Nokia N91 Smartphone that features 4 Gb hard drive

Nokia introduced the Nokia N91 mobile phone that has room for up to 3,000 of your favorite stereo tracks on the integrated 4 Gb hard disk. It's a premium music device in an ultra-portable package that snaps 2 megapixel photos and has smartphone features. Your smartphone already goes everywhere you do and now your music will, too. Seamless switching between the integrated functions make this combo the perfect pairing. Encased in stainless steel, the Nokia N91 has dedicated music keys on its face, which slide down to reveal the phone keypad. It is 3G compatible and runs using the Series 60 Symbian-based interface.

In addition, the industry standard 3.5mm stereo headset jack and easy transfer of music files from your PC help make the Nokia N91 a connected mobile jukebox. The Nokia N91 is a part of the new Nokia Nseries range, bringing you the latest multimedia technologies and smartphone functionalities.

"The Nokia N91 delivers both a fantastic music experience and cutting-edge phone features," said Jonas Geust, Vice President, Music at Nokia. "What sets the Nokia N91 apart is the fact that it is always connected - you can download new music while on the move, add it to your favorite playlist and then share your playlist with friends. It's truly the world's best mobile connected jukebox."

The Nokia N91 serves up to 12.5 hours of great sound via the included stereo headset with remote control. Enjoying your music collection has never been easier, as the Nokia N91 supports a wide range of digital music formats including MP3, M4A, AAC and WMA.

Nokia N91 is compatible with a number of accessories from industry leading brands Bose, Harman Kardon, JBL, and Sennheiser. In addition to using their favorite audio accessories with the Nokia N91 through its standard 3.5mm jack, consumers can maximize their audio experience by choosing products from a line-up of Nokia tested and recommended audio accessories.

Packed with multiple connectivity options, such as WCDMA, WLAN and Bluetooth wireless technology, the Nokia N91 makes it easy for you to find and enjoy music when and where you want. With the Nokia N91, you can quickly and easily find and purchase music over the air to your device from your operator's music store.

Military develops a Star Trek-like phaser

First comic strip hero Dick Tracy's wrist radio moved from science fiction to everyday fact and now Capt. Kirk's phaser is headed to the Air Force arsenal.

Air Force researchers say they've developed a non- lethal laser ray gun called the "PHaSR" -- for Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response. The intense laser beam produced by the rifle-sized weapon temporarily disorients its target.

"We picked the PHaSR name to help sell the program," program manager Capt. Thomas Wegner of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico told the New York Daily News. "It's an obvious homage to 'Star Trek.'"

In the famed original 1960s Star Trek television series, the crew of the starship Enterprise carried hand-held "phaser" weapons that could vaporize or stun an opponent.

But the 21st century version of the weapon is designed to only "dazzle" people with its intense laser beam.

Asked by the Daily News what Capt. James T. Kirk might have thought of the new weapon, Wegner replied: "He would think it's rather primitive. But for us, it's pretty high tech."

Copyright 2005 by United Press International

DoCoMo's promise of a beyond-3G phone

For some, having a MP3 player, camera, video player, organizer and Internet access on a single mobile phone simply isn't good enough. The picture quality must be better, as must the sound. But most importantly, the download speed has got to get even faster -- or so NTT DoCoMo is betting.

The Japanese mobile giant Thursday unveiled eight new models of its hit FOMA series of cellular handsets, which included one that was compatible with the much-ballyhooed high-speed downlink packet access protocol. The company said that the HSDPA-compatible N902iX model will be more than 10 times faster than the existing FOMA models, having a download speed of 3.6 megabytes per second.

In addition, the company said that its beyond current third-generation phone will have improved music-playing quality as well as higher security control functions. DoCoMo is expected to introduce its latest "9" series models in Japan from June onwards, with the self-proclaimed 3.5 generation HSDPA phone expected to be rolled out by August, initially in the Tokyo area, but plans to sell the product outside of Japan are still not known. The company also plans to launch its own musical download distribution service, Music Channel, to coincide with the phone shipments. Its music service will allow subscribers to download multiple songs more quickly than ever, DoCoMo said. Analysts broadly agreed too that the offering would make good use of its move last November to become the main shareholder of Tower Records Japan.

Meanwhile, the company also announced Thursday that it will be working with Microsoft to make NTT DoCoMo phones compatible with online music stores that use Microsoft's technology.

That would make Japan's biggest mobile group compete head-on in the music-download business with KDDI, the country's second-largest carrier, and its au music unit. In one of the most cutthroat mobile-device markets in the world, Apple's globally popular iPods have not been as big a hit in Japan as elsewhere, as more mobile-music listeners prefer to have their tunes downloaded onto their cell phones rather than separate MP3 players. According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan, nearly 96 percent of the 268 million tracks purchased electronically in the country were downloaded via mobile phones.

