Microsoft reveals the SideWinder X4 keyboard
Microsoft has now introduced to the world a new SideWinder series peripheral, the X4 gamer-targeting wired keyboard which is claimed to feature the "industry's most advanced anti-ghosting technology." The X4 makes use of a solution by the Applied Sciences Group that enables up to 26 keys to be pressed at once, great for mutant gamers with six hands.
The new keyboard also boasts adjustable backlighting, macro recording which lets users string together multiple moves into one press of a button, as well as mode and profile switching.
"We're always looking for new and novel ways to enhance people's interactions with their PCs," said Steven Bathiche, research manager of the Applied Sciences Group at Microsoft. "We know that ghosting can be a problem for gamers, so we wanted to develop a way to eliminate this issue and improve the overall gaming experience, and we've succeeded with the new anti-ghosting technology in the SideWinder X4 Keyboard."
The SideWinder X4 is backed by a three-year warranty, has a $59.95 price tag, and is set to start shipping in March. Those interested will be able to pre-order it from Amazon later this week.
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MSI Radeon HD 5770 HAWX card pictured
It seems the Lightning series is not enough custom for MSI as the company is currently working on a new line of highly-tweaked, overclocking-ready graphics card. Known as HAWX, the upcoming series will debut with the custom Radeon HD 5770 seen below, which boasts 800 Stream Processors, a 128-bit memory interface, a black PCB, Military Class components, and a dual-slot, three-heatpipe-boasting Twin Frozr II cooling solution.
The HD 5770 HAWX also has CrossFireX support, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, voltage checkpoints, and, probably higher-than-stock frequencies. No word on pricing or a release date.
Photos courtesy of Guru3D.
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Citrix say you can run Windows 7 on Apple's iPad
Well, close enough. According to software company Citrix, it is plausible that lucky owners of Apple's new iPad device might be able to use it in more innovative ways than imagined upon its launch in March.
The suggestion is to run other operating systems in a virtual environment, including but certainly not least of all Microsoft's Windows 7.
Citrix has developed receiver software that currently works with both the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms, which both allow users to connect virtually to another machine from your device. Working with unmodified Windows 7 applications, the company state loudly and clearly in their blog that the iPad will be more than suitable for this application.
"It turns out the 9.7 inch display on the iPad with a 1024x768 screen resolution works great for a full VDI XenDesktop. Windows applications run unmodified and securely in the data center, and even multiple applications at once."
Chris Fleck, Vice President of Citrix said that "If your company has XenDesktop or XenApp you will be happy to know you will be able to use your iPad for real work as well."
The reports are that the virtualization software, as is, already works fantastically using the iPad SDK, and the company have sworn that the software will be ready and able upon the launch in 2 months time.
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Updated Opera 10.50 alpha build available
With the first beta release (Windows-only) of Opera 10.50 closing in fast, the Opera Software Desktop Team has released a new bug-crushing alpha build of the upcoming browser. This latest test snapshot is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and features the following:
User Interface
- MDI work
- Various small skin fixes
- Fixed DSK-273395 (Cookies are not forgotten when closing a private tab)
- Fixed DSK-277824 (Freeze on right clicking link and doing "Save linked content as")
- Fixed DSK-274147 (Crash when opening private tab)
- Fixed DSK-274146 (Opening a Speed Dial entry briefly opens opera:private)
- Fixed DSK-274269 (No indication of private tab when tab thumbnails are enabled)
- Fixed DSK-273390 (Clicking Back goes to speed dial)
- Fixed DSK-274074 (New tab button in Private window does not work)
- Fixed DSK-276422 (Torrents downloads have stopped working)
- Fixed DSK-276474 (Cookies dialog has "Never accept cookies" selected by default in Site Preferences dialog)
- Fixed DSK-273371 (Changing font button doesn't update itself after changes are made)
- Fixed DSK-269035 (Fraud protection dialog doesn't work)
- Fixed DSK-276225 (Smiley text string missing)
- Fixed DSK-273115 (Crash when closing reloaded pop-up tab with Security Issue dialog after trying to modify frames[0].location)
- Fixed DSK-273655 (Double clicking empty workspace no longer opens blank tab)
- Fixed DSK-268270 (Edit bookmark does not work in the panel)
- Fixed DSK-273245 (Speed dial config dialog input box text says 'Enter address or search')
- Fixed DSK-273960 (opera:* addresses are shown under History in addressbar dropdown without ever used)
- Fixed DSK-259960 (Remember last email used in crashlog upload dialog)
- Fixed DSK-276092 (Add favicons to tabthumbnails)
- Fixed DSK-277209 (O-menu is stretched vertically when tab thumbnails are enabled)
- Fixed DSK-276387 (No .disabled text color for checkboxes in dialogs)
- Fixed DSK-274133 (Background for status message in status bar)
Core
- Minor upgrade to Core and Carakan: fixing various rendering bugs and crashes
- Fixed DSK-277819 (Main content on facebook doesn't load)
Widgets
- Fixed DSK-276926 (Impossible to paste text into widget)
- Fixed DSK-276928 (Context menu wrong for textboxes in widgets)
- Fixed DSK-271445 (It is possible to minimize widget that has always below mode enabled)
- Fixed DSK-266358 (Widget is not restored properly after minimising (also by functional button) )
- Fixed DSK-276607 (Widget do not prompts for download of Flash plugin missing)
- Fixed DSK-276963 (Drag'n'drop of wgt file does not start widget installer)
- Fixed DSK-277332 (Widget control buttons disappears if second mouse button click on widget)
- Fixed DSK-277527 (Widget control buttons displayed even "defaultmode=application" in the config.xml)
- Fixed DSK-276328 (Context menu of widget is unavailable after zooming)
- Fixed DSK-275483 (widget is installed but not displayed)
- Fixed DSK-272303 (one click on some buttons propagates the same action to the widget)
- Fixed DSK-276964 (Double click on saved wgt file doesn't start installation wizard)
- Fixed DSK-276022 ("Widget is in debug mode..." dialog when dragging config.xml on the browser)
- Fixed DSK-268209 (flashplugin installation doesn't affect widgets if default browser is IE)
- Fixed DSK-276624 (Widget's remote debug dialog does not indicate state of connection to dragonfly properly)
Chat
- Fixed DSK-275374 (/me and /msg in IRC gives "%room No such nick/channel")
Windows
- New view button contains the old, images and fit to width options and includes the new Zoom slider: The other platforms will have this later.
- Fixed DSK-275617 (Classic installer title says "Opera 9")
- Fixed DSK-274391 (Window size corruption when using Show desktop)
- Fixed DSK-275491 (save file dialog case sensitive for file extension)
Unix
- Opera 10.50 runs on FreeBSD 8
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Intel's Core i5/i7 updates for Q1-Q3 exposed?
After the 32nm release wave last month, Intel is taking it down a notch in the coming quarters although but it is still planning some very interesting additions to its processor line-up. The first note-worthy newbie is the 2.80 GHz Core i7 930 (LGA 1366) which is set to debut on February 28 and cost $284 (the i7 920 will be phased out).
According to the latest reports, on March 16 Intel will introduce the 3.33 GHz Core i7 980X 6-core processor (codename Gulftown) priced at $999, while in mid-May, the 3.6 GHz Core i5 680 dual-core will see the light of day, probably costing $284.
Also for Q2, the plan would be to release the 3.06 GHz Core i7 880 quad-core ($562?), and the 3.2 GHz Core i3 550 dual-core ($133?). In Q3 Intel is said to be prepping a non-extreme hexa-core, the Core i7 970, which could be clocked at 3.20 GHz and cost $562.
In Q2 AMD will introducing its own 6-core processors (codename Thuban) which should go head-to-head, price wise, with Intel's higher-end quads.
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Acer officially introduces the GD235HZ 120Hz monitor
Taking the mic and spotlight, Acer America has today announced the GD235HZ, a 23.6-inch 3D-supporting LCD monitor which will also be coming to Europe this month under the name GD245HQ. The US-bound GD235HZ features a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 120 Hz refresh rate, a 2ms response time, a 1000:1 contrast ratio (80,000:1 ACM), and a brightness of 300 cd/m2.
"As 3D content becomes more widely available in popular games and videos, users desire computing products that can take advantage of these new capabilities," said Irene Chan, senior product marketing manager for peripherals, Acer America. "We are excited to offer Acer's first monitor to support 3D technology, enabling consumers to fully immerse themselves in leading-edge 3D games and movies at an affordable price."
Acer's 3D-ready display is compatible with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology, includes D-Sub, DVI and HDMI outputs, and is set to start selling in the US this week for $400.
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MSI preps the 17.3-inch CR720 laptop
One more Classic series laptop is coming up from MSI and it goes by the CR720. This model measures 414 x 267 x 37.2 mm, weights about 3kg and features a 17.3-inch (1600x900) screen, a chiclet keyboard, a Core i3/i5 processor, up to 4GB of RAM, a 250/320/500GB hard drive, and integrated graphics.
The CR720 also boasts a 4-in-1 card reader, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, two speakers and a subwoofer, a 6-cell battery, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. Availability is expected for later this month.
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Semiconductor sales down 9% in 2009
According to Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), chip sales in 2009 reached $226.3 billion, down 9% compared to 2008 when the recorded revenue was $226.3 billion. Despite the drop caused by the global economic crisis, last year the semiconductor market has done better than SIA's forecast which was of $219.7 billion in sales.
For December 2009, SIA has reported sales of $22.4 billion, an increase of 29% from December 2008, but a 1.2% slip over November when revenue topped $22.7 billion.
"2009 turned out to be a better year for the global semiconductor industry than expected," said SIA President George Scalise. "A strong focus on inventories throughout the supply chain mitigated the impact of the worldwide economic downturn and positioned the industry for growth as the global economy recovers."
SIA is pretty optimistic looking at 2010 as it expects improving consumer confidence and signs of economic recovery around the world to lead to yearly growth.
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SilverStone rolls out two new Strider Essential power supplies
SilverStone has just expanded its Strider Essential family of power supplies with two new models, the 400W ST40F-ES and 500W ST50F-ES. Both non-modular PSUs are ATX 12V 2.3 compliant, are 80Plus certified (80+% efficiency), and feature active PFC, a single 12V rail, and a 120mm fan with a sound output of under 18dBA.
The Strider Essential ST40F-ES and ST50F-ES units are backed by a one-year warranty and cost $49.99 / 37.30 Euro and $59.99 / 45.90 Euro, respectively.
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Nokia delivers v21.0.045 N97 firmware update
Phone hegemony holder Nokia has made available a new firmware update that's set to improve the N97 experience. The v21.0.045 release is supposed to improve call reliability and the smartphone's music player, enhance image and video stability, enable smoother touchscreen scrolling and update the internet browser.
The new N97 firmware version can be downloaded directly onto the device over-the-air or via the PC using the Nokia Software Updater.
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