Samsung S5830 Android 2.2 smartphone detailed :: Posted by THRASHER2
Beside showing off the successors of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, Samsung is claimed to be revealing at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (February 14-17) a mid-range smartphone codenamed S5830 which runs Android 2.2 and packs a TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 320 pixels.
The alleged 'Galaxy S mini' measures 123.9 x 59.8 x 11.85 mm, and features a 5 megapixel fear-facing camera with LED flash, a microSD slot, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a micro USB port. The processor powerinfg the phone is yet unknown.
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Intel reportedly planning to acquire wafer supplier IQE :: Posted by THRASHER2
Big money maker Intel is said to be planning to bid £487 million (about $771 million) for UK-based IQE Plc, a supplier of semiconductor wafer products for wireless and optoelectronic components, photovoltaics and silicon based epitaxy.
IQE has already collaborated with Intel on paper on the development of InGaAs Quantum Well Field Effect Transistors (QWFETs) for low power logic applications. If the acquisition goes through then IQE's technology and innovations are expected to be used for Intel's next-gen semiconductor offerings.
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Smartbook AG debuts the Surfer 360 MN10U Tegra 2 tablet :: Posted by THRASHER2
German company Smartbook AG (you know, the guys with the fuss over the 'smartbook' word) has now introduced a new, no, not a smartbook, a new tablet, one called Surfer 360 MN10U which is powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 SoC and runs Android 2.2.
Smartbook's device measures 27.5 cm x 17.8 cm x 1.36 cm, weights about 750 grams, and features a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) touchscreen, 512MB of DDR2 memory, 512MB of flash storage, a microSD slot, 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, 3G, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, a mini USB port, and a 3300 mAh battery.
The Surfer 360 MN10U has a recommended retail price tag of €499.
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MSI WindPad 100W Windows slate hitting Europe at €599 :: Posted by THRASHER2
MSI has announced that its WindPad 100W 10-inch slate will become available in Europe (Germany will get it first) at the end of this month priced at €599. The tablet PC runs Windows 7 and is powered by Intel's 1.6 GHz Atom Z530 processor.
Seen below, the incoming WindPad has a 1024 x 600 touchscreen, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB solid state drive, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a G-sensor, front and rear cameras, and USB, mini HDMI connectors. The 100W is pre-loaded with MSI Wind Touch Pack software and comes backed by a two-year warranty.
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Antec rolling out the Sonata IV low-noise PC case :: Posted by THRASHER2
Just as the madness of CES week ensued, Antec introduced its fourth-generation Sonata PC case which, like its predecessors, is all about low-noise computing. Named Sonata IV, the new mid-tower case is equipped with a whisper-quiet 620W power supply and supports mini-ITX, micro ATX and ATX boards.
Seen below, Antec's quiet chassis measures 478 (H) x 208 (W) x 440 (D) mm, weights 9.3kg, and has a front I/O panel (2 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, audio in & out), three external 5.25-inch bays, one 2.5-inch and four 3.5-inch internal bays, plus one 120mm TriCool 3-speed fan installed at the rear.
The Sonata IV is backed by a three-year warranty and has a recommended price tag of $199.95.
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GeForce GTX 580 getting WindForce cooling - Gigabyte :: Posted by THRASHER2
The WindForce is surely strong with Gigabyte as the company has developed another GF110-powered card equipped with a WindForce 3X three-fan cooler, the GV-N580UD-15I (GeForce GTX 580).
Seen below, the yet undated and unpriced card has 512 CUDA Cores, slightly overclocked GPU (795 MHz) and shaders (1590 MHz), a 384-bit memory interface, 1536MB of GDDR5 memory set to 4008 MHz, an Ultra Durable design (2oz copper PCB, solid capacitors), 3-way SLI support, and dual-DVI + mini HDMI outputs. Thoughts? Cravings? Or are you waiting for the GeForce GTX 560 too?
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MSI also reveals two GeForce GTX 580 Twin Frozr II graphics :: Posted by THRASHER2
Today, beside the two GTX 570s detailed earlier, MSI introduced two GeForce GTX 580 cards that both utilize the Twin Frozr II cooler, the N580GTX Twin Frozr II and N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC. Both models are cooler and quieter than reference models and are powered by the GF110 40nm GPU.
Both custom-cooled GTX 580s feature 512 CUDA Cores, a 384-bit memory interface, 1536MB of GDDR5 VRAM, 3-way SLI support, and dual-DVI and mini HDMI outputs. In terms of clocks, the N580GTX Twin Frozr II has its GPU/shaders/memory at 772/1544/4008 MHz (reference frequencies, while the N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC is set to 823/1645/4276 MHz.
We found the N580GTX Twin Frozr II/OC listed on pre-order @ €466.22.
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Oracle sued for theft of source code :: Posted by THRASHER2
Isn't that what it sued SAP for
Oracle is finding itself on the receiving end of some of the accusations it levelled against SAP.
A Texan security software company 2FA claims that Oracle has been nicking its source code. In a 31-page legal document, 2FA claimed Passlogix, which is now an Oracle subsidiary, stole source code for authentication and credential management software to use in its own v-GO UAM product line.
To be fair to Oracle the 2FA claimed the source code theft had been going on before the US$42 million Oracle acquisition. But now it was using the Passlogix software with pilfered 2FA code on account of Oracle's purchase of the company. Passlogix had a 2FA licencing agreement back in 2006, but the agreement provided licence to 2FA software under very restrictive terms. To make matters worse a Passlogix product manager sent an email containing 2FA source code to other members of staff who "had no requirement to access" such information.
2FA claimed Oracle knew, or should have known, that some of the intellectual property it was acquiring in the Passlogix deal was illicitly taken. The case is very similar to won which Oracle won against SAP. Ellison's outfit was awarded $1.3 billion from SAP whose subsidiary TomorrowNow illegally downloaded millions of Oracle's files before and after it was bought out.
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Toshiba Folio 100 Tegra 2 tab shipping :: Posted by THRASHER2
399 euro, shipping today
We saw Toshiba Folio 100 10.1 inch tablet in the USA and it works really nice. Imagine our surprise to see that you can buy one as of this week in Austria. The Folio 100 tablet is a 10.1-inch, 1024x600 tablet currently running Android 2.2 and there's a good chance it will get Honeycomb Android 3.0 update as soon as it's out.
The tablet weights 760 grams or 1.67 lbs has 16GB internal memory expandable further with SDHC slot to additional 32GB. It also comes with two USB 2.0 slot and HDMI that supports 1080p playback. LetÂ’s not forget the 1.3M pixel camera and 2x0.5W stereo speakers.
Based on the assumption that you will use Folio 100 for web surfing 65 percent or the time, 10 percent for video playback and 25 percent for standby, your battery life should come close to 7 hours. The battery included has 2040mAh, 11.1V, 22.6Whr.
You can also buy Toshiba FOLIO 100 TV Kit Dockingstation that comes with HDMI out and 3X USB 2.0 and a remote, priced at quite steep € 69.55 and an equally pricey leather pouch for €30.85.
We definitely think that with a €399 price tag this might be the first reasonably priced tabelts, but still we miss 3G support. PoV's 10-inch Mobii also ships with Tegra 2 and costs between €350 and €400 depending on the market.
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Early GTX 560 Ti benches tip up in China :: Posted by THRASHER2
Looks quite promising
Several early benchmarks of NvidiaÂ’s upcoming GTX 560 Ti board were posted at the chiphell.com discussion board and the results look quite promising.
According to the figures, the 560 managed to outperform the old 460 by about 25 percent and the same goes for AMDÂ’s HD 6870. Surprisingly, the 560 is very close to the Cayman based HD 6950, at least in 3Dmark.
The card scores P4118 in 3Dmark 11, while the Vantage score stands at P20644. As expected, the GTX 560 Ti ended up with 384 shaders, 32 ROPs, 1024MB of GDDR5 memory and a 256-bit bus with a total memory bandwidth of 128.3GB/s. The default GPU clock appears to be 823MHz, while the shaders and memory ended up at 1645MHz and 1002MHz respectively. This is quite a bit faster than the GTX 460, although some factory overclocked GTX 460 boards ended up at 850MHz.
Mind you, the results should be taken with a grain of salt, but nonetheless the GTX 560 appears to deliver impressive performance. It should be able to match AMDÂ’s HD 6950, so at this point it all comes down to the price. The GTX 560 should launch later this month and January 25 is being tossed around as the launch date.
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Tesla MotorsÂ’ new sedan to feature Nvidia chips :: Posted by THRASHER2
Call Tegra for infotainment
NvidiaÂ’s Tegra chips have managed to find their way to a somewhat unlikely customer, California-based car maker Tesla Motors.
TeslaÂ’s new Model S, the companyÂ’s first sedan, will feature an infotainment system based on NvidiaÂ’s SoC. The system will feature a 17-inch touchscreen in the center console and it will incorporate infotainment, navigation. It appears that a secondary 12.3-inch screen will serve as an-all digital instrument cluster and it will deliver vehicle info. The smug will love it.
Nikola Tesla would have probably been proud to see his name on such a geeky car, but we are guessing Jeremy Clarkson will hate it for a number of reasons.
ItÂ’s also worth noting that Nvidia struck a deal with Audi to use Nvidia GPUs and other chips in AudiÂ’s next generation MMI system.
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Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual core ARM demonstrated :: Posted by THRASHER2
Big GHz fight in 2011
Qualcomm has decided to show its dual Scorpion based MSM8x60 mobile CPU and it also told the world that this CPU can hit 1.2GHz, per core that is.
The chip has an Adreno 220 GPU that we know little about and of course its a 45nm chip since 28nm should be only ready in the latter part of 2011. The chip should be able to do high definition stereoscopic 3D video, and multi-party video conferencing as well as some nice gaming.
It is intended for tablets and phones and you can bet that you will find this core in one of the future HTC phones, simply as Qualcomm has quite a few shares in HTC, or so we heard.
With its 1.2GHz core clock MSM8x60 looks to be faster than Tegra 2, but Tegra 2 is available today and Qualcomm is still to ship its first tablet or phone based on this chip. Browsing with two cores should be significantly faster than with one core, which kind of makes sence, but again, lets see it shipping in real designs first.
LetÂ’s not forget Texas instruments who is about to ship its 1GHz OMAP 4430 chip and with hope to see 1.5GHz version later this year.
You can read more about the MSM8x60 and see Anand Lal Shimpi's fancy shoes here.
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TI OMAP 4440 1.5GHz in 2H 2011 :: Posted by THRASHER2
Heating up clock wars
Whether you like it or not, the ARM revolution is happening today and these small chips are starting to matter to the world just as much as Intel and AMD chips do. They will get to many tablets and mobile phones in 2011 and onward and most of the 2011 models are dual-core.
We just mentioned the 1.5GHz OMAP 4440 chip yesterday and we got confirmation from a source close to Texas Instruments that this fancy fast chip can ship in the second half of 2011.
Texas (non-chainsaw) chaps do believe that that have a good case against Tegra 2 and that they can outperform it in certain cases with both 1GHz OMAP 4430 and OMAP 4440 at 1.5GHz.
TI will also fight well against Qualcomm MSM8x60 clocked at 1.2GHz dual-core and one thing that differentiates these three chips is the graphics. Nvidia has its own Geforce stuff, Qualcomm has Adreno renamed from ATIÂ’s Imagion mobile graphics while Texas instruments relies on PowerVR for its graphics. Graphics and content will definitely play a big role in the future of mobile computing graphics.
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Intel posts record quarter, again :: Posted by THRASHER2
Announces optimistic Q1 forecast
Chipmaker Intel has reported a record quarter once again and the outfit believes it will do even better in Q1 2011.
The company reported a profit of $3.39 billion for Q4 2010, up from $2.3 billion a year earlier. Revenue was $11.46 billion, up 8.4 percent sequentially. Intel believes that its Q1 revenue could reach $11.9 billion
CEO Paul Otellini told investors that 2011 will be even better, thanks to the economic recovery and IntelÂ’s plans to refresh its product lineup.
Intel believes that the first quarter of 2011 will be a bit above seasonal, thanks to the introduction of Sandy Bridge processors. CFO Stay Smith believes IntelÂ’s revenue will go up by about 10 percent in 2011.
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Western Digital outs 750GB notebook Scorpio :: Posted by THRASHER2
Notebook storage for big boys
Western Digital today announced their latest and largest high performance drive in their Scorpio Black product line. The new Scorpio Black drive, WD7500BPKT, sports whopping 750 GB of storage, rusn at 7200 RPM and will fits in 2.5-inch SATA form factor.
Just like the other drives in Western Digital's Scorpio Black product line, the drive combines 7200 RPM spin speed with 16 MB cache to deliver high performance mobile computing.
Prices for the new 750GB model stand at $149.00 USD and it just began shipping in the U.S. to select resellers and distributors. Western Digital is backing the new drives with a five-year limited warranty.
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Jensen shows HDMI 1080 Optimus 2X :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: World's first Tegra 2 superphone
We just got introduced to LG Optimus 2X. old news if you ask us. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang and an LG VP showed the phone that they described as a beauty on the outside and monster inside.
Huang also showcased the phone's HDMI output, which enables you to easily connect it to a TV or monitor. He then demonstrated Angry Birds in full HD and of course you can also play 1080p movies.
Nvidia claims Optimus 2X has console gaming quality, 1080p support, HDMI as well an 8MB camera. LG thinks the design is great, they want you to fall in love with it. This was what the design team came up with, while technicians tinkered with the Tegra 2 platform and showed off what it can do. A game demonstration showed that the new phone is five times faster than previous generation phones based on single-core processors.
All in all it's a fast, good looking phone and it also supports Flash, unlike some devices that come to mind. We are expecting to see LG's new Optimus 2X in retail in several weeks and other vendors will also introduce dual-core phones soon.
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Skype has tablet chat in HD :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: No presentation though
Skype has HD video conferencing and Nvidia was supposed to demonstrate it.
Since the geek journalists in the press room used up all the bandwidth, the demonstration was not possible.
So you just got to trust Nvidia and Skype on their word. Meanwhile, we're off to waste more bandwidth.
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Nvidia ushers in the age of the superphone :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: A mobile platform with full Flash compatibility
During Nvidia's press conference at CES 2011 in Las Vegas, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang went into detail about a mobile paradigm shift that is radically changing the face of computing technology. The idea that more and more consumers are shifting from content production to content consumption was emphasized during the keynote, particularly with focus on advancements in mobile computing power to make it all possible.
The big star of the show this year was NvidiaÂ’s long delayed Tegra 2 dual-core mobile processor. Introduced last year at NvidiaÂ’s CES 2010 keynote, the 40nm SoC platform features an ARM dual-core Cortex A9 CPU coupled with an ultra-low power GeForce GPU in a marketed TDP envelope of just 500mW.
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Zotac rolls out its H67-ITX WiFi motherboard :: Posted by THRASHER2
Sandy Bridge ready mini-ITX
Following the launch of Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs, Zotac has announced its latest addition to the mini-ITX motherboard lineup, the H67-ITX WiFi.
As you could have guessed from the name, the new motherboard is based on Intel's H67 chipset and supports Intel's 2nd generation Core LGA1155 processors, also known as the Sandy Bridge.
The motherboard itself features a single PCI-Express x16 slot, two DDR3-1333 memory slots, two SATA 6.0Gbps and four SATA 3.0Gbps ports, Gigabit LAN, integrated 802.11n 300Mbps WiFi, four USB 3.0 ports and eight USB 2.0 ports, 7.1-channel audio ad has HDMI, DVI and Displayport outputs.
The motherboard gives you a lot of building options as you can either make a small HTPC with Intel's HD 2000/3000 graphics or even go for some high-end graphics card and make a mini-ITX gaming system.
Unfortunately, the price or the availability date haven't been announced but we guess it will hit retail after January 9th, or simply, once those Sandy Bridge CPUs are ready for selling.
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Nvidia rolls out its GTX 500M series mobile chips :: Posted by THRASHER2
And Geforce GTX 485M
In the wake of its ARM related announcements, Nvidia has also introduced its new mobile lineup, including the Geforce GTX 500M series and the Geforce GTX 485M, the fastest mobile solution from Nvidia.
The Geforce GTX 485M features 384 CUDA cores and works at 575MHz for the GPU, 1150MHz for Shaders while the GDDR5 memory ended up clocked at 3000MHz and paired up with a 256-bit memory interface. The GTX 500M lineup includes a total of five chips ranging from the Geforce GT 555M to the Geforce GT 520M.
The top of the GT 500M line is the Geforce GT 555M that has 144 CUDA cores and works at 590MHz for the GPU, 1180MHz for Shaders and 1800MHz for DDR3 memory paired up with a 192-bit memory interface. The GT 550M, 540M and 525M all have 96 CUDA cores and work at 740MHz, 672MHz and 600MHz for the GPU and come with 1800MHz DDR3 memory paired up with a 128-bit memory interface.
The entry level GT 520M chip has 48 CUDA cores clocked at 1480MHz while the GPU ended up clocked at 720MHz. This one comes with a 1600MHz clocked DDR3 memory that is paired up wiht a 64-bit memory interface.
All chips have support for DirectX 11, Nvidia's PhysX, CUDA, 3DVision and Optimus.
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Corsair announces its Performance 3 Series SSDs :: Posted by THRASHER2
SATA 6.0Gbps and 480/320 MB/s speeds
Corsair took CES 2011 by storm and announced a handful of products that will be available in the first quarter of 2011. One of them is the Performance 3 Series of solid state drives.
These 2.5-inch flash heavens are based on Marvell's 9174 controller, have 128MB of cache, SATA 6.0Gbps interface and will be available in 64, 128 and 256GB capacities. The performance, or transfer speed, varies depending on the model so the 64GB one will be able to max out at 365MB/s for read and 110MB/s for write. The 128GB model will have 410MB/s read speed and 210MB/s write speed, while the top offer, 256GB one will top out at 480MB/s for read and 320MB/s for write.
There's no word on pricing as of yet, but Corsair announced availability by the end of this month, so we'll certainly keep an eye out for them.
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Motorola's XOOM tablet officially announced :: Posted by THRASHER2
From Verizon in Q1
Since Andy Rubin showed the prototype of Motorola's tablet running on Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, it has been filling the news posts and now it is finally officially announced. The Motorola XOOM is a 10.1-inch slate tablet powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip.
The official announcement includes the specifications as well as the fact that this one will be heading to Verizon and will be available in Q1. The 4G connectivity will also be available as an update in Q2 2011. The full specification list includes a 10.1-inch capacitive screen with 1280x800 resolution, a 5 megapixel camera, with 720p video recording, Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip for some 1080p playback, 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and 32GB of SSD storage.
According to Motorola, the battery is powerful enough to keep it going for 10 hours of video playback. Looks good for now and all we need now is the price.
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MSI's Brazos Wind U270 pixellized :: Posted by THRASHER2
AMD E-350 APU
We managed to score some detailed pictures of MSI's upcoming Brazos based Wind U270 netbook/notebook.
This 12-incher will be based on AMD's Brazos E-350 APU clocked at 1.6GHz and suplemented by integrated Radeon HD 6310 graphics. As far as the specifications are concerned, we know that it will have D-Sub and HDMI outputs, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, card reader, 802.11bgn WiFi, Ethernet and Webcam.
Enjoy the pictures.
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MSI's GT780 gaming notebook detailed :: Posted by THRASHER2
By gamers for gamers
We managed to score some details regarding MSI's latest top-notch gaming notebook, the GT780. As these notebooks are mostly bought by gamers and those that are looking for a powerful desktop replacement, MSI partnered up Steelseries and its Fnatic, Evil Geniuses gaming teams from Europe and the US in order to make the best gaming notebook on the market.
As far as the technical specifications are concerned, we are looking at a notebook powered by Intel's latest Sandy Bridge Core i7 processor paired up with Intel's HM67 chipest and yet to be announced Geforce GTX 560M with 1.5GB of memory. The GT780 is a 17.3-incher with either a full HD 1920x1080 or HD+ 1600x900 screen, dual HDD with up to 1TB of space, has two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, D-Sub and HDMI 1.4 outputs, Ethernet, 802.11bgn WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 2.1-channel speakers with THX TruStudio Pro and HD type 720p capable webcam. The entire notebook will be powered by a 9-cell 7800mAh battery.
Not to get to those gamer related features. The partnership with Steelseries brought a keyboard that is more gaming oriented as the most used keys in games are enlarged (like the left side Ctrl), and keys actually use a "just solid" solution that brings back the good old click. Another noticable thing is the lack of left side windows key, a yet another gamer preference. The keyboard will also feature an exclusive MSI LED manager which features a three-zone LED backlight.
The notebook will have an unique "engine start" power button and a mirror reflective touch sensors above the keyboard. The new GT780 beast looks good and all we need now is to see it shops and in some reviews.
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Razer announces its 7-inch handheld concept :: Posted by THRASHER2
Atom powered Switchblade
It looks like Razer, a company that has always surprised us with its peripheral products, is planning to make a move into a new market segment - handheld gaming devices.
The Switchblade, as Razer decided to brand this one, is a 7-inch Atom powered handheld that has a 7-inch multi-touch display and a small keyboard that can be customized depending on the game that you are running.
Since we are talking about Intel's Atom CPU, we guess that serious gaming is off the table, but Switchblade looks decent and we certainly won't doubt the quality of Razer's products. Of course, Razer was perfectly clear that we are looking at a concept design and that Switchblade might not even come out for that matter, but one can never know.
On the spec side of things, the Switchblade features a USB 3.0 port, mini HDMI output, WiFi and 3G connectivity and the mentioned Intel Atom CPU.
It's a nice concept that might find a buyer or two especially considering that it runs on Windows 7 and can be used for more than just basic gaming. However, taking into account the fact that market will soon be filled with a bunch of tablets, we doubt that it will have much success.
You can check out the video of Switchblade in action below.
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Nvidia expects record notebook revenue :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: 2011 should be a good year for Nvidia
2010, the last year of the past decade was not particularly great for Nvidia. The company had no success in pushing Tegra 2 due Google's OS delay, Fermi was late and the chipset business basically dissaperead into thin air. People also got scared about the future of company, as Nvidia doesnt have an x86 based CPU.
Things started to recover later this year and recently Nvidia announced 200 design wins for Sandy Bridge notebooks. Some 85 percent of them will have Optimus, claims Rene Haas, Nvidia Notebook Division General Manager. Haas believes that this looks to be the best year for Nvidia's notebook business.
Nvidia also believes that Sandy Bridge won't change the integration rate on notebooks and that 85 percent of notebooks sold in China actually have a discrete GPU. Naturally this number is significantly lower in the US and EU market.
Overall it all looks good for Nvidia's mobile business. The company launched the 520M, a brand new chip, as well as 540M and 550M parts, so naturally you can expect to see some bigger numbers to replace 460M and 485M in the performance and high-end segment.
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Microsoft shows another touchable rodent :: Posted by THRASHER2
Touch Mouse to debut in June
Microsoft has detailed yet another touchable rodent that will be selling alongside its Arc Touch sibling in June, the Touch Mouse.
The new Touch Mouse features a standard mouse look and will allow simple clicks, touch scrolling as well as three-finger gestures. According to Microsoft, thanks to the Microsoft Hardware team that has developed multitouch gestures the Windows 7 will be easier, simpler and more fun to use with the Touch Mouse.
On the spec side, the Touch Mouse is based on BlueTrack technology and connects wirelessly to the computer. The current pre-order price tag is set at US $79.95 over at Amazon.com.
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Nvidia shares spiked by Windows 8 for ARM :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: ARM matters, or so it seems
Analysts all over the world are super excited about Microsoft's confirmation that Windows 8 that can run on x86 and ARM.
Nvidia shares have spiked to $19.20 at press time, some 13.31 percent up. Just for comparison, Nvidia was at $16.05 on Wednesday, January 5, and since then the stock grew by some 30 percent.
At the same time ARM opened at $23.64 and fell to $21.88 yesterday, thanks to market “experts”. Today it is again slightly lower that it opened, but there is still some time before the market closes. It should be clear that without ARM there won't be Tegra or Denver or any other TI or Qualcomm ARM chips, so it would be natural to see ARM spiking together with Nvidia. Try not to make sense out of the stock market, it can be logical as a the winning strategy in black jack in Las Vegas. (Don't gamble away our pension plan. sub.ed.)
Qualcomm moved by less than one percent and they have the most chips in mobile phones based on ARM, while Texas Instruments, another leader in the ARM market just went up by less than two percent.
Kudos to Jen Hsun Huang, Nvidia's CEO who convinced the market that they are worth jumping 30 percent in a matter of days, despite the fact that you still can't buy an actual Tegra 2 product anywhere. He really is a master of show business and politics and we wonder if he could become the next Schwarzenegger.
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Dell officially introduces Streak 7 :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: 4G streaks to T-Mobile
Dell unveiled its Streak 7 tablet at CES today with much fanfare, touting it as the first tablet designed to fully utilize T-Mobile's 4G infrastructure.