Indeed, offering music downloads has been a major factor for KDDI's recent surge, and the carrier has seen more than 40 million songs downloaded since it started its au music service in 2004.

Earlier this week NTT DoCoMo reported that it gained 253,800 subscribers in April, raising the total number of customers to 51.4 million. However, those subscribing to its 2G services actually fell by 846,500 to 26.8 million, making it clear that people were prepared to pay more for premium services and upgrade their phones as well.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

HP recalls laptop batteries over fire hazard

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is recalling some 70,000 batteries for notebook computers because of a fire hazard, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said on Thursday.

The CPSC said it had received two reports of the batteries catching fire due to overheating, causing minor property damage but no injuries.

It said the lithium-ion batteries being recalled were used in HP and Compaq notebook computers sold between August 2007 and March 2008 and were made in China.

The CPSC provided a list of the computer models using the batteries on its website CPSC.gov. It said HP was providing free replacement batteries.

(c) 2009 AFP

Enermax Extends Warranty of REVOLUTION85+ and GALAXY EVO PSUs

REVOLUTION85+

Enermax has announced the extension of warranties for both REVOLUTION85+ and GALAXY EVO PSUs from 3 to 5 years.


GALAXY EVO

This is certainly good news for all owners of these PSUs as thewarranty upgrade also applies to all REVOLUTION85+ and GALAXY EVO PSUsthat were sold prior to the announcement. Time to jump onto the Enermaxbandwagon folks!


“This warranty upgrade is part of our ongoing 20-year anniversarycampaign throughout 2010 to celebrate our achievements during thisperiod and to give back to our valued customers a part of the trust andappreciation, they have shown to us in these 20 years”, Steven Su,founder & president of ENERMAX, elaborates. “When we started 20years ago, we had yet to establish ourselves in the industry by theinnovative energy we stand for today. Our two flagship PSU series’exemplify our spirit and thus we wanted to match their warranty withwhat they stand for.”


News via [Legitreviews]

Desktop AMD quot;Trinity quot; APU Launch Delayed to October

Troubles cant seem to end for AMDs next-generation A-series APUs for desktops, even as the notebook variants are up and running on several designs by top vendors. Sources among motherboard makers told industry observer DigiTimes that a last-minute design change forced AMD and motherboard vendors to go back to the drawing boards. Thats every company with working socket FM2 motherboard designs we spotted at this years Computex event.

The design change will delay things for desktop variants of AMDs A-series "Trinity" APUs till October 2012. This development even affects the launch of the A10-5800K, a "flagship" quad-core APU in the series, geared for overclocking. An October launch would see the new A-series APUs launch simultaneously, or hot on the heels of, AMDs next-generation FX-series processors, codenamed "Vishera," built on the same "Piledriver" micro-architecture that Trinitys x86 cores are derived from.

In the mean time, AMD will gradually phase out existing socket AM3 processors in the Athlon II and Phenom II series, and replace them with socket FM1 Athlon II, and socket AM3+ Phenom II processors in the various price-points they hold. AMDs Taiwan office declined to comment on the DigiTimes report.

Source: DigiTimes

Dell Unveils Vostro All In One

Singapore, July 17, 2009 - Cramped spaces and overcrowded desks are a headache for business owners. That is the conclusion from a Dell online poll of small businesses in China, India, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and United States about their desk space challenges. In response, Dell today announced the Vostro All In One, Dell’s first all-in-one desktop computer designed exclusively for small businesses.

The Vostro All In One’s clutter-free design minimizes the amount of space the computer takes up on the desk to provide business buyers with a powerful, stylish and affordable desktop computer. What’s more, the computer’s full desktop processing power is backed with Dell’s worry-free small business support.

The system is easy to set up, going from box to business in less than four minutes, and, when using the optional VESA mount, saves customers as much as 79 percent of their desk space versus a traditional desktop and monitor set-up. When combined with optional integrated Wi-Fi® and a wireless mouse and keyboard, the result is a wire-free desk.The new Vostro also offers Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processors and an integrated webcam that enables businesses to enjoy remote collaboration.

Vostro All In One: Stylish, Scalable, Secure
•Standard gigabit Ethernet plus optional integrated Wi-Fi® 802.11 for easy connectivity enables users to run their office without a wired network or in-house IT staff
•Equipped with optional Dell Backup and Recovery Manager for simplified data protection
•Supports use of older peripherals that require serial or parallel ports
•Optional video conferencing solution with integrated camera and included software4

Backed by dedicated and specially trained small-business sales and support experts, Dell Vostro products come with a 30-day worry-free return policy, are available with Dell CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service6 and Dell ProSupport services that give customers the ability to customize and tailor services to fit their technical expertise and business needs.

Starting at S$999, the Vostro All In One is available from mid August in Singapore. For additional information on the Vostro All In One, visit www.dell.com/reclaimyourdesk.

ECS P965-A Exposed!

Intel will release the P965 BroadWater P mainstream chipset on the 5th of June.Multiple motherboard makers are working round-the-clock to put P965 motherboards on the shelves on the release day. The G965 (with Integrated Graphics Accelerator) will be released later in Q3 of 2006 as the GPU portion is still undergoing modifications redesign.

The Engineering Sample motherboard you see below is the ECS P965-Asupporting 1066FSB (266X4MHz Quad Pumped) and native DDR800 operation. The new VRM11 guidelines will power Conroe CPUs, bar the Extreme Editions. Even though the P965 natively provides a single x16 PCIe lane, ECS has implemented an extra x4 PCIe lane via the southbridge to support ATi CrossFire dual GPU topology.

ECS P965-A uses the ICH8R southbridge chipsetwhich will improve upon current ICH7 standards.

There will be 10 USB2.0 ports over the current 8
Support for Dual Hi-Speed Controllers and discrete USB halt Number of SATA-II increased from 4 to 6 (harddisk whores, rejoice :D) with Active Management Technology
It will also sport the revolutionary Gigabit Ethernet MAC network function
Internal fan speed control and a stronger SPI port ICH8 eliminates AC 97 totally
In replacment is High Definition Audio output
There will be no Parallel ATA IDE controller forcing hardware enthusiasts to adopt SATA
4 SATA ports supports Intel Matrix Storage Technology(AHCI and RAID 0/1/5/10) Supporting IMST on 4 out 6 SATA ports is for making the P965 economic enough for the mainstream

Quoting from the source: 6 PCI-E x110 USB 2.0 w/Dual EHCISPI InterfaceGbE MACAdvanced Fan Speed ControlUSB Port Disable.

ECS P965-A uses the most advanced Audio Codec so far: the Realtek ALC885 chipset which is certified Microsoft Vista Premium. It is the highest end Realtek HD Codec at the momentDAC SNR and ADC SNR is a whopping 106dB and 101dB respectivelywith 192kHz sampling10 DAC Channels and 3 Sterero ADC Channels as well as 24bit PCM mode is supported. There is 7.1 + 2 channel support. It is also the first to sport Full-Rate Lossless Content Protection Codecsupport, capable of handling future Content Protected HD-DVD audio decoding. Playing non content protected HD-DVD content will force the codec to decode in the next highest possible quality.

ECS P965-A engineering sample

Intel P96 LE82BWRP ES NB

Intel ICH8R ES SB NH82801HU

ECS P965-A PCI-E16x + 4x

Realtek ALC885

First 3D Printer Store Opens - Change in Manufacturing ahead

Theres no doubt that 3D printing is slowly but surely, making its way onto mainstream market. Conventional way of making your home or product unique by purchasing items manufactured in Far East, or simply located somewhere else isnt as optimal as 3D printing is. By reducing the distribution of the product to the simple pick-up point, market wont need to pay around 40% in the final price, which typically is the cost of distribution.

In order to challenge those 40% in price, MakerBot announced the unveiling of Replicator 2, its latest three dimensional printer. This announcement was paired with the opening of probably the worlds first 3D Printing Store. Located in a good part of Manhattan, New York - the store offers premium quality products printed on the spot. Naturally, it will sell 3D printers as well, but if you have an idea for a 3D object and cant find the product online - just print it out.

Perhaps the key ingredient of this retail story is the Replicator 2 printer itself. Weve been hearing quite a lot about the crudeness of 3D printed objects but with Replicator 2 - those comments should be matter of the past. MakerBot claims that Replicator 2 comes with a precision no less than 100 microns. Previous generation part offered precision of 270 microns, which was still too many imperfections to offer smooth surfaces. According to manufacturer claims, you can now play with a ball and it wont stick to your hands, it will be pretty smooth.

This precision enables not just movable objects such as wrenches but rather highly complex movable objects, such as working mechanisms. For example just how precise 3D printer can perform today, take a look at the images above. In case you dont want to build your own object to be printed, you can buy off creations from 3D printing communities such as Thingverse. We have browsed Thingverse for quite some time now, and there are things which are… quite mental. For instance, did you know that you can print out a completely working joystick for my "blast from the past", the Commodore C64? Picture below, and dont say you havent been warned (do note this object was printed on older 3D printer and doesnt offer the level of finesse Replicator 2 can offer).

All in all, we see 3D printers becoming an ideal companion to replace broken parts, especially ones made out of flimsy plastic and break at the worst moment - instead of buying a part, youll simply be able to order a printed part offering more rigidness than the original and who knows, perhaps even last longer.

