LG Electronics has revealed that, next week, on September 14th, it will be holding a little press event to present to launched a couple of new Optimus family smartphones, the Optimus One and Optimus Chic.
The upcoming conference, set to be streamed and tweeted live, will have Skott Ahn, CEO and President of LG Mobile Communication, showing off the two phones and discussing about LG's smartphone business strategy.
Unfortunately, LG didn't throw us a bone regarding the Optimus One and Optimus Chic so there's not much to say about them currently except that they utilize the Android platform and might be powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip.
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LG announcing two more Optimus series smartphones next week :: Reply by leisogand
Replies post is the moral excellence.
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Governments need to be USB-wiser :: Posted by THRASHER2
Why do they do keep losing them?
Government departments and security services need to be a little more sensible when it comes to USB devices, according to the makers of the drives, Kingston Technology. Jim Selby, European Product Marketing Manager said the recent case where top secret terrorist files were dumped outside a police station was totally avoidable.
Selby said that these slips were unavoidable and in most cases there was never any malice involved, it is simply a case of human error. “However, loosing a USB drive that is completely 'open' for such critical security content is unforgivable,” he said.
Given that fully encrypted USB drives only cost £40 even governments on an austerity drive can afford them. Encrypted drives such as those from Kingston Technology would have ensured that even if the finder placed the drive in their computer they would have less than 10 attempts at the password before all data was permanently erased from the device.
“With such simplistic, and low cost secure USB solutions available it never ceases to amaze us just how these situations are ever allowed to happen, Selby told us.
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Governments need to be USB-wiser :: Reply by leisogand
Passed by, had a look casually.
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eLocity A7 7-inch Android tablet available for pre-order :: Posted by THRASHER2
People looking for more alternatives to Apple's iPad may be interested in the eLocity A7, a new 7-inch tablet which runs Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) and is powered by Nvidia's Cortex-A9-based Tegra 2 SoC. This device is now available for pre-order and costs $370.
Seen below, the A7 has a 7-inch touchscreen, the mentioned Tegra chip clocked at 1 GHz, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 4GB of built-in storage, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and USB 2.0, HDMI connectors.
eLocity's Froyo tablet is expected to ship sometime next month.
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EIZO announces the Foris FS2331 23-inch gaming-ready :: Posted by THRASHER2
Better known for its professional-grade display line, EIZO has now introduced something to really entice regular consumers, the Foris FS2331 23.-inch LCD monitor. This new display makes use of a VA (vertical alignment) panel and is claimed to be great for gaming, watching movies and photo editing.
The FS2331 has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a dynamic contrast ratio of up to 10,000:1, a 7ms G2G response time, a maximum brightness of 300 cd/m2, two 0.5W speakers, an EcoView sensor that adjusts the brightness depending on room lighting, and includes D-Sub, DVI and dual HDMI connectors.
EIZO's monitor also features six preset modes - Cinema, Paper, sRGB, Game, and two modes for user adjustable settings, and is backed by a five-year warranty. The Foris FS2331 is supposed to start shipping immediately so we should see it in stores very soon.
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Asus releases three new EeeTop series all-in-one desktops :: Posted by THRASHER2
Asus today announced the continental EU introduction of three new EeeTop PC ET2010 all-in-one desktops boasting 20-inch (1600 x 900) multi-touch displays and running Windows 7 (Home Premium), the ET2010AG, ET2010PNT and ET2010AGT.
The ET2010AG has a recommended price tag of €549 and packs a 1.6 GHz Athlon II 250U X2 dual-core processor, a Radeon HD 5470 graphics card, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB (7200 RPM) hard drive, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Double the amount of RAM and you have the ET2010AGT which costs €679 (there may be other pluses here).
As for the ET2010PNT, it costs €649, and has a 1.66 GHz Atom D510 CPU, a next-gen ION GPU, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB (5400 RPM) HDD, and a 1.0 megapixel webcam.
All three all-in-one PCs include a DVD writer, a 5-in-1 card reader, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and a HDMI output, and are backed by a two-year warranty.
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Kobo offers its own ebook reading desktop application :: Posted by THRASHER2
Catching up to its bigger rivals, Kobo has now released a free application for PCs and Macs that enables people to purchase, manager and read ebooks. Better yet, it lets owners of Nook or Sony e-readers to access the Kobo store and buy new books for their devices.
The Kobo desktop app also comes with various customization settings (font style, size), for a better reading experience, enables offline reading, syncing with Adobe DRM / ePub compatible eReaders, and provides automatic bookmarking.
To try out the Kobo app for PCs and Macs just see this page for the required download.
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Sanyo readies the VPC-GH4 Full HD camcorder :: Posted by THRASHER2
Sanyo has today revealed to the world the newest addition to its Xacti family, the VPC-GH4 dual camera which is scheduled to debut in the US late this month and is capable of 1920 x 1080 60i video recording and taking 12MP stills.
The upcoming camcorder features a CMOS sensor, 10x dual range optical zoom (for video, 5x for stills), a 2.7-inch (230,000 dots) widescreen LCD, a Digital Image Stabilizer, an SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slot, USB 2.0 and mini HDMI connectors, as well as embedded software that enables easy uploads to YouTube, Facebook and Picasa.
"More than ever, consumers are interested in easy to use imaging solutions that deliver with cutting edge technology," says Tom Van Voy, General Manager of the Consumer Solutions Group for Sanyo North America. "Sanyo's GH4 offers the perfect blend of style and performance while recording archive quality photos and videos that people will be proud to display on their HDTVs or share with friends and family from their computer."
Sanyo is expected to cost $200.
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Acer said to be prepping 'Liquid Metal' Android 2.2 :: Posted by THRASHER2
LUMiReader creator Acer is reportedly putting the finishing touches on a new smartphone, a model called Liquid Metal that runs Android 2.2 (enhanced with Acer Shell 4.0), features a metal back cover and metal sides, but a plastic front.
The upcoming device is claimed to boast a 800 MHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM, a 3.61-inch (800 x 480) capacitive touchscreen, a camera with flash, Dolby-certified audio, and Bluetooth 3.0 too.
Pricing and release info is not yet available.
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Samsung's Windows Phone 7-powered GT-i8700 is looking fine :: Posted by THRASHER2
Looks aren't everything, that's for sure, but they are the first to pop up and spark an opinion. That being said, the general opinion regarding the Samsung GT-i8700 running Windows Phone 7 is that it's a good looking smartphone. We don't really known how it performs though.
Pictured just below, the handheld features a large, sharp touchscreen, three touch buttons, a camera (megapixel count unknown) with flash at the back, and 8GB of internal storage. Not much info is known about this one but don't worry, it's likely more leaks are incoming as the GT-i8700 should be released in Q4, maybe just one month from now.
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LG readies four shiny IPS LED monitors :: Posted by THRASHER2
LG Electronics is trying to take its monitor line to another level and for that it has developed four new widescreen LCDs that not only feature a sleek look, but are also equipped with an IPS (in-plane switching) panel, and have LED backlighting.
The upcoming LCDs are known as IPS2062T (20-inch), IPS226V (21.5-inch), IPS236V and IPS231P (both 23-inch), and boasts a glossy black frame that's 19.5 mm thick, a 6ms G2G response time, a 5,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 178/178 degree viewing angles, a brightness of 250 cd/m2, and D-Sub, DVI connectors (HDMI is available on the IPS226V and IPS236V).
The 20-inch model has a native resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels, while the rest tops 1920 x 1080. The IPS231P adds even more to the mix as it packs two 1W speakers and includes a stand that enables height, tilt, swivel and pivot tweaking. The monitors' prices or release date(s) have not been announced.
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Nokia names MS exec Stephen Elop as President and CEO :: Posted by THRASHER2
The shareholders have had their say so now Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer has kicked Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo off both the President and CEO seats and appointed for both positions Stephen Elop, currently the chief of Microsoft's Business Division.
Set to take the helm at Nokia as of September 21st, Elop has also held executive positions at Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems and Macromedia.
"The time is right to accelerate the company's renewal; to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success," said Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Nokia Board of Directors. "The Nokia Board believes that Stephen has the right industry experience and leadership skills to realize the full potential of Nokia. His strong software background and proven record in change management will be valuable assets as we press harder to complete the transformation of the company. We believe that Stephen will be able to drive both innovation and efficient execution of the company strategy in order to deliver increased value to our shareholders."
For all of you wondering, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo will be getting a severance payment consisting of 18 months gross base salary and target incentive which totals approximately €4.6 million. It pays very well to be ex-CEO apparently.
