2012-12-21-332

A quick look at Gigabyte's GA-B75M-D3V motherboard

Despite more and more features being integrated into the CPU, motherboard prices havent exactly gotten any cheaper, although at least part of the reason for this is increased costs for the motherboard makers. However, Gigabyte has come up with an interesting board for those that are looking for something for a small business computer or similar in the shape of the GA-B75M-D3V which offers a well-rounded feature set without costing a fortune.

If youre a regular VR-Zone reader you must think weve gone nuts featuring what looks like a five year old motherboard. Well, its anything but, despite its looks. Being based on Intels B75 chipset which is targeting small business computers you get all the latest features in a slightly unusual package. The board has a PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot – although for some reason the board we were shown only had eight lanes connected – two x1 PCI Express slots and a PCI slot. Add a pair of SATA 6Gbps ports and four SATA 3Gbps ports and you have a pretty standard Intel board.

As you can see, Gigabyte went for a compact mATX form factor for the B75M-D3V and as such it only has two DIMM slots, but you do at least get headers for two USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports and a serial port. The rear I/O has four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a PS/2 port, a parallel port –a feature a lot of businesses wants – a Gigabit Ethernet port, 5.1-channel audio and a D-Sub and DVI port.

In as much as the B75M-D3V might be targeting businesses, it would be the kind of motherboard that would offer more than enough features for many a user. As a further business incentive, it will also come with Intels Small Business Advantage software, although due to NDAs and such, we cant go into any details about that for the time being. With a sub US$80 MSRP, this should work out to be one of the cheapest boards with a 7-series chipset.

2012-12-21-7

"Father" of SMS speaks on 20th anniversary of technology

20 Years ago, on 3 December 1992, the first text message was sent from a PC to a mobile phone on Vodafones UK network, stating simply "Merry Christmas". Matti Makkonen, the Finnish engineer who conceived of the technology, first came up with the idea for the SMS, or Short Message Service, in 1984 during a telecommunications conference, but it took eight years before his vision became a reality.

Matti Makkonen

The technology didnt truly find a foothold though, until it was incorporated into the GSM standard. Makkonen considers the "true" birthday of the SMS to be 1994, when Nokia released the 2010, the first mobile phone which easily facilitated texting.

Makkonen calls himself the reluctant father of the technology. Though he may have come up with the idea, he pointed out to the BBC that the SMS technology was developed through a team effort, and that he does not hold any claim to creating it himself. He also never made any money on the technology, as he felt it couldnt be patented.

Makkonen stated that he loves texting, but he never uses shorthand when he texts. He is currently the CEO of Anvia Oy, a Finnish telecommunications service provider.

2012-12-21-14

"Origami-like" minitablet PCs spotted at IDF

CNet had reported on a minitablet PC running full fledged x86 low wattageCPU. With just a 7 inch screen, and probably a 3 hour battery life, these ultraportable machines are targeted to sell for under USD$ 1000. Considering the demounit only has 15 mins of battery life when shown recently at Intel's Developer'sForum, these machines still have sometime to go before it'll hit the market. "Asearlier reported, the first devices have a 7-inch touch screen, standard x86processors, and can run full versions of desktop operating systems including theWindows XP variant being used for Origami."

2012-12-21-500

Adobe makes its choice: no more Flash for Apple mobile devices

As far as most users are concerned, the war between iOS and Flash is over. Apple will not allow Flash in its mobile devices, and Adobe has no choice but to go along with it. Of course, there were some who believed that there was a chance Apple may change its mind and embrace Flash as long as Adobe was willing to iron out the various issues about the browser plugin which Apple had previously criticized.

Unfortunately, Adobe had other plans. Instead, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen said in an interview with The Telegraph that he believes Adobe does not need Apple, its iPhones or iPads.

“Apple has made their choice,” he said. “We've made ours and we've moved on.”

Instead of trying to waste additional time convincing Apple to change their decision, Narayen has made it clear that they would rather work with more receptive partners instead.

“They (Apple) have chosen to keep their system closed and we'd rather work with partners who are interested in working with us,” he said, although he added that the door was always open to Apple in the unlikely event the Cupertino company decides to have a change of heart.

“Our doors are open,” he said. “You'll have to ask them (Apple) about their part.”

Of course, not having Flash in iOS will probably do little to impact Adobe's and Apple's bottom-line. After all, the iPhone and iPad have been doing extremely well for years even without support for Flash, and Adobe had just recently released its CS5 suite of creative software to huge fanfare. All in all, life will probably go on as usual for both companies with little loss in goodwill between them.

*For the full interview, please visit The Telegraph

2012-12-21-259

3G version of "Sony Tablet" S lands in Singapore

Sony has launched its much-anticipated 3G model of the “Sony Tablet” S recently which is said to bring convenience and portability to the popular Android 3.2 tablet. Incorporating Sony TruBlack display, the tablet offers vibrant colours and vivid image quality for the movie fans. With its smooth and smart ergonomic design, entertainment is a breeze with the ease of controlling your media devices with the built-in infra-red Universal Remote. One unique feature of the “Sony Tablet” S is it lets you “throw” your personal video, music clips or photos to home entertainment devices, making content more shareable.

The 3G model of the “Sony Tablet” S will be available in a 16GB version, and will retail at S$798 from 13 January at all Sony Stores and authorised outlets. The 16GB and 32GB Wi-fi models of the “Sony Tablet” S will also be revised to S$618 and S$748 respectively.

2012-12-21-352

ABIT Fatality X800XL 512MB

In May we released the FATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB – Built with innovativetechnologies and rock-solid performance, the FATAL1ty Hardware Series hasgarnered critical acclaim since its introduction. Now from July 2005, thisfantastic VGA card is available at a store near you. If not, ask them why?ABIT’s proud tradition of innovation and creativity combined within the Fatal1tyHardware Series gives you the gamer and connoisseur the best ATI VGA experienceavailable.

FATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB

ABIT presents the latest in its lineup of forefront VGA products. TheFATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB is feature rich, and performance full. The ultimateacquisition in liquid gold graphics. Designed with input from Jonathan Fatal1tyWendel, the FATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB features the ATI RADEON X800 XL VPU, 16extreme parallel pipelines, and is the first ABIT graphics card to contain 512MBof ultrafast DDR3 memory (1.6ns).

The increased frame buffer, and the extra large textures which are storeddirectly on the local memory give games and applications the extra depth andrealism expected from our avid ABIT supporters. We include the ABIT EngineeredvGuru graphics technology that combines seamlessly with proprietary uGuruproducts featured in our motherboard range. The onboard LED indicators forvisual appeal and dual BIOS for maximum overclocking and protection, includedwith an ABIT original design copper FAN cooler & heatsink. This combinationcreates a rock solid platform for you to stretch to the limits in overclockingecstasy.

The native PCI-E architecture delivers up to twice the bandwidth of regular 8xAGP, and is bristling with the latest ATI graphics technologies, includingSMARTSHADER HD, 3Dc, SMOOTHVISION HD, HYPER Z HD, and VIDEOSHADER HD. TheFATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB ensures a high definition and polished gaming experience.

The Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB comes with ABIT's vGuru™ technology. Based on ABIT'srenowned µGuru™ motherboard technology, ABIT's vGuru places unprecedentedgraphics power and control into the hands of the user. vGuru takes OC Guru™overclocking, Fan EQ™ fan control, and BlackBox™ diagnostic technologies, andapplies them to ABIT's graphics card lineup with an easy-to-use Windows-basedinterface

MAJOR ABIT FEATURES:

One-Click Overclocking:

With a single click you can activate the XTurbo mode and overclock yourFATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB automatically. Try our seamless integration of hardwareand software which perfects the balance for optimal overclocking.

Real-Time Hardware monitoring:
Included is the ABIT vGuru, a stand-alone software interface for monitoring yourVGA hardware such as VPU, memory core voltage and smart fan control. It can alsobe combined with proprietary uGuru clock functions, for the ultimate inmonitoring your hardware.

Single Slot Fan
This ABIT engineered FAN and heatsink is designed to optimize space. The fan is60mm and cools at an attractive ear friendly low-noise (30 dB). Unlike somecompetitors, it only takes up one adjacent slot and thus enhances future SLIoptions. The cooling ability of the fan is a proven 6oC cooler than thereference board.

512MB for HIGH Definition Gaming
The Ultrafast 512MB GDDR3 (1.6ns) memory provides stunning gaming performanceand unrivaled gameplay at the highest visual settings-1600 X 1200, maximum AA,AF and all 3D features turned on!

Onboard LED Indicators:
The FATAL1ty X800 XL 512MB features visual candy like never before. OnboardLED’s that you can turn on or off at you leisure. The true gamer’s board thatemits quality and style second to none.

Instant VGA Status Monitoring:
When you use the ABIT FATAL1ty series MB with the proprietary Power panel,the front panel LED automatically shows VGA card information. The uGuru clockalso includes this feature.
With blazing speed and exclusive ABIT Engineered technologies, the Fatal1ty X800XL 512MB is the graphics card of choice for the gamer who demands the very bestof the best.

Built To Kill
With a 400MHz core clock, 16 pixel pipelines and breakthrough imageenhancement technology, the Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB provides a gaming experiencelike no other. The Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB includes innovative new features suchas the 3Dc™, a new compression technology that allows game developers to packfiner details into real time 3D images. For gamers, this means surrealperfection in gaming environments.

The latest DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL® 2.0 shader support is included to ensurethat current and upcoming games look and play brilliantly, especially inhigh-definition. It also has sophisticated video processing, filtering andacceleration features that make multimedia applications more efficient,inspiring and fun. The Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB also supports the latesthigh-definition and wide display formats, giving users bigger and more vividmovie, gaming and Internet experience.

The new and available Fatal1ty X800 XL 512MB. What more can you ask for?

2012-12-21-254

3DMark03, 3DMark05 & PCMark04 Patches

Futuremark Corporation announced today the immediate availability of updatesto its 3DMark03, 3DMark05 and PCMark04 suites of benchmark software. 3DMark isthe worldwide standard tool for easily and objectively measuring and comparingDirectX 3D performance of Windows based PCs. PCMark04 is a state-of-the-art homeuser performance analysis tool and has been widely adopted; over 2 millioncopies have been distributed since launched in November 2003.

Available immediately, free downloadable software updates provide the only validversions 3.6.0 of 3DMark03, version 1.2.0 of 3DMark05 and version 1.3.0 ofPCMark04. Only scores obtained through the new versions and with approveddrivers will be used in official statistics, comparisons and services providedby Futuremark.

Technical Details Associated with 3DMark05 Patch (Build 1.2.0):

Benchmark scores do not change between build 1.2.0 and build 1.1.0, except whenthe system is influenced by the changes listed below;
Updated System Info module with support for the latest CPU and graphicshardware;
GeForce FX-series now use VS2.a as default;
Modified anisotropic texture filtering settings to ensure that all hardwareperforms the desired amount of filtering when anisotropic filtering is selectedfrom the benchmark settings;
Updated version of the Entech library, which is used to detect the clockfrequency of the graphics chip core and memory;
Improved compatibility for graphics cards with 128MB of video memory when usingAnti-Aliasing;
Various fixes & corrections to Image Quality Tools;
Fixed all reported & reproduced bugs;
Possible result vulnerability has been blocked

Download :http://www.vr-zone.com/downloads/3DMark03/3DMark03_v360_patch.exe

Technical Details Associated with 3DMark03 Patch (Build 3.6.0):

Benchmark scores do not change between the build 3.6.0 and build 3.5.0;
Updated System Info module with support for the latest CPU and graphicshardware;
Updated version of the Entech library, which is used to detect the clockfrequency of the graphics chip core and memory;
Requires Microsoft DirectX 9.0c End-User Runtime;
Fixed all reported & reproduced bugs;
Possible result vulnerability has been blocked

Download :http://www.vr-zone.com/downloads/3DMark05/3DMark05_v120_patch.exe

Technical Details Associated with PCMark04 Patch (Build 1.3.0):

Benchmark scores do not change between the build 1.3.0 and build 1.2.0;
Updated System Info module with support for the latest CPU and graphicshardware;
Updated version of the Entech library, which is used to detect the clockfrequency of the graphics chip core and memory;
Fixed all reported & reproduced bugs;
Possible result vulnerability has been blocked

Download :http://www.vr-zone.com/downloads/PCMark04/PCMark04_v130_patch.exe