IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (HotHardware) 30/03/2010

Samsung 15.6" R580 Multimedia Notebook
Samsung has not traditionally played a huge role in the evolution of notebooks. Companies such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer and Asus have all done noteworthy things to push the envelope, with the Adamo XPS, ThinkPad, IdeaPad and Eee PC all coming from this group. Even those who don't follow technology on a daily basis would probably associate those names with notebooks, but we wonder just how big a following Samsung has in the mobile computing sector. It's not like Samsung is a newbie in the notebook world, but
Read More ...

Microvision Shrinks PicoP Laser Display Engine For Even Smaller Projectors
Microvision has earned their fame from producing the first PicoP-based microprojector, the SHOW WX. That handheld projector just recently started shipping in America, but the company isn't done just yet. Today, they have announced the completion of the design of a new ultra-miniature PicoP laser projection display engine, which is even smaller than the one used in the (already small) SHOW WX.The new display engine incorporates a proprietary ASIC chipset half the original size and weight that consumes one third
Read More ...

DirecTV Bringing ESPN 3D To Sports Fans This June
This is it. It's really happening. 3D is taking over our lives, and there's nothing we can do about it. But is it really such a bag thing? There's no question that consumers have yet to truly speak on their acceptance or rejection of 3D in the home, but if there's any programming that could really spearhead things, it's sports. Sports is arguably the main reason that HD took off so quickly, and we're guessing that quite a few major organizations are hoping that sports can do the same for 3D.Starting this June
Read More ...

AMD Debuts 8 And 12-Core Opteron 6000 Processors
Intel rocked the processor world a few weeks ago with the introduction of the six-core Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, but now we're beginning to wonder if there's any stop to this "core" madness. AMD has just shook things up even further with the new Opteron 6000 series platform, boasting Direct Connect Architecture 2.0 and plenty of power for server applications.AMD is gloating about a 119% increase in performance here, all while maintaining a low price and low power drain. What's most interesting, though, is
Read More ...

Victorinox Secure Pro USB Drive Integrates With Swiss Army Knife For Ultimate Security
Victorinox is a brand you may have heard your dad or grandfather speak of, and if you're someone who associates closely with the outdoors, you may actually own one of their products. If we said "Swiss Army knife," you'd know immediately what we were talking about, and sure enough Victorinox is the parent company that makes those knives.In an effort to bring their latest knife into the current century in terms of relevance, they held an event in their European flagship store on Londonâ€™s New Bond Street. The reason
Read More ...

Tech CEOs Well-Represented On Barron's 30 "Most Respected" List
Fully a third of the top dogs on Barron's 30 Most Respected CEOs list released in this week's print edition hail from the tech world.Given how virtually all anyone talks about these days (other than healthcare, but don't expect a discussion of that here) is social media, gadgets and the interwebz, it should be no shock. Nonetheless, a few tech names fell off the list this year: Chase Carey of DirecTV left the company to be the No. 2 man at NewsCorp.; Satoru Iwata of Nintendo due to the Wii's declining fortunes;
Read More ...

Samsung 15.6" R580 Multimedia Notebook

'Samsung Samsung has not traditionally played a huge role in the evolution of notebooks. Companies such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, Acer and Asus have all done noteworthy things to push the envelope, with the Adamo XPS, ThinkPad, IdeaPad and Eee PC all coming from this group. Even those who don't follow technology on a daily basis would probably associate those names with notebooks, but we wonder just how big a following Samsung has in the mobile computing sector. It's not like Samsung is a newbie in the notebook world, but they've definitely played a more "low-key" role over the past few years.

Taking all that into consideration, we have to commend Samsung on the launch of their R80 series. These machines were just introduced this month, and we have managed to grab one of the first R580 notebooks to leave the production line...

Samsung 15.6" R580 Multimedia Notebook

Victorinox Secure Pro USB Drive Integrates With Swiss Army Knife For Ultimate Security

Victorinox is a brand you may have heard your dad or grandfather speak of, and if you're someone who associates closely with the outdoors, you may actually own one of their products. If we said "Swiss Army knife," you'd know immediately what we were talking about, and sure enough Victorinox is the parent company that makes those knives.

In an effort to bring their latest knife into the current century in terms of relevance, they held an event in their European flagship store on Londonâ€™s New Bond Street. The reason was to unveil something with a bit of old school flair and a bit of new school utility. The device shown here is an "un-hackable Secure Pro USB drive," and it's encased within a Swiss Army knife. In other words, this really can be your jack of all trades, as it can open that tough plastic container and store secret files.