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BitTorrent brings app support with Mainline 7.1 client :: Posted by THRASHER2
Need something to fill the time until the download of that copyrighted content finishes? There an app for that, actually, there are more apps as BitTorrent has now enabled (JavaScript-based) app support in the Release Candidate of the Mainline 7.1 client.
For starters there are 11 apps to be downloaded, including Virus Guard, TorrentTweet and uMap, but BitTorrent is optimistic developers will pitch in and increase their numbers. The available apps are free but in the future we may see paid apps too.
"Apps are a significant new discovery mechanism for our users, and an exciting new way for developers to build awesome functionality for our users," said Eric Klinker, CEO at BitTorrent, Inc. "This is our first step as part of a broader strategic effort to bridge the divide between creators and consumers. Many software and gaming companies are finding success with a 'freemium' philosophy, and with over 14 million BitTorrent Mainline users, apps are an ideal distribution platform for this new generation of developers and creators."
To see how BitTorrent pairs up with apps you can download the Mainline 7.1 RC from here .
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Intel Core 2 Q9000, Q9100, X9100 & QX9300 to retire 2011 :: Posted by THRASHER2
Intel has this week sent out word that four of its 45nm mobile processors, the Core 2 Quad Q9000 (2.0 GHz), Q9100 (2.26 GHz) and the Core 2 Extreme QX9300 (2.53 GHz) and X9100 (3.06 GHz), are set to be discontinued in 2011 due to a shift in market demand towards 32nm products.
The four Core 2 chips are set to be available for orders until March 25th, 2011, the last shipment date for their tray versions being September 30th. The boxed versions of the CPUs are expected to be delivered while supplies last.
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MSI bundling StarCraft II trial with various GeForce cards :: Posted by THRASHER2
Taking Sparkle's example, Taiwanese add-in board manufacturer MSI has now announced a special offer available in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, which sees all GeForce models higher than the N240GT being bundled with a coupon for a StarCraft II trial.
The coupon can be used until December 31st and it enables you to download Blizzard's 3+ million selling RTS StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and play it for free for up to 7 hours in a 14-day timeline.
For a bit more info about this Nvidia-supported offer see nzone.com/trystarcraft2 .
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Silicon Power intros trio of new DDR3-1333 memory products :: Posted by THRASHER2
Silicon Power has now announced the expansion of its memory offer with three solution based on its new 4GB DDR3 module with a 256Mx8 configuration that utilizes the On-DIE Termination (ODT) technology which reduces reduces unwanted reflection signals and maximizes speed rate.
The trio mentioned includes a single 4GB UDIMM, a dual channel kit (4GB x 2) and a triple channel kit (4GB x 3), all working at 1333 MHz with CAS 9 latencies and requiring 1.5V to operate.
Like all Silicon Power memory, the new releases are backed by a lifetime warranty.
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T-Mobile G2 pre-sale starts today, launch set for October 6 :: Posted by THRASHER2
Best Buy Mobile is today starting a pre-sale for T-Mobile's newest Android smartphone, the HTC-manufactured G2, and has announced that the device will be launched in the US on October 6th, priced at $199.99 with new two-year contract.
The G2 runs Android 2.2 and packs a 3.7-inch S-TFT touchscreen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 800 MHz Snapdragon MSM7230 chipset, 4GB of built-in storage, a microSD slot (8GB card will be bundled), a 5 megapixel camera (capable of 720p recording) with LED flash and autofocus, Bluetooth, and a 3.5mm jack.
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AMD to showcase Zacate APU next week :: Posted by THRASHER2
Next week, September 13 to 15, San Francisco, the Intel Development Forum (IDF) is expected to have over 5,000 attendees interested in the upcoming Sandy Bridge processors and other future products. What will AMD be doing during IDF then? It will demo in San Francisco its Zacate chip.
Zacate is an APU (accelerated processing units) aimed for use in value and mainstream notebooks and desktops that is made on 32nm technology, and has two x86 cores, an integrated DirectX 11 GPU, a dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, and a TDP of 18W.
AMD will be showing off Zacate in various scenarios like online gaming with high image-quality settings, full HD streaming of online video, and accelerated Internet browsing. The chip is expected to become available in Q1 2011, probably shortly after Intel's Sandy Bridge launch.
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Scythe Chouriki 2 650W PSUs get 80Gold Plus rating :: Posted by THRASHER2
Scythe EU has now proudly announced that the 650W Chouriki 2 power supply and its modular version (Chouriki 2 Plug-In), which were released in July bearing an 80Plus Silver rating, have been certified to be in compliance with the 80Plus Gold rating (>87% efficiency).
The 'golden' units also comply with the ATX 12V Version 2.3 and EPS 12V standards, use high-quality 105°C Japanese capacitors, have sleeved cables, are cooled off by a 135mm Kama Flex fan (working at up to 1350 RPM), and are backed by a five-year warranty.
The Chouriki 2 650W and Chouriki 2 650W Plug-In PSUs cost €91.50 / $121 and €99 / $132, respectively.
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MSI unveils the N480GTX Lightning super-customized :: Posted by THRASHER2
This week at the MOA (Master Overclocking Arena) 2010 finals, MSI has presented to the world its newest Lightning series graphics card, the N480GTX Lightning which is based on the GeForce GTX 480 but doesn't look a thing like reference models due to its many modifications.
Pictured below, the upcoming GF100-powered card has an oversized PCB with Military Class Components, V-check points, four Proadlizer capacitors, 16 phase PWM, a PWM clock tuner, dual BIOS, and three PCIe power connectors (the 6-pin one is dedicated for the 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory on-board).
MSI's creation also comes equipped with a Twin Frozr III cooler bearing two 90mm fans and five heatpipes, includes a backplate, 480 CUDA Cores, GPU, shader and memory clocks of 750 MHz, 1500 MHz and 4000 MHz, respectively (stock clocks are 400/1401/3696 MHz), 4-way SLI support, and dual-DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.
The N480GTX Lightning is said to go on sale @ $550.
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Analyst's server report pants, says Intel :: Posted by THRASHER2
They'll pull the report soon
An analyst's report into Intel's future in the server market has been pulled after the Chip giant point out it was rubbish. The Trefis report claimed that Intel's market share in the server market was dropping as it had lost significant ground to AMD.
But according to Intel the figures in the report were all wrong. Quoting an IDC report, Intel pointed out it finished Q2 with 93.5 per cent market segment share in the PC server/workstation processor segment, which represented a gain of 3.3 per cent. AMD earned 6.5 per cent which was a loss of 3.3 per cent.
The other thing that seemed to have got Intel's goat in the Trefis report was the statement of Chipzilla's performance. “It is widely accepted that Intel Xeon processors have led the industry on the vast majority of industry standard performance, power, virtualization and other metrics since the launch of the Intel Xeon 5100 processor series in 2006,” Intel claimed. It gave us a nice list of mostly third party benchmarks to prove it.
Normally when a manufacturer complains about an analyst's report, it is a quibble over figures from different sources. The analyst usually stands by their figures and that is the end of it. However Intel assures us that Trefis is going to pull the report, although early this morning it was still up.
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Microsoft might buy Symantec :: Posted by THRASHER2
Everyone wants a virus checker
The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hellish yarn which claims that Microsoft's Steve “Sounds of Silence” Ballmer is about to buy Symantec. Shares in the security outfit rocketed yesterday on the back of news that Steve was about to open his vast pocket book and write a cheque.
It all started when Jefferies & Co. analyst Katherine Egbert stated in a Tuesday research report that the company could be worth $19-$20 a share to a buyer. She stated that a deal for the company was unlikely but added that investors could push the company to make high-level management changes.
Quite how this turned into “Microsoft is going to buy the company” is anyone's guess. The suggestion that now Intel has bought McAffee it is open season on security companies does not really work out.
Symantec is just pulling itself out of a marsh caused by the fact that its products had gained a reputation for slowing computers down. Its latest versions are a bit quicker, but it is facing a lot of inertia towards it. The last thing that Microsoft would want to be associated with is product that has a reputation for being slow.
Redmond already has Microsoft Security Essentials which it is giving away, and it is not that bad. Certainly worth the price.
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Nintendo plugs holes with new firmware :: Posted by THRASHER2
Targets mods as well as flash cartridges
Sony isnÂ’t the only one that is on the offensive in taking it to those that hack their products. Nintendo has been waging a war for some time against those who are hacking the Wii and DSi with user modifications and flash carts.
Nintendo has released new firmware to combat these problems on both the Wii and DSi platforms. The new firmware, which arrived earlier this week, is said to break a number of popular DSi flash cartridges that are used to play pirated copies of DSi games.
In addition, the Wii received firmware that can remove unauthorized firmware or modifications. The Wii update warns that the new firmware can cause your console to no longer work after the firmware update.
Reports from the field say the users can refuse to accept the updated firmware, but it is likely that Nintendo will move to make the new firmware a requirement for new titles released; this means that if you are not running the new firmware you will not be able to play the latest titles.
Of course, the Nintendo community is already trying to find a solution in this never-ending game of cat and mouse.
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Microsoft to announce more Kinect titles :: Posted by THRASHER2
New ones expected during Tokyo Game Show
Microsoft will be announcing some additional new titles for the Kinect add-on during the Tokyo Game Show next week. While the company is keeping what exactly will be announced for the motion control add-on a secret, it is expected that at least some of the titles will be from Japanese publishers. (Rumors tell of a Namco title for certain that is to be part of the announcement.)
Sources tell us that the titles that are to be announced will not be part of the initial Kinect launch, but instead are 2011 releases that are likely for the second and third quarter. While it has been known for some time that Japanese developers have been looking at and working with Kinect development boxes, the majority of the initial launch titles are not from the big-name Japanese publishers.
The only Japanese publisher to jump into the Kinect fray with title announcements have been Konami, with three title announcements, and Hudson Soft, with a single title offering. None of these titles will be part of the initial Kinect launch, but at least some of them are expected to follow quickly after launch.
Microsoft has received a good amount of flack about the number of titles that have been announced supporting Kinect. The initial launch titles will only number eight titles, with currently only eight more officially announced; but our sources suggest that as many as another ten or so will make their way into the development cycle.
A steady stream of software supporting Kinect will be essential for Kinect to even have a shot at being successful, as many analysts continue to harp on the fact that the Kinect add-on is at a disadvantage this holiday season because of its launch price.
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Apple to sell 28 million iPads in 2011 :: Posted by THRASHER2
So they say
UBS Investment Research believes that Apple could sell up to 28 million iPads in 2011.
The outfit noted that strong iPad sales could end up affecting sales of low-end PCs. Come to think of it, consumers can get a pretty nice PC for about the same money as an iPad, so weÂ’re not sure why theyÂ’re going on about low-end products.
Apple doesnÂ’t seem to be overly concerned by the prospect of iPad sales cannibalizing PC sales or MacBook sales for that matter. Apple managed to sell 3.27 million units in Q3, which is a pretty good result.
The success of the iPad is somewhat baffling. ItÂ’s basically a keyboardless smartbook which costs twice as much as a netbook and unlike most Apple products it really doesnÂ’t have much appeal when you think about it. The iPhone is the best smartphone around, MacBooks are feature stunning design and build quality, iPods are still the best audio toys on the market, but the iPad really has none of these things going for it.
However, for some reason the iPad is still doing quite well, although itÂ’s probably the last Apple product any reasonable consumer should buy.
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EVGA rolls out GTX 460 FTW cards :: Posted by THRASHER2
850MHz core
EVGA has refreshed its Geforce GTX 460 lineup with a couple of FTW Edition cards with massively bumped up clocks.
Both cards feature 1024MB of memory and a 256-bit bus, but the EVGA Geforce GTX 460 FTW with external exhaust (EE) features a non-reference cooler. Both cards feature an 850MHz core clock which means they should end up as some of the fastest 460 boards around. In fact, only PoVÂ’s TGT Beast Edition is faster, with an 855MHz clock. The memory has also been given a proper whipping and it runs at 1000MHz.
Neither card could be called cheap, as the FTW with standard exhaust version has an MSRP of $259, while the FTW EE with non-reference cooling should cost $269. Still, itÂ’s probably better to go for the EE version, as EVGA usually knows what itÂ’s doing when it comes to coolers and a $10 premium doesnÂ’t sound like much anyway.
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Geforce GTX 460 gets a bit cheaper :: Posted by THRASHER2
768MB boards apparently dropping under €150
We took a stroll down our price search engine and we ran into some rather interesting price cuts on several Geforce GTX 460 boards. The first price cut rumours appeared on the interweb a few days ago and the cuts seem to confirm the rumours.
Over the past 48 hours numerous European retailers have cut prices on 768MB boards by as much as €20 and some cards are already available for less than €150. The move seems logical, as 768MB versions were simply priced too close to the 1GB model, which also features a wider 256-bit bus. We're still not sure whether the 1GB model will see any significant cuts.
In any case several reference clocked cards are now priced in the €140 to €160 price range. As of Thursday, they are readily available for just over €150 on the continent. However, this is a rather interesting development as Geforce GTS 450 boards are just around the corner and they are expected to sell for around €130. Clearly the new board is going to face a fair bit of in-house competition, Nvidia style.
It’s also interesting to see how Geforce GTX 460 768MB pricing measures up to AMD cards, as it is one of few competitive Nvidia products on the market. Well, actually, it’s the only competitive Nvidia card at the moment. The Radeon HD 5830 is currently selling for €170+, while the Radeon HD 5850 costs more than €220. Obviously, Nvidia’s price cut might force AMD to respond in kind and slash HD 5830/5850 pricing, but it appears that AMD isn’t overly concerned with Nvidia at the moment. AMD has already dropped HD 5830 pricing by €20 in light of the GTX 460 launch, but it hasn’t cut HD 5850 pricing since launch.
Nvidia on the other was forced to drop 400 series pricing several times over the past few months, even on the relatively fresh and competitive Geforce GTX 460. Although this is rather bad news for Nvidia, itÂ’s great news for the average consumers, as the Geforce GTX 460 is now a much better deal than the Radeon HD 5850 and it even comes close to some non-reference Radeon HD 5770 boards. We just need to wait for AMDÂ’s response and it is likely to come over the next few weeks, as the company gears up to introduce the Radeon HD 6000 Series and cut Radeon HD 5000 Series inventory.
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Pegatron sues employee for spying :: Posted by THRASHER2
Leaked secrets to Asustek
Computer maker Pegatron Technology is suing a former employee, claiming that he, or she, leaked trade secrets to Asustek Computer. According to Digitimes, it is not clear who the former employee was, but strangely the outfit has not decided to take its chum Asustek to the cleaners.
One would think if you thought that someone had been leaking information to your rival, suing the rival for its complicity in the matter would be fairly logical. However, Pegatron was once a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asustek, and if it sued them then that would harm the two outfitÂ’s lucrative business relationship.
Although no one knows what secrets were involved nor who the corporate spy was. All that was certain was that the information was related to Pegatron's notebook products. The employee who did the spying was told to clear out his or her desk and was escorted from the premises.
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Apple products are a “bunch of mutants” :: Posted by THRASHER2
Can't kill them straight away
Acer founder Stan Shih has told hacks that Apple products are like mutant viruses which are damn difficult to kill in the short-term.
He said that Apple's strong popularity was because of the iPad and iPhone. Shih added that PC vendors will eventually find a way to isolate Apple and become immune.
Apple deserved respect for running a “revolution” not “evolution” strategy that other other PC makers used. However, he said that history has proved that a market that evolves naturally will always turn out to be much stronger.
In the battle between Microsoft's Windows and OS-X, Apple always look down on Ballmer's boys claiming they lack creativity. But Windows' open platform has attracted the adoption of most PC brands, while Apple's PC market has turned out to be limited. Apple was the betamax, to Redmond's VHS, he pointed out.
Apple's biggest threat comes from open products such as Google's Android operating system which is already attracting a lot PC brands to develop related products. These will eventually isolate Apple users to a point that the outfit is no longer relevant.
On the other hand, Shih praised Job's Mob for its highly integrated hardware and software and online application store. Apple have created a strategy should be a good example for PC brands to learn from.
On another subject, he thinks that the US PC vendors will give up on the market in the long term. IBM's sale of its PC department to Lenovo was one of the first to do this as the profits from PC products will only fall lower.
He predicts that US PC brands will focus on the services industry and leave everything hardware to the Far East.
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11 years since Dreamcast launch :: Posted by THRASHER2
Gone, but still not forgotten
It has been eleven years since the launch of the Sega Dreamcast, which marked the final attempt of Sega to recapture market share against the PlayStation. Despite a significant amount of advertising and title support, the Dreamcast was not able to close the gap on Sony and Nintendo.
What the Dreamcast did do, however, is provide a number of very good titles that were exclusive to the platform. Still, despite a number of unique titles, the platform was hurt by poor third party software support and slow sales and was never quite able to gain significant traction against Sony and Nintendo. Finally, Sega threw in the towel and chose to become a multiplatform software publisher and developer.
The Dreamcast is so significant in video gaming history with its unique titles that a number of Dreamcast titles are being converted to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms and will be sold as downloadable titles. Sega claims that many of the Dreamcast titles are among their most requested titles for sequels, conversions, or re-release.
We will get to see a number of these Dreamcast titles once again as they start appearing on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Despite the difficulty and lack of success that Sega had with the Dreamcast, it still seems to be one of the platforms that many users remember very vividly and with fondness.
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Zotac to offer two Geforce GTS 450 cards :: Posted by THRASHER2
AMP! version clocked at 875MHz
In addition to reference Geforce GTS 450 cards, Zotac will also spice things up with AMP! flavored board.
The core should end up at 875MHz, while the memory was bumped up to 1000MHz, or 4000MHz effective. The numbers come from an early listing by a Polish retailer, so take them with a grain of salt, as retailers sometimes tend to mess up.
WeÂ’re still not sure about the cooler, but judging by previous AMP! cards, itÂ’s likely that it will feature some sort of non-reference cooler. ThereÂ’s still no word on a possible Synergy edition card.
The list price is €152 and the same retailer is offering Zotac’s reference Geforce GTS 450 at €140.
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Lancool PC-K62R Red Dragon reviewed :: Posted by THRASHER2
Lancool is a relatively new name on the computer case market, but if you think they can’t deliver – you’re in for a big surprise. Lancool is actually a subsidiary of the company that needs no introduction – Lian Li. However, unlike Lian-Li, who make their cases of aluminum, Lancool makes their cases from steel, which at the same time pushes the weight up and pricing down.
Today, weÂ’ll look at PC-K62R Red Dragon, which is somewhat of a new and improved version of Dragonlord case, this time with red interior.
As you can already see, PC-K62R Red Dragon resembles some much more expensive high-end cases.
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AMD's upcoming "Barts" XT card pixellized :: Posted by THRASHER2
256-bit memory interface
Right after Cayman and Caicos prototype pictures surfaced, the guys from ChipHell Forums also posted a picture of a prototype Barts XT card, which should end up designated as Radeon HD 6770 unless AMD decides to change its naming scheme at the last minute.
Bear in mind that we are still looking at prototype cards and that the actual retail samples might end up to be a bit different as we are pretty sure that it won't show up in the market with the pixellized cooler. Although the specs are still unknown, it can be seen from pictures that the card need two 6-pin PCI-Express power connectors, has singe Crossfire connector and has two DVI, an HDMI and two mini-DisplayPort connectors.
The card should have a 256-bit memory interface and, according to rumours, an 80% to 100% increase in memory bandwidth when compared to the previous generation.
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Nvidia Geforce 260.52 Beta internal drivers leaked :: Posted by THRASHER2
Installation redesign, new Dynamic Tiling mechanism
Recently, two graphics enthusiast forum threads originating from Guru3D and Rage3D have provided links to a leaked internal Nvidia Geforce 260.52 Beta driver release that managed to quietly spread its way around the web. Originally sourced from a Taiwanese forum post, the original driver download link has been removed at the request of Nvidia. Nevertheless, many hardware forum aficionados, including Fudzilla, were able to get hold of the drivers before they were removed.
Nvidia's internal Geforce 260.52 Beta drivers are dated Wednesday, September 1, 2010 and include support for Geforce 8, 9, 100, 200, 300 and 400 Series desktop cards (including the upcoming Geforce GTS 450). They also come bundled with a new PhysX 9.10.0514 software update.
The new driver package marks a departure from the rather unified installation process Nvidia has implemented over the past few years. Users now have the freedom to perform an Express Install, where GPU drivers are updated while current Nvidia settings are retained, or a Custom (Advanced) Install, which allows custom installation options for discreet driver components. In other words, Nvidia has finally implemented the driver installation flexibility that AMD Catalyst users have known for so many years, as the company now allows users to uncheck the installation of PhysX System Software, the 3D Vision Driver, and the Graphics Driver individually. This is particularly useful for users without Nvidia 3D Vision setups who find themselves constantly uninstalling 3D Vision software and disabling Windows services related to 3D Vision driver components for every new update.
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