The new tablet features a 7-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen protected by Gorilla glass and it's powered by Nvidia's Tegra 2 processor. The Streak 7 runs Android 2.2 and it ships with numerous preloaded apps.
Dell managed to pack a 5MP camera into the sleek 12.5mm thick body and there's also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calls. It packs 16GB of memory along with an SD compatible slot compatible with cards up to 32GB.
All in all it is an interesting piece of kit, but we still don't know the exact prices and data plans available on T-Mobile.
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Google previews Android 3.0 on YouTube :: Posted by THRASHER2
GOOGLE has uploaded a Video to their YouTube channel giving us the first real preview to Android 3.0, code named Honeycomb.
One of the things that you will notice is the much cleaner and professional interface which should make for an amazing tablet experience. This upcoming version of Android clearly demonstrates why Google has been holding back OEMs from shipping tablets with Android 2.2.
We were shown a pre-recorded demo, but Google still won't let manufacturers show live demonstrations to the general public.
Android 3.0 should ship in Q1 2011 and here is the video that Google posted:
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Verizon Wireless unveils 4G LTE smartphones, tablets :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: Ten in total
Verizon wireless announced earlier today at their CES press conference a lineup of ten upcoming 4G LTE devices. The lineup included smartphones from HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung; tablets from Motorola and Samsung; a MiFi from Novatel Wireless and a mobile hotspot from Samsung; and two notebooks from HP.
Smartphones
* HTC ThunderBolt (exclusive to Verizon Wireless) – HTC Sense 2.0, Skype mobile with video, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3” WVGA display, Dolby surround sound, 8-megapixel camera and HD video recording, wireless DLNA capability.
* LG Revolution – HD support for streaming, playing and recording video, large 4.3-inch touch screen, Android 2.2, video telephony support with front-facing camera and mobile hotspot capability to share a 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
* DROID Bionic 4G – Android with Adobe Flash and HTML5, front-facing VGA camera and "See What I See" video feature, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch HD quality screen, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, 512 DDR2 RAM.
*
Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone – Android 2.2, Google Mobile services, including Google Search, Google Maps and Gmail, YouTube, brilliant 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus touch screen display, powerful 1GHz application processor, HTML5 Web browser, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera to support video chat capabilities, Samsung Social Hub and Media Hub.
Tablets
* Motorola XOOM – 10.1-inch HD 4G LTE upgradable tablet, Android Honeycomb, 1080p HD video, Adobe® Flash® Player, front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats and 5-megapixel camera to capture video in 720P HD. Mobile hotspot capability provides connection for up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
*
4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab – 7-inch enhanced TFT display with 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution, Android 2.2, Adobe Flash 10.1, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird application processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder enable video chat capabilities.
MiFi and Mobile Hotspot
* Novatel MiFi 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot – Small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, share Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE and 3G networks with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.
* Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – Dual-mode device works as a wireless access point to connect up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices to Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE or 3G networks.
Notebooks
* Compaq CQ10-688nr – 10.1-inch diagonal anti-glare widescreen LED display, Intel Atom N455 processor, up to 8.5 hours of battery life, multi-format digital media card reader, webcam and multiple connectivity options.
*
HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr – 11.6-inches, HP CoolSense Technology, HD 1080p, VISION Technology from AMD, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage, full-size, island-style keyboard, multi-format digital media card reader, HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio and GPS for mapping and navigation.
Verizon expects these consumer-oriented devices to be available by mid-2011, with some available as early as March 2011. The company also announced it is expanding its 4G LTE network to an additional 140 markets by the end of this year.
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Android overtakes iOS in U.S. smartphone users :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: RIM leads the mobile pack
Comscore has released their latest data on U.S. smartphone owners for the three months leading up to November, 2010. It says that 61.5 million people, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period, own smartphones in the U.S.
comscore-phoneplatform-november2010
As it stands, Blackberry maker, RIM still leads with 33.5 percent market share of smartphones. RIM managed to lose 4.1 percent of their share, down from 37.6 in August to 33.5 in November 10 2010.
Google which has been gaining ground over the last year, and has captured the number two ranking among smartphone platforms. As of November Google had a 26.0 percent marketshare of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Android has grown from 19.6 perecnt in August 2010 to 26.0 percent or 6.4 percent.
Apple has slipped into third place and accounted for just 25.0 percent of smartphone subscribers gaining only 0.8 percent.
Microsoft lost 1.8 percent and receded downward from 10.8 to 9.0 percent, while Palm lost 0.7 percent from its previous standing of 4.6 percent settling into last place to 3.9 percent in November. The current trend shows that Google is on a sharp expansion, and that it will surely continue in the upcoming months.
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Parrot demos Asteroid, a connected car media solution :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: Drives with Android
Parrot has introduced it's connected car solution at CES. The head unit replaces a single-DIN spaced radio in your car, and it is basically a standard receiver with web service apps, voice recognition and hands-free bluetooth telephone.
The unit has a detachable face plate, runs on a customized version of Android, and comes preloaded with a selection of applications. Asteroid comes preloaded with a few streaming internet radio applications including Orange Live radio and Deezeer. An application called "Coyote", will warn you about traffic conditions, and speed cameras while "Maps" will give you directions to the places you would like to explore. There is a "Fuel for less" and "Parking dispo" to help find you a good price for fuel and free parking spots.
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EVGA shows off first GTX 595 :: Posted by THRASHER2
Still waiting for Antilles
Few AIBs had any truly interesting products for CES 2011, but EVGA managed to turn heads with the first Nvidia 500 series dual-GPU board.
The card, apparently designated GTX 595, packs two GF110 cores and it will be quite interesting to see how Nvidia and EVGA managed to cope with the thermals. EVGA used a massive heatpipe cooler with no fewer than three fans, but we still don't know the clocks. We can only assume that the clocks are somewhat lower than on the GTX 580. There is no word on price, availability, or the amount of memory for that matter.
However, it's worth noting that AMD's dual-GPU Antilles board is also just around the corner. While the Cayman is marginally slower than the GF110 in a single-GPU environment, it's worth noting that AMD might have a bit more room to tinker with the clocks thanks to slightly lower TDPs, so Antilles could come a bit closer to the GTX 595.
We will probably have to wait until mid-Q1 to see GTX 595 and Antilles cards in action, but we're really not sure they are worth the wait. Both cards will draw a lot of power and generate obscene amounts of heat and we doubt many current games will benefit from the extra performance.
More here.
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Geforce GTX 595 has two GF110s :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: And two 2x4 PCIe connectors
One thing is sure, Nvidia's dual-chip Geforce GTX 595 packs two GF110 cores. This is the chip behind Geforce GTX 580 and it is not exactly the coolest chip around. We can also deny any plans for a GF104-based dual-card from Nvidia.
The card has a dual-slot cooler with three fans on it, at least the one from EVGA does and we can expect that the card will end up quite fast.
Judging by the two 2x4 PCIe connectors the total power available to the card is 225W and we can only hope that consumption won't be too bad. It will most certainly be hot, but end users like silent fans and they kind of make peace with the fact that they are getting one very hot but extremely fast card.
AMD's dual-GPU Antilles card is scheduled to appear in late Q1 and it will also end up pretty hot and fast.
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AMD to have HD 6990 dual cards in February :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: After Chinese new year
The way the component industry works is that you either launch your product in January or in case you are not ready by then, you have to push the launch back till after Chinese New Year.
The target to launch Radeon HD 6990 in the latter half of February, but donÂ’t be surprised if it slips to early March.
The card is based on AMD's Cayman chip but there is a rumour that there might also be a dual-card based on two Barts cores. It is clear that this card might be one of the hottest card ever, but this is something that you have to expect from any high-end dual chip product.
We donÂ’t know who will win this round. With Nvidia's two GF110 chips on its dual card, Nvidia appears to have a slight advantage, but we still have to see about that.
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Geforce GTX 560 comes in late January :: Posted by THRASHER2
CES 2011: Tuesday the 25th
It looks like Nvidia's Geforce GTX 560 might show up before the end of the month. Tuesday the 25th is probably the last Tuesday that Nvidia can use, in the eve of the Chinese New Year.
During Chinese new year, it's next to impossible to get any serious hardware shipment out of Asia.
Geforce GTX 560 is a fully enabled GF104 core with all eight clusters turned on and we used to call this card GTX 475 before. Nvidia thinks that calling it Geforce GTX 560 is a better idea and that it will be a worthy replacement for the GTX 460.
The card is faster than the GTX 470 and promises great performance in the $199 market. Nvidia lacked competitive products in this price range, so the new card should put more pressure on AMD's Radeon HD 6870 in this market.
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Nintendo will ship 4 million 3DS units :: Posted by THRASHER2
A good number for fiscal year 2011
Nintendo is already starting to talk units shipped for projects for the 3DS. In the past, Nintendo has not always had enough product on the shelves for consumers when demand was high. It is still unknown how the buying public will feel about the 3DS.
At any rate, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata confirmed ahead of the final day of the Nintendo World event in Japan that they will ship at least 4 million 3DS units worldwide before the end of fiscal year 2011. Japan will get 1.5 million units and the rest of the world will have to make do with 2.5 million units.
While the launch day for Japan is now confirmed as February 26th, we will have to wait till the launch events on January 19th for Nintendo to confirm the launch dates for North America and Europe. It is still anticipated, however, that both North America and Europe will get the 3DS starting in March.
We will also have to wait till the 19th to know what the pricing is going to look like for the 3DS outside of Japan.
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PS3 to get Orb Blu-ray software :: Posted by THRASHER2
Give you an Internet TV portal for $20
PlayStation 3 owners who have been waiting to be able to do more Internet TV streaming with their PS3s will be excited to learn that they are going to get that chance, as Orb Caster is coming to PS3.
The Orb Caster product, which takes advantage of the Blu-ray programmability capability of the PS3, will turn your PS3 into an Internet TV portal that allows access to a number of video services such as Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Video on Demand, for starters. The software is solid and will retail for a projected $20 when released.
The Orb software will support 720p and 1080p HD resolutions, but, of course, not all content will be available in those resolutions. Over the long haul, the Orb Internet TV solution will add more content and abilities, including Internet TV solutions similar to what you are seeing with Boxee and Google TV if it proves popular.
Currently, the company is on track for a release at some point in February.
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Verizon iPhone announcement likely Tuesday :: Posted by THRASHER2
They are holding a press conference about something big
We spent a lot of time trying to learn if the Tuesday press conference that Verizon is holding is actually going to be an announcement that they have secured a deal for the first CDMA/EVDO iPhone. What we know is that the AT&T exclusive is ending and Apple has been doing a lot of talking with Verizon.
Sources and Analysts we have spoken with over the weekend feel that Tuesday Verizon will officially announce that the iPhone is coming. It is expected that Steve Jobs will make an appearance at the Verizon event in person or by video, according to the whispers that we have heard.
It is tough to predict how much of an impact this will have on AT&T, but analysts we have spoken with over the weekend suggest that the impact could be much greater than everyone might think. Numbers as high as 5 or 6 million subscribers might jump from AT&T to Verizon if they have the chance, according to our sources. The good news for Apple is that they are going to sell a lot of phones right out of the gate by adding Verizon as a carrier in the US.
The biggest impact, however, might be that of the Android platform phones, as the addition of the iPhone on Verizon might sway potential customers in another direction and could have a bigger impact than expected.
The critical news about the Verizon iPhone is about what it will not offer, which is LTE support. As with the first generation iPhone on AT&T, the Verizon iPhone will not support the new latest 4G network from Verizon. It is expected that the Verizon iPhone will get LTE support down the road, but it could be 2012 or later before Verizon customers actually get it.
Meanwhile, the next rumored refresh of the AT&T iPhone is said to support AT&TÂ’s new 4G intuitive, which isnÂ’t LTE, but it will offer higher network speed and performance; however, users will have to have the new model to use it. It is rumored that AT&T will get an iPhone with LTE support before Verizon, which might be ironic, as Verizon is much further along on their LTE build out than AT&T is.
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Cayman to get cheaper 1GB version :: Posted by THRASHER2
Early HD 6950 1GB listings appear
We came across a rather interesting listing of a Sapphire HD 6950 board on our price search engine. What makes the new board quite interesting is not some fancy feature, but rather the lack of 1GB of memory.
SappireÂ’s new board, designated 11188-01-40G, packs just 1GB of GDDR5 and itÂ’s a reference design with stock clocks. So, itÂ’s really nothing spectacular, but itÂ’s still a very interesting development. According to German tech site HT4U.net, the HD 6970 should also get a 1GB version, although we think an HD 6950 with 1GB makes quite a bit more sense.
The HD 6950 is one of AMD’s most competitive cards at the moment. It offers excellent value for money and Nvidia simply lacks anything to pit against it in the sub-€250 market. The new 1GB versions will obviously end up even cheaper than the currently available 2GB models, but at this point we are not entirely sure about the pricing.
Current listings indicate that the 1GB version could sell for about €240, but since the 2GB version is already selling for just over €250, we are guessing that the price will end up even lower. In any case it seems like a very nice move on AMD’s part.
Retailers believe they will have the 1GB HD 6950 in stock by the end of the month. You can check out the listings here.
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AMD wants Brazos desktops under $99 :: Posted by THRASHER2
Price in Taiwan $119 and up
AMDÂ’s Brazos platform is based on the Zacate dual-core CPU and AMD has very high expectations from this new architecture. Zacate requires only passive cooling and it can easily slide into the increasingly popular micro ITX form factor.
We saw that Power Color and Sapphire already have systems and boards based on Brazos, but both of these companies want to price their small systems at $119 and up. This is the FOB price in Taiwan and you need to add local taxes, shipping expenses and some profit margin for distribution and etail / retail sales.
Since you can buy a decent notebook for around $300, the price has to go down, but in order to match desired $99, AMD partners will have to shave off some features like USB 3.0 and other fancy things.
Since Brazos can run fanless, we could see many home theater lovers getting such rigs as they are just nothing short of ideal for the role. Also, you can even play some games on BrazosÂ’ Radeon HD 6310 graphics, which are part of the APU.
Brazos is a truly interesting little platform and we believe numerous nettop vendors will embrace it as soon as they can.
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Intel inks $1.5 billion licensing agreement with Nvidia :: Posted by THRASHER2
Costly marriage of convenience
Intel and Nvidia have announced a six-year cross licensing agreement that will cost Intel $1.5 billion over the next five years. Nvidia will receive the first payment on January 18 2011.
In return for such a generous dowry, Intel will receive access to NvidiaÂ’s full range of patents, while Nvidia will retain use of Intel patents in accordance with its existing six-year agreement with Intel. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will drop all outstanding legal disputes between them.
Intel general counsel Doug Melamed said that the agreement will put an end to legal disputes between the companies and “preserve patent peace”. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced that the agreement will signal the start of a new era for Nvidia, which probably means he won’t take any potshots at Intel in the future.
Although we all knew some sort of an agreement was in the making, the timing of the announcement will surely raise quite a few eyebrows. The past week has seen NvidiaÂ’s stock jump from $15.5 to just over $20 thanks to the Green GoblinÂ’s good showing at CES. Announcing this agreement just a couple of days after the CES dust settled canÂ’t be a coincidence.
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