It uses several layers of security including fingerprint identification and a thermal sensor - so that the finger alone, detached from the body, will still not give access to the memory stickâ€™s contents. It has also been made tamper-proof, with any attempt to forcibly open it triggering a self-destruct mechanism that irrevocably burns its CPU and memory chip. That's pretty rough, but even though you'll never see your data again, at least no one else in the world will either.

The best part is that this unique device isn't just a prototype, it's for sale. Available in sizes ranging from 8GB to 32GB, it also features a LED flash light, retractable pen, scissors, a screwdriver and a price range of Â£50 - Â£180. Talk about having everything but the kitchen sink!

The un-hackable Victorinox Secure features AES256 technology,together with Victorinox patented unique MKIâ€™s Schnuffi Platform SingleChip Technology. What makes this product exclusive is the integratedSingle Chip Technology, meaning that there are no external andaccessible lines between the different coding/security steps, as onmulti-chip solutions; this makes cracking the hardware impossible.
The Secure Pro is available in three different sizes, ranging from 8GB to 32GB RRP Â£50 - Â£180 and features:
-Â Removable USB flash drive
-Â Biometric fingerprint recognition technology
-Â LED Mini White Light
-Â Retractable Ball Point Pen
-Â Blade
-Â Scissors
-Â Nail File with
-Â Screwdriver
-Â Key ring

AMD Debuts 8 And 12-Core Opteron 6000 Processors

Intel rocked the processor world a few weeks ago with the introduction of the six-core Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, but now we're beginning to wonder if there's any stop to this "core" madness. AMD has just shook things up even further with the new Opteron 6000 series platform, boasting Direct Connect Architecture 2.0 and plenty of power for server applications.

AMD is gloating about a 119% increase in performance here, all while maintaining a low price and low power drain. What's most interesting, though, is that this platform features the worldâ€™s first 8- and 12-core x86 processor for the high-volume 2P and value 4P server market. Already, leading OEMs including HP, Dell, Acer Group, Cray, and SGI are introducing new systems based on this platform, and the bullet points here are pretty astounding. Speaking of which...

â€œAs AMD has done before, we are again redefining the server marketbased on current customer requirements,â€ said Patrick Patla, vicepresident and general manager, Server and Embedded Divisions, AMD.Â â€œThe AMD Opteron 6000 Series platform signals a new era of servervalue, significantly disrupts todayâ€™s server economics and provides theperformance-per-watt, value and consistency customers demand for theirreal-world data center workloads.â€
The new AMD Opteron 6000 Series platform features include:
The industryâ€™s only 8- and 12-core server processors performingat up to two times the level of AMDâ€™s previous generation 6-coreprocessors, including an 88 percent increase in integer performance⁴ and a 119 percent increase in floating point performance².
Enhancedintegrated memory controller supporting four channels of DDR3 memoryfor up to a 2.5x improvement in overall memory bandwidth.⁵
Thirty-three percent more memory channels per processor than competitive 2P solutions.⁶
50%higher DIMM capacity compared to previous generations, with up to 12per processor, increasing the available memory overall and improvingvirtualization, database and HPC applications.
AMD 5600 Series chipset with I/O virtualization capability, HyperTransportâ„¢ 3.0 technology and PCI ExpressÂ® 2.0.
Removalof the â€œ4P taxâ€, since the same processors can be used in both 2P and4P designs, and 4P-capable processors are now the same price as 2P-capable processors, bringing greatly improved value to the 4P space.
Unprecedentedprice/performance. In a comparison between a best-performing 2Pcompetitive platform versus a similar best-performing 4P AMD-basedplatform, customers can recognize up to double the performance and morethan 10% lower total processor price.⁷
Significantnew power management features including a C1E power state to conserveenergy when idle, the Advanced Platform Management Link allowingAPML-enabled platforms to be remotely monitored for power and cooling,and AMD CoolSpeed technology, which automatically reduces p-states if aspecified temperature limit is exceeded.
A wide range of power and performance options with no compromise on the available feature sets.
Alegacy of consistency and stability.Â The new AMD Opteron platform ischipset- and socket- compatible between 2P and 4P and will becompatible with the planned processors based on the next-generation AMDserver processor core, code-named â€œBulldozerâ€.

Microvision Shrinks PicoP Laser Display Engine For Even Smaller Projectors

Microvision has earned their fame from producing the first PicoP-based microprojector, the SHOW WX. That handheld projector just recently started shipping in America, but the company isn't done just yet. Today, they have announced the completion of the design of a new ultra-miniature PicoP laser projection display engine, which is even smaller than the one used in the (already small) SHOW WX.

The new display engine incorporates a proprietary ASIC chipset half the original size and weight that consumes one third less power than its predecessor while delivering WVGA (848 X 480) images and providing a 5000:1 contrast ratio (5x those other guys out there). The PicoP solution is rather unique, as it continually focuses regardless of angle or depth, and having an embedded versions opens up all sorts of new possibilities.

Imaging a clock that projects the time on your wall. Maybe even a wristwatch that does the same. Imagine putting projection capabilities into places you never thought possible, and that's what Microvision is hoping to accomplish. That's an initiative we can get behind.

DirecTV Bringing ESPN 3D To Sports Fans This June

This is it. It's really happening. 3D is taking over our lives, and there's nothing we can do about it. But is it really such a bag thing? There's no question that consumers have yet to truly speak on their acceptance or rejection of 3D in the home, but if there's any programming that could really spearhead things, it's sports. Sports is arguably the main reason that HD took off so quickly, and we're guessing that quite a few major organizations are hoping that sports can do the same for 3D.

Starting this June (that's just a few months away), DirecTV will begin to broadcast ESPN 3D. ESPN 3D is easily the flagship 3D channel, and at the moment, we can't think of another 3D channel with as much clout. June is a great time to kick things off, as the FIFA World Cup 2010 also begins that month, and yes, those soccer matches will definitely be in 3D.

ESPN 3D will showcase a minimum of 85 live sporting events during its first year, beginning June 11 with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match, featuring South Africa versus Mexico. Other events to be produced in 3D include X Games 16, 2010 college football ACC Championship, 2011 BCS National Championship game, college basketball and NBA games in 2011, and best of all, DirecTV subscribers will get the channel at no extra cost.

Now, if only we knew when all of those other cable providers would get it, we could decide whether or not we need to switch to the dish.

5,000,000 points!!!!

I just checked the stats page and should be breaking over the 5,000,000 mark sometime today or tomorrow. Cool

Tech CEOs Well-Represented On Barron's 30 "Most Respected" List

Fully a third of the top dogs on Barron's 30 Most Respected CEOs list released in this week's print edition hail from the tech world.

Given how virtually all anyone talks about these days (other than healthcare, but don't expect a discussion of that here) is social media, gadgets and the interwebz, it should be no shock. Nonetheless, a few tech names fell off the list this year: Chase Carey of DirecTV left the company to be the No. 2 man at NewsCorp.; Satoru Iwata of Nintendo due to the Wii's declining fortunes; and Rick Tsai of TSMC, as he's no longer with the semiconductor manufacturer.

So we have, then, the 10 most respected CEOs from the tech world (phrases in italics are Barron's summation of why each was named to the list):

â€¢ Steve Jobs, Apple: He won Barron's "MVP" slot on the list. If anyone knows how to make a splash, it's Jobs. Last summer's release of the iPhone 3GS caused a frenzy among both die-hard Apple fans and iPod fanatics. Despite all the snark thrown at the iPad for its poor choice of name or being called a big iPhone that can't make calls or take pictures, reports are that the device is already sold out pre-launch. Barron's also points out how Apple's stock price dipped precipitously when news of Jobs' health problems leaked out, making the case that Jobs is vital to his company's success. Truly the cult of personality. A returnee to the list. "From iPods to iPads, he mints money for shareholders."

â€¢ Jim Balsillie & Mike Lazaridis, Research in Motion: Despite the astounding popularity of the iPhone and the treatment of the Android as the second coming of smartphones, the Blackberry keeps chugging along. It's still enjoying growth and has a very popular enterprise and small business user base. The duo, CEOs since 2002, are credited by Barron's for keeping it in play when even Palm - once the gold standard of PDAs - has bowed out. Not their first time on the list. "Started the BlackBerry obsession, now tangling with Apple."

â€¢ Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon: Two words: The Kindle. Maybe no gadget other than the iPhone/iPad has had as much buzz in the past year as the new Kindle. Book publishers tangled with the online retailer on prices, eventually caving. A Twitterstorm of controversy was lighted when some titles were accidentally deleted from customers' devices. And, you might not have known: Amazon has become one of the leading providers of cloud storage. This was not Bezos' first time on the list. "His Kindle is rewriting the way we read."

â€¢ John Chambers, Cisco: The man has been CEO of the company since 1995 and that alone might have been enough to put him on the list. But Barron's cites the many ventures Cisco has gotten its tentacles into: set-top boxes, Wi-Fi, video conferencing (if you watch 24, you've been aware of the last one on that list for years now). Plus, Cisco's continually expanding its business in other directions, such as proprietary servers. Not his first year on the list, unsurprisingly. "Finding new ways to keep a giant growing."

â€¢ Larry Ellison, Oracle: The company's merger with Sun Microsystems positions it, says Barron's, to challenge Hewlett-Packard, proving that mergers can work in the tech sector. It's already a heavy hitter in the business software market. Plus, the guy's yacht won the America's Cup race and he's been Oracle's CEO since 1977. Yes, '77. New on the list this year. "Sailing away with the corporate software market."

â€¢ Reed Hastings, Netflix: You're forgiven if you didn't know Hastings has been CEO of Netflix as long as Jobs has been CEO of Apple (1997). You're even forgiven if you didn't know Netflix existed in 1997. No matter to him, as his business seems to be the Blockbuster-killer. A generation of movie-viewers are growing up never seeing the inside of a video-rental store and the company makes more deals all the time to get more movies and television shows streamed directly online. The service streams through all major video-game systems (the discs for Wii streaming are in the mail) and faces little competition. Not his first time on the list. "Repeatedly beats the odds while building a DVD empire."

â€¢ Ma Huanteng, Tencent: Given that China's the most populous nation in the world, it shouldn't be a surprise that the largest internet messaging company in the world is Chinese. Despite issues with government censorship on the Internet, Tencent has thrived and given its shareholders a good return, Barron's says. And even if IM faces issues due to said censorship, it's making inroads in the search market (and Google's exit can only bode well for them there). Tencent CEO since 1997, this is not Ma's first time on the list. "Instant messaging mogul built China's biggest 'Net company."

â€¢ Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard: Despite the challenges from other companies whose CEOs also are on this list (Oracle & Cisco), HP's CEO remained on the list at least in part because he cut pay rather than jobs. And everyone at HP got a pay cut, himself included. Looking ahead, he said he wanted to make sure he had enough hands on deck "to deploy" once the company came out the other side of this recession. Barron's betting on that time being now and pointed out that HP was still the world's top-seller of personal computers and printers. He's been CEO since 2005 and is a repeat customer on the list. "Consummate manager has HP humming."

â€¢ Fujio Mitarai, Canon: Fujio keeps it a family business: His uncle founded the company. He's helped it expand beyond its film camera roots, Barron's said, to become a leader in digital photography - both the cameras and imaging equipment. But even more importantly, he took over a company in the Netherlands in the past year to "expand into high-end printing systems." Its shares rose an astounding 41 percent. Not too shabby. CEO since 1995, this is not his first time on the list. "Japanese business statesman negotiates the digital world."

â€¢ Samuel Palmisano, IBM: The company that once was counted out saw its shares rise 56 percent in 2009. Big Blue has been getting heavy into cloud computing and partnerships with urban centers in developing markets. Barron's sees this as a â€” successful â€” reinvention of the company. CEO since 2002, this isn't his first time on the list. "Big Blue heads for the clouds."

General Ideas on Notebook Cooling

I'm sure all the people here probably already know this, but I was hoping a few tyros may benefit from my experience.

Notebook cooling has obvious hurdles in the sense that the notebook case is obviously small. There can be complaints of the computer shutting down to protect itself from getting too hot, or the dreaded upper leg "burn".

Alienware, one that I have from 5 years ago, is still a great basic performer, even today. it does what I need it to do, and it does it well. But the bloody thing can get really hot. Really, really hot! After buying it, a year and a half later, it would keep shutting down automatically. And it got realy hot. Burn type hot. Calls to Alienware customer service were met often with complete ignorance and stupefication on their part. "Really, I didn't know laptops could overheat" (that's what one of their reps actually said). Needless to say, the vast majority of the people I talked to barely spoke computer. It's a bad sign when I know more than the customer service rep for a performance comp. company about computers in general. They were clueless. Like they never heard about an overheating computer.

After a little research, ie. a little time, I discovered on "the pipes and tubes" the problem was that the computer was getting dangerously hot and was shutting itslef down to protect itself from buring out any major parts. What to do? A lot more research revealed the problem and surprisingly the solution.

It's the fans baby!!! I took the bottom apart and opened the fans. You actually have to remove every screw around the fans to actually see into the fan area and the output vents. Voila. The output vents were clogged with dust! The hot air was not being expelled. and the clogged dust was creating a massive amount of insulation. Great for a home, bad for a laptop. Cleaned it out, and magically everything's OK. The heat pipes and the fans now work to do what they're supposed to do. Every 6 months it'll get hot again, and I'll go back in and clean it out and it'll be "fixed".

Short version: CLEAN YOUR FANS AND OUTPUT VENTS. and repeat as required. (It may seem like a lot for some, but man what a difference it can make)

Also, Alienware may make decent computers, but their customer service reps are not helpful.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

IT News HeadLines (HotHardware) 30/03/2010

No comments: