IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (HotHardware) 13/04/2010

Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Ultraportable Review
Lenovo made more noise at the Consumer Electronics Show in January than any other notebook maker, and while we have since been able to test out a few of the company's newest machines, the curious X100e had thus far eluded us. We just reviewed our sample of the smallest ThinkPad ever (that actually looks like a ThinkPad), and with Lenovo claiming that this is the company's "first professional-grade ultraportable laptop starting below $500," we knew the stakes were high. ThinkPad loyalists may be some of the most
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Sharp to Start Selling 3D TVs
Call it a gimmick if you will, but as far as hardware manufacturers are concerned, the 3D craze is better described as a cash cow. Enter Sharp, who announced plans to milk the market starting with Japan when the company begins selling 3D-capable LCD TVs later this summer."We are now one step closer to such things as 3D displays with the world's best quality or the ultimate display," Sharp Executive Vice President Masafumi Matsumoto said during a news conference today.Following the launch in Japan, Sharp will
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Scorned PS3 Owner Demands Refund for "Other OS" Install, Amazon Obliges (Kind of)
As sincere as Sony can apparently be, the console maker has an issued an apology to gamers worldwide who might be upset at the removal of the "Install Other OS" option from their PlayStation 3. For a select few, the touted ability to install an alternative OS was a huge selling point in the PS3's favor, so we can understand why Linux fans aren't real thrilled at Sony's decision to strip away this feature."We are sorry if users of Linux or other operating systems are disappointed by our decision to issue a firmware
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Seagate And Paramount Bundle Movies Onto 500GB FreeAgent Go Hard Drive
Much like Western Digital's My Book line of external hard drives, Seagate's FreeAgent range has been pretty successful over the years. Here recently, the external HDD market has really heated up, with even 2.5" drives approaching the 1TB mark and enclosures becoming more port-filled and stylish all the while. One thing that companies have yet to do, however, is bundle any software or multi-media in with the drives in order to offer some differentiation, but all of that is changing with the new 500GB FreeAgent
Read More ...

Adobe Introduces Creative Suite 5
Finally, some positive Adobe news! After hearing so much negativity surrounding the Adobe/Apple spat (and feeling that Flash won't even come to Apple's mobile product portfolio), it's great to hear that one of our favorite software suites is getting an upgrade. The Web has known that Creative Suite 5 was on the horizon, but today the company made everything official. Adobe CS5 is now a reality, and everything looks to make CS4 look like history.Everything in the Adobe stable is getting upgraded, and if you're
Read More ...

Palm Is Up For Sale, HTC And Lenovo Consider Making Bids
Talk about a change of plans. Over the weekend, we heard that Palm's boss (Jon Rubinstein) was confident that he could get things turned around. The company has had trouble lately keeping their stock price afloat, and they've also had trouble moving their two webOS phones, the Pixi and Pre (along with the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on Verizon Wireless). And while he may be firmly committed to Palm's future success, it seems that the success may lie in the hands of another parent. According to a breaking report from
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Asus "Ares" Dual-5870 Video Card Declares War, Takes No Prisoners
AMD's Radeon 5970 dual-GPU video card is the fastest consumer graphics card available, but Asus is cooking up a customized monster that steps things up a notch. Codenamed Ares, this 'true' dual-5870 solution is point to leave everything else on the market in the dust.AMD's current 5970 GPU carries the same number of stream processors and memory as a standard 5870 but runs its core and memory 15 percent and 20 percent slower. The Ares scoffs at such limitations; Asus has combined two 5870's back-to-back, kept
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Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Ultraportable Review

Lenovo made more noise at the Consumer Electronics Show in January than any other notebook maker, and while we have since been able to test out a few of the company's newest machines, the curious X100e had thus far eluded us. We just reviewed our sample of the smallest ThinkPad ever (that actually looks like a ThinkPad), and with Lenovo claiming that this is the company's "first professional-grade ultraportable laptop starting below $500," we knew the stakes were high.

ThinkPad loyalists may be some of the most picky in all of the notebook world, and many don't take kindly to tweaks and overhauls of their favorite portable PCs. Lenovo was really going out on a limb with the X100e, as the 11.6" display and sub-$500 start point was obviously out of character for a ThinkPad. We know the ThinkPad Edge family has already branched out, but those machines were still of their own blood. There's no mistaking that the X100e is yet another member of the "classic" ThinkPad line; from the blocked edges to the red trackpoint nub to the matte black finish, it really looks like a shrunken ThinkPad at first glance...

Lenovo ThinkPad X100e Ultraportable Review

Asus "Ares" Dual-5870 Video Card Declares War, Takes No Prisoners

Mobo To The Max: Asus Launches Its Rampage III Extreme AMD's Radeon 5970 dual-GPU video card is the fastest consumer graphics card available, but Asus is cooking up a customized monster that steps things up a notch. Codenamed Ares, this 'true' dual-5870 solution is point to leave everything else on the market in the dust.

AMD's current 5970 GPU carries the same number of stream processors and memory as a standard 5870 but runs its core and memory 15 percent and 20 percent slower. The Ares scoffs at such limitations; Asus has combined two 5870's back-to-back, kept them running at full speed, and slapped the whole shebang into a single PCI-Express slot.

A Pair of Radeon HD 5870 GPUs Full-Boar On One PCB

The resulting card is something of a monstrosity. At 2.5 slots thick, Ares is geared for war (pardon the pun) and easily surpasses the benchmark scores of mere standard 5970s. We were able to run 3DMark Vantage at both its "Performance" and "High" detail settings. Asus' didn't have a high-resolution monitor on the demo machineÂ so we couldn't test the program's "Extreme" mode, but the performance and scaling we saw in the lower modes bodes well for the upper ones.

Asus isn't sure if they'll bring Ares to the US, but the company reps we talked to implied that yields were fairly good (keeping in mind that this is a top-margin part). We brought up the issue of power--the current 5970s are listed with a maximum board power ofÂ 294W and this card sports a third auxiliary power connection, which implies it's already leaning pretty heavily on the power supply. According to Asus, AMD's maximum board power supply numbers are a bit conservative; the current set of 5970s coming off the fabs are hitting around 260W at maximum power draw while the Ares is sitting just under the 300W mark.

We'd love to see Ares in the channel, but if it does become available we'd caution against using it in anything but a top-end board with a very good PSU. This is precisely the sort of situation where 'invisible' differences in board construction can come into play and top-end features and/or additional validation can suddenly become important.

Sharp to Start Selling 3D TVs

Call it a gimmick if you will, but as far as hardware manufacturers are concerned, the 3D craze is better described as a cash cow. Enter Sharp, who announced plans to milk the market starting with Japan when the company begins selling 3D-capable LCD TVs later this summer.

"We are now one step closer to such things as 3D displays with the world's best quality or the ultimate display," Sharp Executive Vice President Masafumi Matsumoto said during a news conference today.

Following the launch in Japan, Sharp will follow suit in China, Europe, and the United States by December, presumably in time for the holiday shopping spree. According to Sharp, the upcoming displays will be the world's first 3D TVs using four-primary-color technology. To the layman, this consists of slapping the color yellow on top of red, green, and blue, the end result of which is supposed to be brighter and more vivid images.

Sharp has high expectations for this relatively new market segment and predicts that 3D TVs will account for 5-10 percent of its total LCD TV sales by March 2011.

Scorned PS3 Owner Demands Refund for "Other OS" Install, Amazon Obliges (Kind of)

As sincere as Sony can apparently be, the console maker has an issued an apology to gamers worldwide who might be upset at the removal of the "Install Other OS" option from their PlayStation 3. For a select few, the touted ability to install an alternative OS was a huge selling point in the PS3's favor, so we can understand why Linux fans aren't real thrilled at Sony's decision to strip away this feature.

"We are sorry if users of Linux or other operating systems are disappointed by our decision to issue a firmware upgrade which when installed disables this operating system feature," Sony said in a statement. "We have made the decision to protect the integrity of the console and whilst mindful of the impact on Linux or other operating system user we nevertheless felt it would be in the best interests of the majority of users to pursue this course of action."

Sealing the deal as a half-hearted apology, Sony goes on to remind users they have a choice whether or not to install the firmware upgrade, which was "clearly explained to them" when the firmware was made available. "Furthermore our terms and conditions clearly state that we have the right to revise the PS3's settings and features in order to prevent access to unauthorized or pirated content."

Despite Sony's 'apology,' the situation might not be as clear as the company thinks. According to fan site PlayStation University, Amazon has issued a partial refund to at least one European PS3 owner who complained about the new firmware. As the story goes, NeoGAF forum moderator "iapetus" cited European law to argue that his 60GB console no longer operated as advertised. The law in question -- Directive 1999/44/EC -- states, among other things, that the goods must:

comply with the description given by the seller and possess the same qualities and characteristics as other similar goods
be fit for the purpose which the consumer requires them and which was made known to the seller at the time of purchase

It's that second bit that might have Sony in hot water, at least in Europe. If we roll back the clock, Sony had previously made it known that you could install an "Other OS," and this is what iapetus argued. Amazon apparently agreed and reportedly issued a refund equivalent to 20 percent of the console's value, which was already out of warranty and well past the online retailer's 30-day guarantee. Should other PS3 owners also demand a refund, we could see Amazon trying to pass the cost over to Sony.

So what does this mean for Sony? Maybe nothing more than a little posturing (see apology above), but the company will probably find itself at the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit. Should that happen, Sony will likely argue that they have every right to change the software/firmware to protect intellectual property, as outlined in the PS3's terms and conditions.

Adobe Introduces Creative Suite 5

Finally, some positive Adobe news! After hearing so much negativity surrounding the Adobe/Apple spat (and feeling that Flash won't even come to Apple's mobile product portfolio), it's great to hear that one of our favorite software suites is getting an upgrade. The Web has known that Creative Suite 5 was on the horizon, but today the company made everything official. Adobe CS5 is now a reality, and everything looks to make CS4 look like history.

Everything in the Adobe stable is getting upgraded, and if you're looking for the full monty, Creative Suite 5 Design Premium is the package to get. That includes Photoshop CS5, Flash CS5 Professional, InDesign CS5, Dreamweaver CS5, Fireworks CS5 and Acrobat 9 Pro. There's also integration with CS Live services. Obviously, Photoshop CS5 is the main item of note, and the new additions are definitely worth looking at. The main newcomer is the extra intelligence and awareness of content within images, which allows for "complex and magical manipulation in just a few clicks."

The Adobe CS5 product family also enables the creation of content and applications for the much anticipated releases of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2, which are optimized for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer, more immersive user experience. All told, more than 250 new features have been integrated into the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, and 64-bit operating system users will see a huge boost. Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects are now native 64-bit applications on both Mac and Windows, and NVIDIA GPU-accelerated Adobe Mercury Playback Engine allows Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 users to open projects faster, refine effects-rich HD sequences in real time and play back complex projects without rendering.

Adobe Creative Suite 5 products are scheduled to ship within 30 days, with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales. Estimated street price for the suites is expected to be $2599 for Master Collection CS5, $1899 for CS5 Design Premium, $1799 for CS5 Web Premium, $1699 for CS5 Production Premium and $1299 for CS5 Design Standard, though upgrades are available for CS4 users.

Seagate And Paramount Bundle Movies Onto 500GB FreeAgent Go Hard Drive

Much like Western Digital's My Book line of external hard drives,Seagate's FreeAgent range has been pretty successful over the years.Here recently, the external HDD market has really heated up, with even2.5" drives approaching the 1TB mark and enclosures becoming moreport-filled and stylish all the while. One thing that companies haveyet to do, however, is bundle any software or multi-media in with thedrives in order to offer some differentiation, but all of that ischanging with the new 500GB FreeAgent Go.

The company calls their new partnership with Paramount an "industryfirst," and we believe it. The new FreeAgent Go looks exactly like theUSB 2.0 FreeAgent Go drives that are currently on the market, but it'swhat is on the inside that counts. These come with a selection ofmovies pre-loaded, and the 2009 version of Star Trek is even unlockedand provided at no additional cost. This means that you can transfer itto your portable players or watch it right on your media streamer athome without any DRM to mess with.

The other films (20 of them) onboard are all locked down, but you canpurchase them by buying unlock codes from $10 to $15 each. If you wishto just get them out of the way, you can delete them to free up space.This is certainly a unique move, and one that could very well cause alot of "copycat" reactions from rival companies. But any move made toget more multi-media to us in digital forms is alright with us. Pricingremains unknown at the moment, though shipping should occur soon.

AN INDUSTRY FIRST: SEAGATE OFFERS FREEAGENT GOâ„¢ HARD DRIVES PRE-LOADED WITH PARAMOUNT PICTURES' FEATURE FILMS

Ultra Portable Drive Comes Pre-loaded with One Movie for Activation and Twenty Other Films for Purchase to Help Jump Start Consumers' Digital Movie Collections

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. - April 12, 2010 - Today, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), the worldwide leader in hard drives, and Paramount Digital Entertainment, a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, announced their agreement to pre-load a selection of 500GB FreeAgent Goâ„¢ ultra-portable hard drives with Paramount movies. Beginning immediately, United States' customers who purchase specially-marked packages of the award-winning FreeAgent Go ultra-portable hard drive will be able to activate Paramount Pictures' popular film, Star Trek (2009), for no additional fee. This collaboration between two industry leaders underscores a new era in digital movie collecting by enabling people to build, store and enjoy their personal libraries of favorite films in their preferred medium-whether on the computer or the TV-at home and on the go.

In addition to Star Trek (2009), those who have purchased the specially marked hard drives also receive an assortment of 20 Paramount Pictures movies pre-loaded on the FreeAgent Go 500GB ultra-portable drives that can be easily and securely unlocked through the online purchase of a license key. The films will be licensed for multiple devices to allow for portability and enjoyment of them on a desktop computer, laptop computer, or widescreen television, using the FreeAgent Theater+â„¢ HD media player[1].

"Seagate and Paramount Pictures are delivering major motion pictures to consumers in a unique and innovative solution. For years Seagate hard drives have been powering the devices that allow consumers to enjoy their digital libraries. Today, we are simplifying content delivery by giving consumers the ultimate flexibility in how they enjoy their movies all in a convenient package," said Dave Mosley, executive vice president, Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management, Seagate.

To take advantage of this special offer, simply purchase a specially marked 500GB FreeAgent Go ultra-portable drive from Seagate.com, or wherever Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drives are sold. After online registration of the drive, a promotional code will be provided for redemption at http://seagate.paramountshop.com. Redeeming the offer code provides the license key to unlock Star Trek (2009) and the option to purchase additional keys to unlock the remaining film titles that are pre-loaded on the drive.

A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee[2] including:

* The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
* GI Joe
* Shooter
* The Hunt for Red October
* The Italian Job (2003)
* Ghost
* Patriot Games
* Beowulf
* Enemy at the Gates
* The Spiderwick Chronicles
* The Love Guru
* Coach Carter
* The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
* Nacho Libre
* Jackass 2.5
* A Plumm Summer
* Carriers
* Dance Flick
* Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
* Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

"Collaborating with Seagate on this massive movie pre-load reinforces our commitment to embrace technologies that give consumers choice and flexibility in how they access and purchase their digital entertainment. Paramount Digital Entertainment has created a powerful solution that allows companies like Seagate to offer a seamless experience for consumers to access and securely activate pre-loaded movies, ensuring that exciting films are available everywhere they wish to enjoy them," said Malik Ducard, senior vice president, Digital Distribution The Americas, Paramount Digital Entertainment.

"And with over 38 hours of movie viewing enjoyment pre-loaded onto the portable device, we are offering consumers a great opportunity to jump start their digital libraries."

About Paramount Digital Entertainment

Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) is a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. PDE develops and distributes filmed entertainment across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices, videogames, and emerging technologies.

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

Palm Is Up For Sale, HTC And Lenovo Consider Making Bids

Talk about a change of plans. Over the weekend, we heard that Palm'sboss (Jon Rubinstein) was confident that he could get things turnedaround. The company has had trouble lately keeping their stock priceafloat, and they've also had trouble moving their two webOS phones, thePixi and Pre (along with the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on VerizonWireless). And while he may be firmly committed to Palm's futuresuccess, it seems that the success may lie in the hands of anotherparent.

According to a breaking report from Bloomberg, Palm has officially putthemselves "up for sale and is seeking bids for the company as early asthis week." The report stemmed from quotes from three undisclosedpersons familiar with the matter, and while this obviously must beregarded as rumor for now, it's not like Bloomberg to put out a reportit doesn't firmly believe is true.

Reportedly, Palm is working with Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners tofind a buyer. That's a pretty typical move for a company of thismagnitude, and the report also mentioned that both HTC and Lenovo have"looked at the company and may be potential bidders." Dell, however,decided to pass. All of these situations are interesting in their ownright. HTC has been burning things up in America and around the globe;just three years ago, no one knew who HTC was, and today, it's ahousehold name. HTC seems to be doing just fine on their own. Google'sNexus One was designed and built by HTC, and most of the popularAndroid phones today have an HTC label on them. Why would HTC showinterest? It seems that HTC may be interested in something Palm owns,which is presumably something other than hardware. Palm owns a lot ofintellectual property, and HTC has already shown that they have a thingfor software with the introduction of the Sense overlay that coatsAndroid and Windows Mobile. The one thing that HTC really lacks istheir own software platform. Today, HTC simply makes hardware forsoftware companies to invade; HTC builds a phone, Google/Microsoftloads on the OS, and a final product is born. What if HTC didn't haveto rely on those software makers to create those final products? Whatif HTC sold the total package? What if Palm webOS became HTC webOS? Youcan probably see how attractive that might sound to a company alreadyestablished in the industry, and if the company finally feels thattheir time is now to break free, a sizable bid just might float out.

Now, about Lenovo. To most Americans, this probably comes as asurprise. Believe it or not, Lenovo isn't a newcomer to the smartphoneindustry. Over in China, Lenovo's OPhone is already out, and it's apretty nice looking handset. But again, Lenovo is in the same positionas HTC when it comes to software. The company currently uses Android,so they obviously have to rely on someone else before popping out afinal product. Any company worth their salt would love to do everythingin-house if it made financial sense, and if Lenovo had access to webOS,there's a better than average chance that the company could launchimmediately into the U.S. market and compete with Apple, HTC, LG,Samsung, Dell and everyone else.

Speaking of Dell, why would they pass up the offer? There have beenreports in the past that U.S. carriers saw Dell's first phoneprototypes as vanilla, and while the Mini 3 (now known as the Aero)looks pretty good, it's using a highly modified version of Android thathas tracks of AT&T all over it. But Dell has never been a softwarecompany; they've made themselves giants by selling custom hardwareconfigurations using operating systems built by someone else. Dellisn't exactly in the same position as those other guys, but we stillsay there's a missed opportunity here. As "fine" as the Aero is, it'sno Pre Plus. Though, it's possible that Dell has already invested somuch money on in-house designers, that bringing on more designers fromanother company would simply be counter-productive.

It's hard to know exactly why each of these companies is or isn'tbidding, but one thing is for sure: the smartphone industry as a wholecould see a serious shake-up if a mainstay like Lenovo or HTC getsahold of Palm's assets. In fact, we'd wager to say that Apple wouldhave a whole new problem on their hands in shaking the competition ifgiants like Palm and HTC ran together as one. It seemed like a pipedream just a few months ago, but now it's looking all the morepossible. Could the HTC HD3 have webOS on it? One can only hope.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

IT News HeadLines (HotHardware) 13/04/2010

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