this is where you want the power concentrated. There are all sorts of applications you could use a GPU for, but essentially on the home PC it is games that drive everything.
Offloading the reams of processor-intensive floating point calculations that 3D demand across to a chip dedicated to the task is the most cost effective way to get things moving. Rather cheekily Nvidia starts its whitepaper on Fermi by claiming to have invented the GPU in 1999.
The GeForce 256 was indeed the first to have transform and lighting in hardware, but come on guys, dedicated graphics chips date back to the 70s with Blitters, then 2D, and finally 3D accelerators (remember the buzz the Voodoo made?). Even if you define the GPU as only full programmable 2D/3D acceleration chips, that's pushing it.
There are some big claims being made for Fermi. It is, apparently, the most advanced GPU ever made and the first GPU designed specifically for 'supercomputing', basically running those big and complicated jobs such as trying to simulate the gravitational interactions of an entire galaxy.
PRETTY CAR!: Why bother spending all that time modelling gravitational forces of the galaxy when you can have graphics this smooth
What it has created is essentially a storming maths co-processor which just happens to sit on a graphics card and run your graphics for you too. As with Nvidia's current range, it can run in two modes, compute and graphics mode, and it's the compute mode that has had Nvidia hanging out the flags.
The versions aimed at proper serious HPC applications don't even have a graphics output, the chip is used purely as a parallel computing engine. Fermi can switch between two modes in a few clock cycles, between horribly complicated maths and rasterizing.
Apparently it is "the next engine of science". Tub-thumping aside, it does appear to be something rather special.
Three billion transistors
The silicon has been designed from the ground-up to match the latest concepts in parallel computing. The basic features list reads thus: 512 CUDA Cores, Parallel DataCache, Nvidia GigaThread and EEC Support.
Clear? There are three billion transistors for starters, compared to 1.4 billion in a GT200 and a mere 681 million on a G80. There's shared, configurable L1 and L2 cache and support for up to 6GB of GDDR5 memory.
The block diagram of Fermi looks like the floor plan of a dystopian holiday camp. Sixteen rectangles, each with 32 smaller ones inside, all nice and regimented in neat rows. That's your 16 SM (Streaming Multiprocessing) blocks with 512 little execution units inside, called CUDA cores.
Each SM core has local memory, register files, load/store units and thread scheduler to run the 32 associated cores. Each of these can run a floating point or an integer instruction every click. It can also run double precision floating point operations at half that, which will please the maths department.
PETROL HEADS REJOICE: The inside of your car in a future racing game? Nvidia thinks so
Initial trials has it pegged at four to five times faster than a GeForce GT200 running double precision apps, not quite fair perhaps as this is Fermi's party trick, but still, gosh.
Nvidia's GigaThread engine, the global scheduler, intelligently ties together all these threads and pipes data around to use this wealth of processing power. We are in a world of out of order thread block execution, application context switching here.
Parallel DataCache provides configurable, unified L1 and L2 caches. Traditional load and read paths, which have to be flushed and managed carefully, have been replaced with shared memory for all tasks. It is also the first GPU with ECC (error-checking and correction).
The transistors are so teeny and carry such a small charge that they can easily be flipped by Alpha particles from space (seriously), or more likely electromagnetic interference, creating a soft error. The error correction covers the register files, shared memory, caches and main memory.
It's easy to get lost in all these technical terms. Essentially what we have is a chip that contains lots of little processors with a smart control system that enables it to work as one on a mass of data. It's flexible, scalable and perfect for streaming data, where parallel operations work.
It's a fundamentally different approach to a CPU, which has to cope with serial tasks. Pound for pound the GPU offers, Nvidia claims anyway, ten times the performance for one twentieth the price.
CUDA Hardware is half the whole of course. Nvidia CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is the C-based programming environment enabling you to tap into this multicore parallel processor goodness.
Nvidia has expanded the term to cover its whole GPU-based approach, hence naming the execution units CUDA cores. Language support includes C++, FORTRAN, Java, Matlab and Python. Yes, people still use FORTRAN, it supports double precision floating point you see.
Support also includes OpenGL, DirectX, 32/64-bit Windows and Linux, and includes standard calls for such intensive tasks as Fast Fourier Transformations (such good fun).
Never mind all the physics stuff and programming, does this mean you can whack a Fermi card in a PC and expect it to run Direct3D games quickly then? Yes it does, despite all the high-end apps jabber, this is still Nvidia's GPU and making graphics cards is its business.
You might want to know exactly how fast a Fermi-based card is going to be. Nvidia wouldn't be drawn into anything other than fairly vague ideas. That's good enough for us. Apparently, it'll be a blast.
In theory it is eight times faster than the best GeForce, in practice what with other limiting factors, you'll see less than that, but it'll still destroy them.
Get me one now
Hold your horses. The first cards are due next year; although exactly how you define "availability" is something of an issue. Next year is far more certain though. It'll be sold under the three Nvidia brands, GeForce for the consumer, Tesla for the lab boys and Quadro for the workstations.
Details on the first consumer card are currently very sparse. It'll be a high-end GeForce version to grab the headlines and at a price that's comparable with the current range. There's no news on the final spec though, or even if it'll sport the full 512-cores as demonstrated by Nvidia when it announced Fermi.
Quite possibly it'll have a reduced core version, the full 512 really is aimed at GPU computing after all. Fermi has been four years in the making and represents a horrific amount of work. It's destined to be at the heart of Nvidia's range and, so far, looks fantastic.
Get this: we asked if it could ray-trace a 3D world fast enough for gaming in real time on a consumer machine. Nvidia said yes it could…
| |
Read More ...
RATM Facebook campaign has the Xmas factor
After a much-publicised Facebook campaign, Rage Against The Machine made it to the top of the music charts in the UK on Sunday, pipping the X-Factor's Joe McElderry to the Christmas number one spot.
It was X-rated versus X-Factor in the battle for the top spot, with RATM's expletive-filled 1992 song Killing In The Name winning by 50,000 downloads to beat Simon Cowell's protأ©gأ©.
Even though Killing In The Name was only available via downloads, it still managed to be purchased 500,000 times, compared to McElderry's single which notched up 450,000 sales.
Not doing what they tell you
The unlikely people behind getting Rage Against The Machine to the top of the charts, were husband and wife Tracy and Jon Morter – A UK couple whose campaign on Facebook garnered over 1 million fans.
Once the campaign hit the mainstream, online websites like Amazon began selling the single at a cut-price of 29p, something that you have to (X)factor in when considering just how the band got to be Christmas number one.
Cowell, who just last week was labelled as 'The Grinch' by the NME, has previously managed to get his acts to number one at Christmas for the last four years. He is said to be "gutted" about the announcement.
While Killing In The Name may not be a song you put on while eating your Christmas lunch with the folks, it does prove the power of social-networking when it can beat even the most powerful man in the music business.
| |
Read More ...
Intel confims new chip announcements for CES 2010
Intel has confirmed that it will be showing off a whole host of new chips at CES 2010, including the new Atom processors.
With CES 2010 just a couple of weeks away, nobody will be surprised that Intel is making the announcement, although this is the first official confirmation.
Among the chips like to be shown are the 'Pine Trail' chipsets that will take Atom processors to a whole new level and feature integrated graphics for a new generation of netbooks.
Monolithic
"This is the first monolithic processor with the graphics built in and the memory controller built in," Anil Nanduri, director, Netbook Marketing at Intel told Cnet.
"We'll see sleeker designs coming into the market and longer battery life."
But Atom won't be the only new arrival, with Intel's new Core chips also set to debut – the Core i3 chips, and new Core i5 Arrandale and Clarkdale processors.
It's all part of what is shaping up to be an exciting 2010 for the PC world – not only is Windows 7 giving sales a hefty boost, but Nvidia is all set to unveil its DirectX 11 processors and Intel's new arrivals are likely to have a huge impact.
| |
Read More ...
Competition: WIN! A feature-packed Canon Ixus 200 IS camera
The Canon Ixus 200 IS combines a super stylish exterior with a host of advanced and fun features and Canon's first ultra-intuitive touchscreen - making it the perfect Christmas party companion.
And we've got two to give away on TechRadar this week.
The image Stabiliser and 12.1 megapixels delivers crystal clear images, whilst the 24mm wide angle lens guarantees great group shots; every time.
Face Detection Technology ensures that all your friends are in the frame and a 5x optical zoom allows you to get up close and personal – ideal for capturing moments under the mistletoe.
The Ixus 200 IS also enables you to record in HD, so you can capture festive footage as well as stunning stills. The Ixus 200 IS packs a serious punch; offering dazzling design and high-performance.
To be in with a chance of winning one of the two cameras, all you have to do is head over to our competition site and answer this question:
What kind of zoom does the Canon Ixus 200 IS have?
a) 3x
b) 5x
c) 10x
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.
Enter more TechRadar competitions
| |
Read More ...
iPhone app devs: We're making $1m a month
Tapulous – the makers of Tap Tap Revenge – have confessed that they are closing in on making $1 million (آ£619k) a month from iPhone application.
Tap Tap Revenge quickly became one of the most installed applications for the platform giving iPhone users a rhythm game reminiscent of the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Although the original app was free, the company has managed to persuade many of its 20 million downloaders to pay for the premium versions of the game, as well as selling songs through the app and serving adverts.
More to come?
Although the company has not given accurate sales figures, Reuters reports that the chief executive gave the magic seven figure target out, and insists that there is more to come.
Indeed, application developers who realised the potential for games and apps on handsets have now become major players, with the likes of Playfish – recently acquired for آ£170m by EA, and PopCap, puzzle game specialists, making substantial profits.
| |
Read More ...
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment