AT&T Plans To Launch LTE By Mid-2011
The 4G race is definitely heating up. John Stankey, AT&T's operations chief executive recently said his company is in the process of conducting trials of its 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network in Baltimore and Dallas. He also said the company is on track to launch its LTE network by mid-2011. AT&T plans to cover between 70 million and 75 million POPs by the end of next year. Given the mid-2011 timeframe, it's possible AT&T could launch its LTE network about the same time a new Apple iPhone is announced.
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All the iPad 2 Rumors Rounded Up
In the coming months, expect a torrential downpour of tablets from manufacturers left and right. We're not talking about just five or six models either, but potentially dozens of slates, each one intent on dethroning Apple's iPad as the current default granddaddy. But while other manufacturers are gearing up to give Apple a bit of competition in the tablet space, there's already a talk of another iPad on the horizon, one that will address some of the shortcomings of its current-gen slate and could potentially
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Sony's PlayStation Move Launches In North America
Today is the big day! You're probably wondering what big day we could be talking about, but if you're a PlayStation 3 owner, you probably understand. The PlayStation Move accessory, which was arguably designed to take on Nintendo's Wii remote and Microsoft's Kinect motion sensing system, has launched in North America. Sony claims that sales will officially begin on September 19, but many outlets including Amazon are already listing the product as in stock and ready for shipment. PS Move is a new motion handheld
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PhotoFast's Smoking Fast PowerDrive SSD Makes Us Giddy
Quick, what's bright red, crazy fast,and comprised of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory? If you guessed PhotoFast's new PowerDrive-LSI PCI-E solid state drive (SSD) line, then give yourself a cookie. And while you're at it, thank a teacher, because we both know you cheated and read the headline. We're glad you did, because PhotoFast has put something together worth salivating over. Forget about SATA 6Gpbs, the PowerDrive-LSI slides into a x8 PCI Express 2.0 slot and serves up blistering fast transfer
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Don't Expect iE9 to Ever Reach XP: Microsoft
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 opened its public beta with a splash on Wednesday, but more than have the PCs in the world can't currently run it. That's because IE9 uses the Direct2D API, to accelerate content rendering with your GPU, and therein lies the rub: Direct2D is only on Windows Vista and later OSes. That means, Microsoft told the Register, that you won't be able to get IE9 on Windows XP. Based on last month's Net Applications data, Windows XP ran on 52.1 percent of all Windows PCs used to browse the
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Verizon Wireless Won't Offer Windows Phone 7 This Year
Microsoft is planning to debut its new Windows Phone 7 platform later this year. If you're a Verizon Wireless customer, however, you'll have to wait even longer to check out Microsoft's latest phone OS. Brenda Raney, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, told BusinessWeek the carrier won't offer a Windows Phone 7 device at the planned fall introduction or at any point this year. Not all hope is lost, however: Raney also confirmed that Verizon Wireless has plans to support the new OS and is likely to release a phone
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Looxie Bluetooth Camcorder Goes On Your Ear, Tweets Your Life
We live in a world connected by social networking, but if you thought Facebook and Twitter were already overboard enough, you'll probably be horrified by this. But honestly, it's a pretty nifty idea, or a novel one at least. The Looxie wearable camcorder and social sharing system is the first wearable Bluetooth device designed to share more than just 140 characters of your day at a time. With this device, which is described as an "easy-to-wear camcorder that videos everything the user sees," users can constantly
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Toshiba Releases First 3D HDTV
Toshiba announced its premier Cinema Series line of HDTVs, featuring the VX700 Series and the WX800 3D Series LED HDTVs. The WX800 delivers a three-dimensional experience when using a pair of optional Toshiba 3D glasses, Toshiba's BDX3000 3D Blu-ray Disc player, and a 3D capable HDMI cable. The WX800 boasts of a depth of less than 1.2 inches. The WX800 comes in 55-inch and 46-inch screen sizes and also features built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi capability. The Toshiba VX700 Cinema Series offers many of the same features
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General Motors Testing Facebook And Audio Texting With OnStar
General Motors has been pushing OnStar in their vehicles for what feels like forever. At this point, OnStar and GM just go hand-in-hand. We've come to expect it in new GM vehicles. But the technology hasn't really evolved a whole lot over the years, at least to technology driven consumers. But the world has moved on, and the world now lives on Facebook and Twitter. And so, Facebook is coming to OnStar. Yes, really! General Motors has announced a "relaunch" of OnStar, with the brand and focus now pointing to
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BlackBerry Curve 3G Coming To Sprint As Well
Can you tell that Verizon Wireless and Sprint are rivals? It's probably all in good fun, but during the same week that Verizon announced that they would soon be getting RIM's BlackBerry Curve 3G, Sprint has come forward and said the same. Except their version will work on The Now Network, as you would expect. The BlackBerry 9330, which is the newest low-end BlackBerry on the market, will be joining Sprint's array of smartphones starting on September 26, and it will cost $49.99 on a 2-year contract. That's about
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iPad's Orientation Lock to Revert to Mute Switch
A look at the beta version of iOS 4.2 that was recently released shows that iPad users might be a little annoyed when it rolls out. Originally, the hardware switch on the right hand side of the iPad was used to mute the device. Just prior to launch, it became the orientation lock. Now, it's changing back again. Starting with iOS 4.2, when when users want to lock the orientation, which is handy when trying to read in bed, for example, they will have to access the new multitasking bar, swipe it to the left,
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Apple Introduces AirPrint: Wireless Printing For iPod, iPhone And iPad
Apple has a way of creating amazing products, but then leaving out one or two somewhat obvious features. Some argue that this is their way of ensuring that early adopters are enticed to upgrade, but that's not the case here. Instead, Apple will be giving a free software update to all existing iPad owners that will add a killer feature that should have been there from launch day. iOS 4.2 is coming together nicely for the iPad, as it's supposed to launch sometime "this Fall." Apple has this week revealed that
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Samsung's Galaxy Tab Launches On All 4 U.S. Carriers, But No Voice Support
Big, big news from the Samsung camp this evening. The company's Galaxy Tab, arguably the iPad's most serious competitor (or at least the competitor with the most steam/hype behind it), will soon be launching on all four of the major U.S. carriers. All four! The royal flush of operators happens very infrequently. Google attempted to do a similar deal with their Nexus One, but things ended up falling through for Sprint and Verizon Wireless. But Samsung has shown an ability to do this before. The company's Galaxy
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IN Media Enters Tablet Market
IN Media plans to enter the tablet market with a new Tablet PC that will run Android 2.1. Although we don't know a lot about the device at this point, we do know that it will offer Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth EDR 2.1 wireless capabilities. It will also come in 7-inch and 10-inch models and feature a forward facing camera as well as a HDMI interface. IN Media Announces Revolutionary Tablet PC -- Tablet PC Allows Integration of All Applications and Content in Simple Touch Screen Format IN Media announces revolutionary
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HH and MSI Lazy Days Of Summer Sweepstakes Winners!
To pay tribute to the hot (and final!), lazy days of summer, in conjunction with MSI, we ran a sweepstakes in wihich we planned to give away some HOT new hardware! This time around, readers had a chance to win a pair of MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB GeForce GTX 460 cards and an awesome MSI Big Bang-XPower motherboard. In addition, we planned to give away 10 copies of the DX11 and PhysX-enabled game Metro 2033! As we've done with previous sweepstakes, we planned to give these prize packages away to randomly
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3M Introduces Two New Pocket Projectors
3M added two new products to its line of pocket projectors. The new 3M MP160 and 3M MP180 feature 30 lumens of brightness, two-hours of battery life, and SVGA resolution. Both of the new projectors target on-the-go professionals. The MP180 has a touch screen for easy operation. The projector also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4GB of memory, a microSD card slot, and USB connectivity. The MP160 is a more streamlined device that has the same brightness, resolution and portability as the MP180 but for less money. This projector
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AMD ATI FirePro V9800 Workstation Graphics Card
It didn't take AMD long to respond to the release of NVIDIA's new line of Quadro workstation-class graphics cards. The new flagship FirePro V9800 we'll be showing you here is the latest ultra high end professional graphics card from AMD, that competes in the same space as the 6000 and 5000 models from NVIDIA. It replaces the V8800 as the flagship model of the FirePro line, and targets professionals who require the highest levels of performance and connectivity, with plenty of onboard memory and support for multiple
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AMD ATI FirePro V9800 Workstation Graphics Card
It didn't take AMD long to respond to the release of NVIDIA's new line of Quadro workstation-class graphics cards. The new flagship FirePro V9800 we'll be showing you here is the latest ultra high end professional graphics card from AMD, and competes in the same space as the 6000 and 5000 models from NVIDIA. It replaces the V8800 as the flagship model of the FirePro line, and targets professionals who require the highest levels of performance and connectivity, with plenty of onboard memory and support for multiple
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iPad's Orientation Lock to Revert to Mute Switch
A look at the beta version of iOS 4.2 that was recently released shows that iPad users might be a little annoyed when it rolls out. Originally, the hardware switch on the right hand side of the iPad was used to mute the device. Just prior to launch, it became the orientation lock. Now, it's changing back again.Starting with iOS 4.2, when when users want to lock the orientation, which is handy when trying to read in bed, for example, they will have to access the new multitasking bar, swipe it to the left, and select the screen orientation lock. This procedure will mirror way that orientation lock occurs on iPhone and iPod touch since iOS 4 was released.
While that's all good, those who may have been using the iPad for months will probably be confused for a while, and we know at least one person who would ask why tech companies "can't leave things alone."
As we said, we can see the consistency reasoning behind the move, however.
Other changes coming to the iPad in iOS 4.2, but which were not mentioned in the very brief overview given at Apple's Sept. event:
- The YouTube app will have the current YouTube thumbs-up / down rating system; the company gave the old five-star system the thumbs-down in March, but naturally required an update to the OS to move it to the iOS, since it's a default iOS app.
- iPad folders can hold up to 20 applications, as opposed to the iPhone and iPod Touch's 12 (which makes sense due to the iPad's greater screen real estate).
- Also on the multitasking bar will be a brightness slider, so no longer will users have to go to settings to muck with brightness (only Apple's own apps have access to this functionality in-app; third-parties do not, as of yet).
- 3G iPads will see the same algorithm modifications for signal bars measurements that the iPhone 4 did.
- Font changing in the built-in Notes app: you can go from the default "Marker Felt" to Helvetica and "Chalkboard."
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Sony's PlayStation Move Launches In North America
Today is the big day! You're probably wondering what big day we could be talking about, but if you're a PlayStation 3 owner, you probably understand. The PlayStation Move accessory, which was arguably designed to take on Nintendo's Wii remote and Microsoft's Kinect motion sensing system, has launched in North America. Sony claims that sales will officially begin on September 19, but many outlets including Amazon are already listing the product as in stock and ready for shipment.PS Move is a new motion handheld that acts almost like the Wii Remote, but users incorporate it with the PS Eye camera in order to capture their full range of motion. To date, around 30 titles have been introduced with PS Move compatibility, and we're sure more are coming. The Wii changed Nintendo's fortunes, and people are clearly into motion sensed gaming. This also makes the PS3 a more casual game console; in the past, many people suggested that the console was gear specifically towards hardcore gamers, but Move changes that dramatically.
For those consumers who already own a PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Move Bundle will be priced at $99.99; for consumers who don't yet own a PS3 system, the PS3 Sports Champions Move Bundle is priced at $399.99. For those who already own PS3 and PlayStation Eye camera, motion controllers will retail separately for $49.99 and the optional navigation controller will retail for $29.99. Not cheap, that's for sure, but it definitely opens up a whole new way to enjoy your game console.
Sony Computer Entertainment America Redefines Motion Gaming With PlayStation®Move, Now Available for PlayStation®3 (PS3™)
Â
New Motion Control System Combines Realistic, Accurate Motion-Sensing, HD Graphics, and Augmented Reality Capabilities to Deliver Unique Entertainment Experience to PS3 System Owners
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (SCEA) today announced PlayStation®Move will be available exclusively for the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system at retail stores in the North America on Sunday, September 19. PlayStation Move offers the most immersive and realistic gaming experience for the PS3 system by fusing realistic, high-definition gaming along with accurate and easy-to-use controls. By incorporating the PlayStation®Eye camera with PlayStation Move, the user's full range of motion is captured, resulting in ultimate control over how one plays the games, as well as the opportunity to project the player's image into select games for new augmented reality experiences.
(Logo:Â http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100310/AQ68427LOGO)
(Logo:Â http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100310/AQ68427LOGO)
"The launch of PlayStation Move is the latest in a long line of innovations over the past 15 years that demonstrate how the PlayStation® brand continues to push the videogame industry forward," said Jack Tretton, Chief Executive Officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. "We've spent a lot of time perfecting the motion control technology of PlayStation Move, and we are confident this is a benchmark in entertainment innovation that will change the way consumers interact with games."
To create the most realistic and immersive experience, PlayStation Move relies on the PlayStation Eye camera, along with internal motion sensors in the PlayStation®Move motion controller and the PS3 system itself, to detect the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of the user, thereby allowing users to intuitively play as if they are within the game. With close to 30 titles announced to date offering PlayStation Move functionality, including EyePet™, The Fight: Lights Out™, Heavy Rain®, Killzone® 3, Kung Fu Rider™, MAG™, Start the Party!™, Resident Evil®5: Gold Edition (Capcom), Sports Champions™, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), Time Crisis™: Razing Storm™ (NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.), and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 11 (Electronic Arts Inc.), PlayStation Move has games for all demographics and types of gamers. Whether experienced, casual, or somewhere in between, gamers will find a wide variety of content for PlayStation Move, including sports, shooters, puzzles, party and family-friendly titles. No matter which genre, all PlayStation Move games offer hours of addictive fun, while delivering a realistic and accurate motion gaming experience unlike anything on the market.
"Consumers worldwide are showing increasing interest in motion-controlled, immersive gaming experiences and Sony's designers have crafted precision game controllers using pin-point accurate, intuitive controls," said Richard Doherty, Research Director for The Envisioneering Group. "PlayStation Move is poised to attract game players of all ages and genres this Holiday season, raising the bar for interactive entertainment for years to come."
PlayStation Move is available for a range of prices based on the needs of the consumer. For those consumers who already own a PlayStation 3, the PlayStation Move Bundle – at $99.99 (SRP) – is the perfect choice. The PlayStation Move Bundle includes a PlayStation Eye, one PlayStation Move motion controller, a copy of Sports Champions on Blu-ray disc, and a PlayStation Move game demo disc and is the easiest way for current PS3 system owners to start experiencing PlayStation Move. For consumers who don't yet own a PS3 system, the PS3 Sports Champions Move Bundle for $399.99 (SRP) is ideal, including all of the above, as well as a 320GB HDD model PS3 system. This bundle is the most complete way to experience home entertainment on the PS3 system, including PlayStation Move motion controlled games, Blu-ray movies, stereoscopic 3D and more in stunning high-definition. For those who already own PS3 and PlayStation Eye camera, motion controllers will retail separately for $49.99 (SRP) and the optional navigation controller will retail for $29.99 (SRP).
With PlayStation Move set to make its mark on PlayStation history, a dedicated PlayStation Move advertising campaign brings back the familiar face of Kevin Butler, while introducing consumers to a new cast of characters that represent the modern family – the Maguires. In conjunction with a heavy presence in a variety of media, including television, digital, radio, cinema and print, strategic partnerships with Coca-Cola and SUBWAY® will help bring PlayStation Move to the masses. Additionally, "PlayStation Move Headquarters" stores in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and a larger scale mall tours in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, DC and Chicago will be accessible to consumers throughout the fall, providing in-depth demonstrations for those looking to experience PlayStation Move's full functionality or try out the latest PlayStation Move games.
For the past 15 years, PlayStation has helped revolutionize the video game industry, introducing gamers to in-depth, high-resolution and real time 3D computer graphics and technical innovations such as Blu-ray and stereoscopic 3D entertainment for the home. With the introduction of PlayStation Move, PlayStation is once again set to change home entertainment by delivering more immersive and challenging gaming experiences that cater to everyone in the family.Â
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New Camaro
New Camaro Computer.Be the first one on your block to own one of these babies!! Choose your color too!
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PhotoFast's Smoking Fast PowerDrive SSD Makes Us Giddy
Quick, what's bright red, crazy fast,and comprised of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory? If you guessed PhotoFast's new PowerDrive-LSI PCI-E solid state drive (SSD) line, then give yourself a cookie. And while you're at it, thank a teacher, because we both know you cheated and read the headline. We're glad you did, because PhotoFast has put something together worth salivating over.Forget about SATA 6Gpbs, the PowerDrive-LSI slides into a x8 PCI Express 2.0 slot and serves up blistering fast transfer speeds you won't get from your SATA controllers. We're talking up to 1,400MB/s reads and up to 1,500MB/s writes, putting this peppy drive ahead of most of the competition, including PhotoFast's own 1Gbps G-Monster. The only other drive on the planet that can really compete is OCZ's Z-Drive, which is good company to be in.
Other bodacious features include 512MB of onboard DDR2 cache, an internal RAID controller, and robust support for a variety of OSes, including Windows Server 2003/2008/2008R8, Windows 7, XP, Vista, several versions of Red Hat Linux, SUSE Linux, VMWare ESXi 4.0, and more.
Word on the Web is that these will start shipping in October in 240GB, 480GB, and 960GB capacities somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred million dollars (not really, but what's the over/under that this thing approaches anything near affordable?).
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All the iPad 2 Rumors Rounded Up
In the coming months, expect a torrential downpour of tablets from manufacturers left and right. We're not talking about just five or six models either, but potentially dozens of slates, each one intent on dethroning Apple's iPad as the current default granddaddy. But while other manufacturers are gearing up to give Apple a bit of competition in the tablet space, there's already a talk of another iPad on the horizon, one that will address some of the shortcomings of its current-gen slate and could potentially keep the iPad in front of the pack.The latest rumors come from DigiTimes, which is reporting that component suppliers, including touch panel reinforced glass suppliers for Apple's iPad, are nearing the end of the validation stage for a second generation of 9.7-inch iPads. Those chatty suppliers, who always seem to like to talk about upcoming products, say the second-gen iPad, or iPad 2 as we'll refer to it, will start shipping in the first quarter of 2011.
Earlier this week, however, there was plenty of talk that Apple wants the iPad 2 on store shelves in time for the holiday shopping season. Citing "a person with proven knowledge of Apple's future product plans," Apple Insider says there's a huge internal push to make that happen. If it does, it would represent a deviation in Apple's normal product refresh cycle, at least historically speaking. It might also piss off first-gen iPad owners, some of which just recently picked up Apple's magical tablet, only to find that it could be obsolete (or at least a whole lot cheaper) within the next couple of months.
That's the position Apple put itself in by following its unofficial planned obsolescence strategy. The only reason to omit a USB port, HDMI port, microSD card slot, built-in camera, and other goodies is so that there would be sufficient demand for a second-gen product that does include some or all of those pieces. But with a spate of competitive models on the horizon, Apple now has to choose whether to rush the iPad 2 out to market ahead of schedule, or follow its normal refresh cycle and hope none of the competition hits a homerun with a winning design.
Apple's predicament notwithstanding, what exactly will the iPad 2 bring to the table? Officially, nobody knows. Apple obviously hasn't begun talking about its second-gen tablet, but the rumor mill has. From what we're hearing, the iPad 2 will incorporate at least one built-in camera with FaceTime support, a feature that's present on both the iPhone 4 and recently refreshed iPod touch devices.
Keeping in mind that this is all speculation, the next iPad might also turn to OLED for its display, though the current IPS panel does a stellar job already and we're not convinced Apple will change things up a whole lot here. You can probably expect a tighter screen resolution, but a new panel type altogether seems unlikely, particularly if looking to rush the release. More likely is that Apple will release a smaller version; there's talk that a 7-inch iPad is in the works.
The next iPad will almost assuredly come with more RAM, probably doubling up from 256MB to 512MB. This will help with both multitasking -- when it arrives -- as well as gaming. And if we had to guess, we'd say it will also come with a faster single-core processor, but still no love for dual-core. Everything else is a crap-shoot, from whether or not Apple will include USB and HDMI connectivity, or a microSD card slot. The only thing we can really say with any certainty is that it won't support Adobe's Flash platform.
Do you think Apple should push for a holiday release, or are the spate of competitive tablet announcements much ado about nothing? What would you like to see included on the iPad 2?
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HH and MSI Lazy Days Of Summer Sweepstakes Winners!
To pay tribute to the hot (and final!), lazy days of summer, in conjunction with MSI, we ran a sweepstakes in wihich we planned to give away some HOT new hardware! This time around, readers had a chance to win a pair of MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB GeForce GTX 460 cards and an awesome MSI Big Bang-XPower motherboard. In addition, we planned to give away 10 copies of the DX11 and PhysX-enabled game Metro 2033!As we've done with previous sweepstakes, we planned to give these prize packages away to randomly selected contributor to our on-line forum and discussion systems. And we have just chosen the winners!Â
Grand Prize: (2) MSI N460GTX Cyclone 1GB cards, (1) MSI Big Bang-XPower motherboard Goes to Inspector!
Runners Up: (10) Copies of Metro 2033 go to RealNeil, Marius Malek, Savage Animal, Slugbug, Manoy385, Lifeskills, CrowTroBot, AcarZT, Fat78, and Optix!
Now everyone, congratulate your compatriots and prepare for our next exciting give-away! Once we've got the details hammered out, we'll announce the next contest, but we promise it won't be long!
Thanks,
Team HotHardware
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Dead space running smoothly but MMORPG not?
Hello guys!
So here's my problem...
I can play dead space with graphics at maximum but when I'm playing a MMORPG, every 10 minutes the graphic processing drops by half and everything turns extremely slow, FPS goes way down. I've already checked my internet and my ping is around 18.
I'm using 2 LCD screens at the moment, but as I said, dead space is perfect.
My 3d board is a gforce 9800 GT
Intel quad-core
2GB RAM
120GB free space on HD
windows sp3
all 3d board drivers are updated.
What's the matter? Is it low RAM, because it's an online game? Is it the service pack 3?
And more important, how can I find out?
Thanks!
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Don't Expect iE9 to Ever Reach XP: Microsoft
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 opened its public beta with a splash on Wednesday, but more than have the PCs in the world can't currently run it. That's because IE9 uses the Direct2D API, to accelerate content rendering with your GPU, and therein lies the rub: Direct2D is only on Windows Vista and later OSes. That means, Microsoft told the Register, that you won't be able to get IE9 on Windows XP. Based on last month's Net Applications data, Windows XP ran on 52.1 percent of all Windows PCs used to browse the Web last month, while Vista accounted for 27 percent and Windows 7 for 20.8 percent. That's in the U.S., and XP has a greater share outside America.
Chrome and Firefox are still able to leverage HW acceleration on XP because they use different methods. Chrome implements uses OpenGL graphics APIs for rendering; Firefox uses an intermediate layer to work with DirectX 9 and OpenGL.
Of course, the current release of IE9 is a beta, and it will take time to reach release status. During that time, Windows XP market share will drop, as it has been. Still, it seems a poor move on Microsoft's part to exclude so many current users, particularly outside the U.S., where migration to a new OS takes longer.
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Definition of acceleration
I have a friend who is into drag racing and has been for years. He just sent me this and I just HAD to share it with you guys.
Quite Impressive!
RealNeil __________________________________________________________
DEFINITION OF ACCELERATION
There are no rockets or airplanes built by any government in the
world that can accelerate from a standing start as fast as a Top
Fuel Dragster or Funny Car!
One top fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more
horsepower than the first 4 rows of stock cars at the Daytona 500.
(and any half of the cars on a Formula 1 grid!!!, Kev)
It takes just 15/100ths of a second for all 6,000+ horsepower of an
NHRA Top Fuel dragster engine to reach the rear wheels.
Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1-1/2 gallons of
nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at
the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to drive
the dragster's supercharger.
With 3,000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on
overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form
before ignition.
Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
At the stoichiometric (stoichiometry: methodology and technology by
which quantities of reactants and products in chemical reactions are
determined) 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture of nitro methane, the flame front
temperature measures 7,050 deg F.
Nitro methane burns yellow... The spectacular white flame seen above
the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from
atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output
of an arc welder in each cylinder.
Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After
halfway, the engine is dieseling from compression, plus the glow of
exhaust valves at 1,400 deg F. The engine can only be shut down by
cutting the fuel flow.
If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds
up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force
to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in
half.
In order to exceed 300 mph in 4. 5 seconds, dragsters must
accelerate an average of over 4G's. In order to reach 200 mph (well
before half-track), the launch acceleration approaches 8G's.
Dragsters reach over 300 miles per hour before you have completed
reading this sentence.
Top fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to
light! Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900
revolutions under load.
The redline is actually quite high at 9,500 rpm.
Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew worked for free,
and for once NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimate $1,000.00
per second.
The current top fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.428 seconds
for the quarter mile (11/12/06, Tony Schumacher, at Pomona, CA). The
top speed record is 336.15 mph as measured over the last 66' of the
run (05/25/05 Tony Schumacher, at Hebron, OH).
Putting all of this into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter 'twin-turbo'
powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a top fuel dragster
is staged and ready to launch down a quarter mile strip as you pass.
You have the advantage of a flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up
through the gears and blast across the starting line and pass the
dragster at an honest 200 mph. The 'tree' goes green for both of you
at that moment.
The dragster launches and starts after you. You keep your foot down
hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your
eardrums and within 3 seconds, the dragster catches and passes you.
He beats you to the finish line, a quarter mile away from where you
just passed him.
Think about it, from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you
200 mph and not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road
when he passed you within a mere 1,320 foot (400 metres!!) long race course.
...and that my friend, is ACCELERATION!
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Crossfire questions
Guess what, I'm ordering another 5850 tomorrow and am going to set up some crossfire action. just a couple of questions for the pros out there
1. My motherboard ( MSI 890fxa-gd70 ) supports 2 cards in x16 slots as long as they are in slots # 1 and 4. The layout of this board puts the first slot very high, and through testing with my first 5850 my motherboard temps are noticably higher(4-5 degrees) with the card in the top slot. If I were to put the cards lower, say in slots 2 and 4, I would be running on card on 16 pci lanes and one card on 8 pci lanes(i think this is what they are called). Would this affect my performance, or do I want to run them both on 16x lanes?
2. Do I need one or two crossfire connections? The cards both come with a short one, but I only have one long one that came with the motherboard, and wondering if I need to order another in order to set the cards apart as mentioned above^
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Microsoft Isn't Planning On Making Any More Cellphones
Microsoft never really has had much luck in the phone market. Not the mobile OS market, mind you, the phone market. Recently, Microsoft attempted to reach the "tween" market with the launch of the Kin. The Kin lineup initially consisted of two phones on Verizon, both of which required pricey $30/month data plans just like a proper smartphone. Needless to say, sales were terrible considering the value proposition, and two months into their life, Microsoft pulled the plug. Kin no longer lives, and neither do hopes of Microsoft ever trying again.
Or, at least that's the current plan. Tivanka Ellawala, the chief financial officer of the company's Mobile Communications Business, recently told investors at a conference in San Francisco that his company simply wasn't interested in the hardware game again. Here's his quote, which came after being asked to address rumors that the company was considering making another run in the handset-making business: "We are in the software business and that is where our business will be focused."
That sums it up. Honestly, it sounds like the right decision. Usually it's always better to have more competition, but with so many great hardware makers already on the market (Samsung, Apple, LG, HTC, etc.), there's hardly room for more right now. And plus, Microsoft would have had a tough time managing two separate mobile operating systems, with Kin and Windows Phone 7 soon to come. It may be sad to hear for those that actually enjoyed the Kin, but it looks like Microsoft's days in the phone hardware business are all but history. But of course, history can always change down the road.
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IE9 and Hot Hardware
Alright folks... some of you, like me, may have gone out and downloaded the IE9 beta.
You will have by now realized that you can no longer post on the website. Stupid beta.
I went through every setting I could find to no avail.
I added HH to trusted sites, I enable every option I could, even the ones I knew would have no effect... I did it anyway because I can't live without my HH.
I checked my add-ins... java was enabled... I reregistered some dlls.... I ran IE without plugins... Nothing.
And then I found it... in such an inconvenient location.
Press ALT. Click Tools. Click Compatibility View.
And then you will be able to post again.
I find it very annoying that I can no longer pin the menu options to IE
And i'm not entirely fond of this new lay out... I want my tabs UNDER the address bar... not next to it...
Minor gripes I suppose, but I don't like change lol
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Olive Media O3HD Music Server Redefines High-End
Here's something that you don't see every single day: a dedicated music server. Not an HTPC that also acts as a music server or jukebox, but a high-end, audiophile-quality music server. Olive Media is the company behind the box, and the new O3HD is designed to be their most affordable unit ever.But even affordable means lots of dough for a device like this. It caters to the high-end market who cares about every little detail in their music, and it caters to a crowd that is shifting away from CDs and towards lossless digital audio files stored on hard disc. The new box is capable of ripping your CDs into FLAC files that are stored internally, and it has enough space for around 1500 of your favorite CDs. Also, the front panel touch screen allows you to see album art and other information, and there's a 24-bit DAC for some of the clearest, cleanest tunes imaginable. Or so we're led to expect.
It can also be plugged in to stream tunes from other sources in your networked home, and an iPod app allows users to control everything from the comfort of their couch. At $999, it won't be the right box for everyone, but it sure looks fantastic in silver and green. Not quite Olive green, but green nonetheless...
 Olive Introduces First HD Music Server Under $1,000
New Olive O3HD Brings Simplicity and Convenience to Digital Music, Eliminates PC
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading HD Music Server manufacturer Olive Media Inc. today announced the Olive O3HD music server for home stereo systems. Based on the award-winning Olive O4HD, which Sound + Vision Magazine calls “a revolutionary step for the music server category,â€Â¹ the O3HD brings the best blend of simplicity and quality. Now, music lovers can enjoy their digital music collection at home at a price point well below other comparable solutions. Designed as a hassle-free, standalone solution, the O3HD requires no software installation, networking setup or virus protection. It features a dedicated storage and color touchscreen navigation, allowing you to store and access your complete music collection right at your stereo system. A 24-bit/192 kHz DAC delivers your music with superior sound quality. All this comes at a breakthrough price of just $999.
   “a revolutionary step for the music server categoryâ€
“Olive wants music lovers to enjoy the convenience of digital music without having to sacrifice audio quality,†said Dr. Oliver Bergmann, co-founder and CEO of Olive. “The new Olive O3HD is the first dedicated music server with full HD capability to sell for only $999. Now more people can enjoy this outstanding music experience than ever before.â€
Music lovers also no longer need to worry about the headaches that are inherent with most digital audio solutions that stream music from a PC, Mac or NAS. The new Olive O3HD stores your music collection right at your stereo system, so networking problems are a concern of the past. The 24-bit DAC with 192 kHz up-sampling delivers your music in a quality that has never been heard before on a product in this price category. Olive even has a free mobile application that will turn your iPhoneâ„¢ or iPadâ„¢ into an Olive remote control.
Additional highlights of the new Olive O3HD include:
Color Touchscreen Simplicity: Once the O3HD is plugged into your home stereo system, you can easily start navigating through your entire music collection using Olive's revolutionary touchscreen technology. The intuitive user interface allows you to conveniently browse your music collection, create playlists of your favorite tracks, or search specific music. An innovative album cover view sorts all your albums with a flick of your finger.
Ample Music Storage: Designed for music lovers with large music collections, the O3HD stores up to 1,500 CDs or 5,000 HD songs in a box no bigger than a standard CD player. To ease the transition, Olive offers a convenient CD Loading Service to load your entire music collection on your O3HD for instant enjoyment. Olive uploads the first hundred of your CDs for free.
HD Sound Meets Luxury Design: The new O3HD stores and plays music with lossless compression (FLAC) to deliver an amazing sound quality far greater than MP3 files. It supports playback of 24-bit HD music tracks, featuring a premium 24-bit DAC with 192kHz up-sampling for superior sound quality. The O3HD's beautiful design has been optimized for sonic performance, featuring fan-less cooling and ultra-quiet hard drives with multi-layer cushioning.
Over 3,000 Radio Stations: Olive World Radio delivers instant access to the best internet radio stations from around the world. All stations are hand-selected and groomed by Olive to deliver accurate station information, allowing you to quickly browse and find stations with a wide range of search criteria. The internet radio comes free on all Olive HD Music Servers and Multi-Room Players.
Free Apple® iPhone/iPad™ Remote Control App: The Olive App turns your iPhone/iPad into a touchscreen remote control. Conveniently browse your music collection, create playlists or access different rooms, all from the comfort of your couch.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The Olive O3HD Music Server is available in the US directly from Olive (www.olive.us; 1.877.296.5483) for US$999. Olive is available worldwide through a network of authorized distributors.Â
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MSI Introduces CX413 AMD-Powered 14" Notebook
We honestly can't say that we have been keeping a tally on total notebook releases in 2010 by each manufacturer, but MSI has to be in the top 5. It's another week, another notebook for the prolific PC maker, as the CX413 has become the latest machine to surface in the Classic lineup.It's an all-business machine, but there's plenty of power under the hood to make it sufficient for take-home use as well. Powering the laptop is an AMD Athlon II P320 (dual-core), Windows 7 Home Premium and up to 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory. There is also a 14" HD display, ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 5470 GPU (512MB), one HDMI output, one VGA output, a 2.5" hard drive (250GB/320GB/500GB), a DVD SuperMulti drive, three USB 2.0 ports and a 4-in-1 card reader. MSI has also included a few usual connectivity options: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, Gigabit LAN and a 1.3MP webcam. Finally, there's a 6-cell battery, but estimated life isn't given. Unfortunately, neither are price and release date, but hopefully they won't hold out on everyone for much longer.
Better Multimedia for a Better Life
MSI's CX413 offers it all
Taipei—MSI recently rolled out the CX413, the newest member of its Classic series of laptop computers. Under the hood, the 14-inch CX413 comes packed with AMD's all-new Vision (Danube) platform with AMD's most advanced Athlon™ II dual core processor which supports DDR3 system memory as well as the high performance ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 discrete graphics card (DDR3 512MB display memory) for multimedia for superior image capabilities and processing speeds. Your multimedia life was never so good.
MSI Marketing Director Sam Chern explains that the CX413 features MSI’s own 45-degree beveled construction, a cinema-class 16:9 ratio, power-sipping LED display, and MSI's ECO engine power saving technology. This machine has it all—an aesthetically pleasing exterior, outstanding multimedia performance, and exceptionally long battery life. It's your best choice for reasonably priced mobile multimedia entertainment.
More bang for you buck
AMD Athlon™ II dual core CPU: The CX413 boasts AMD’s latest Danube platform with the AMD Athlon™ II dual core processor which supports DDR3 system memory that expands to a maximum of capacity of 8GB for superior data processing capabilities. It also features low power consumption, low carbon emissions, and extended battery life.
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 discrete graphics card: The CX413 also comes with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 discrete graphics card (with 512MB DDR3 display memory), giving it excellent image processing capabilities, crisp, clear resolution, and rich colors. It’s specifically designed for multimedia entertainment.
Cinema-class LED display with 16:9 ratio: Not only does the CX413 feature a high performance processor and discrete graphics card, it also comes with a 14-inch 16:9 LED screen to give you rich colors and a clear, bright picture anytime, anywhere.
Stylishly classic
Classic beauty: The CX410 is graced with MSI's own 45-degree beveled construction. The resulting elegant lines combine with the black-matte exterior and the metal touchpad buttons to form the ideal balance of technology and style.
The secret to true mobility - long battery life: Even with its high-capacity battery, the CX410 tips the scales at less than 2.2kg. MSI's exclusive ECO engine power-saving technology allows you to select from among power management levels—Entertainment, Presentation, Word Processing, and Turbo Battery, to further enhance power efficiency to optimize the CX410’s battery power and maximize mobility.
Sharing the good times
802.11n high speed wireless: The CX413 comes with a high resolution webcam, a microphone, 802.11 b/g/n high speed wireless, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR module with X3 transfer rate, and a high performance instant messaging device that allows you to stay in touch with friends and family anywhere in the world.
HDMI: The CX413 features High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) which can transfer up to 5Gb of video bandwidth for clear, true-to-life image quality which can be used in conjunction with the optional Blu-Ray to show HD images on large-screen television displays. Now, sharing exciting high-quality multimedia on large-screen devices, like projectors and digital TVs is easier than ever.
Exclusive software enhances instant messaging: Software, like MSI's WebCam Companion and Visual Effect2, further enhance the functionality of the CX413's internal HD webcam. Now, you can edit and alter pictures and change video conference effects at will, so you can share every exciting moment of your life with friends and family.Â
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The scariest video you have ever watched in the name of science
One crazy-scary-azzed video!
I used to think I was hot stuff when I was a welder on a power plant project in Ohio many years ago. We worked at 300 feet off of the ground and had two safety belts on at all times. (one was always connected while you moved the other one forward) This film is people working at a little higher height than I ever did.
RealNeil
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Samsung's Galaxy Tab Launches On All 4 U.S. Carriers, But No Voice Support
Big, big news from the Samsung camp this evening. The company's Galaxy Tab, arguably the iPad's most serious competitor (or at least the competitor with the most steam/hype behind it), will soon be launching on all four of the major U.S. carriers. All four! The royal flush of operators happens very infrequently. Google attempted to do a similar deal with their Nexus One, but things ended up falling through for Sprint and Verizon Wireless. But Samsung has shown an ability to do this before. The company's Galaxy S smartphone family is currently on all four of the major U.S. carriers (under different names, but it's the same core phone), and they have evidently used that same pull in order to work out a similar deal with their 7" Android 2.2 tablet.At a press event tonight in New York City, Samsung's Mobile announced that the Galaxy Tab would be launching in the October to November time frame on Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless. This means that regardless of your carrier of choice, you'll be able to find a Galaxy Tab suitable for you. If you need a reminder, the Tab itself has a 7" touch panel, 1GHz Hummingbird processor, support for 3D graphics, front & rear facing cameras, Android 2.2 ("Froyo"), support for Adobe's Flash Player 10.1, and some specialized Samsung software including Media Hub (a content streaming service) and Social Hub (connecting users to Facebook, Twitter and beyond).
Hardware wise, the Tab is the same Tab that was showcased in Europe last week at IFA Berlin. But there are lots of differences when it comes to U.S. models. First, the Media Hub. Samsung is tapping into content from NBC, MTV, Universal Studios, Warner and more in order to allow Tab owners to easily access, download, rent/buy, etc. material from their libraries. It's as close to an iTunes Store rival as we have seen.
So that's one positive thing that sets the U.S. Galaxy Tab apart. But here's a negative. Samsung has confirmed that the U.S. models will not have voice capabilities. The European version does have voice support, which would enable users to have a phone number assigned to it (exactly like a Dell Streak, for example) and then make/receive calls via a Bluetooth headset. But the U.S. model won't even have this option. It will use cellular data alone; no calling at all unless it's VOIP, like Skype. That's a huge downer, particularly when you consider that we're expecting these U.S. carriers to subsidize the Tab in order to make it cheaper on contact. Who will pay a monthly fee plus remain attached to a 2-year contract for a device with no voice service? Why would Samsung remove such a feature? It's hard to say, but it's a confirmed loss.
Also, the Sprint version of the Galaxy Tab will not support their 4G/WiMAX network. The Sprint version of the Galaxy S (known as the Epic 4G) is the only Galaxy S in America to support 4G, so we aren't sure why that tradition wasn't carrier over for Samsung's new tablet. That's a big competitive advantage that's lost on Sprint now.
Finally, all of this excitement is clouded by one big question: how much will they cost? That's still an unknown, even after tonight. Samsung is determined to let their partner operators in America make the final calls on pricing, so we suspect each carrier will announce their own individual pricing in due time. It's rumored that $200-$300 on contract will be the price, but if you have no interest in owning another connected device, Samsung is planning a Wi-Fi only version of Galaxy Tab (much like the Wi-Fi only iPad) that will ship in a couple of months. Does an Android 2.2 tablet really have what it takes to knock off the iPad from its pedestal? Time will tell, but it has a hard road ahead.
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