D3 - Diablo III repoussé au printemps

C'est devenu une habitude avec Diablo III, la date de sortie du hack and slash de Blizzard a encore été repoussée. Initialement attendu "pour le début de l'année", Diablo III ne sortira finalement qu'au deuxième trimestre de cette année, soit entre le premier avril et le 30 juin 2012. Blizzard a toutefois promis de dévoiler la date de sortie "bientôt" et précisé que 2012 sera l'occasion pour la firme californienne de sortir deux jeux. Il s'agira soit de Starcraft II : Heart of the Swarm, soit de World of Warcraft : Mists of Pandaria ou encore de Blizzard DOTA qui sera un véritable jeu Free to Play à part entière.

Enfin, pour se faire pardonner, Blizzard a diffusé une nouvelle vidéo pour Diablo III. Celle-ci revient sur la difficulté du jeu à haut-niveau.




· Forum Diablo III

Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME 2.0 For LGA1156 1366

ComputerBase reported about a second revision of the Freezer XTREME cooler from Arctic Cooling that is tested to be compatible with Intel Socket LGA1156 and LGA1366 processors. Other than the mounting bracket, the cooler is the same as thepredecessor.

AMD's A-series of Fusion APU's finally launches

Although we expected AMD to announce its A-series of APUs first at Computex and then at E3, it seems like weve finally gotten there as today is D-dayuhm, A-day(?). AMD has launched no less seven mobile parts today, although so far the desktop models have as yet to make an official appearance.

The specifications leaked yesterday, courtesy of none other than AMD itself, but specs alone doesnt tell the whole story. AMDs APUs have been a long time coming and the really big question is if theyll live up to everyones expectations. AMD is making some bold claims, least not in terms of battery life where the company is promising up to 10.5h of usable battery life. In fact, AMD claims that its A8-3510MX APU has 3.5h better battery life than a similar notebook with Intels Core i5-2401M processor.

Where we dont doubt AMD is when it comes to graphics performance, as the company has always had a huge lead here over Intel, but AMD has thrown in a few new features that should further boost the appeal of its APUs. First up AMD has added what the company called Perfect Picture HD which is a post-processing option for cleaning up 1080p video, a feature that might prove popular with people shooting their on HD home videos. The second feature, called Steady Video is rather quite impressive though as you can see in the video below from Engadget, it actually pre and post processes the video to reduce camera shake and it even works with online videos.

As always, AMD is being very competitive on price and the company is expect notebook with its new APUs to start at US$499 with an A4 APU, whereas with an A6 were looking at around US$599 and finally A8 models will come in at around US$699. Of course these are best case scenarios and wed expect a lot more expensive machine to be available as well, depending on configuration. For those looking for a boost to the graphics performance beyond the APUs integrated solution, AMD supports CrossFire on the platform and claim up to a 75 percent performance boost for its discrete mobile GPUs when pairing them up with an APU. Were going to have to hold off on making any judgements until we get some units in for review, but at least on paper it looks like AMD could have a real winner on its hands here.

ASUS EAX1800XT TOP Version

ASUS has unveiled EAX1800XT Top version touted to be the firstto breach 10,000 in 3DMark05. It features an higher clocked X1800 XT running at650MHz core and 1550MHz memory where the reference card runs at 625MHz / 1500MHzclock speed. The card sports a new cooling design with a black coolingdesign which is said to improve the heat dissipation from the pure copperheatsink.

Asus teases the Eee Pad Transformer 2 tablet

In a short 22 second video posted on YouTube, Asus has revealed the first glimpse of its upcoming Eee Pad Transformer 2 tablet which is rumoured to be powered by Nvidias upcoming quad core Tegra 3 SoC. The video doesnt really give away much in terms of details and as a teaser it sure has our interested piqued.What you can tell from the few short glimpses of the tablet itself is that Asus has been hard at work to create something a lot more professional looking that its first Transformer tablet, as the Transformer 2 has a brushed metal finish which in the video appears to be a pinkish purple, although we have a feeling that this isnt the actual colour of the tablet. The new finish isnt the only change though as it appears that were looking at a much thinner tablet this time around with styling similar to that of Asus recently launched Zenbooks.The keyboard dock is of course making a return and it too appears to have been given a few tweaks to go better with the redesigned tablet part. The only connectivity option we know for sure is present is a single USB 2.0 port which is seen in the video. The tablet itself appears to have been given a new camera with a single LED flash which can also be seen in the video. Well simply have to wait for more details on the new Eee Pad Transformer 2 before we can say with a certainty what it will come with or not, but wed expect that Asus will continue to throw teasers at us ahead of the launch which is expected to take place sometime between now and the end of November.

Asus' AMD 900-series motherboard specs unveiled

When it rains, it pours and the leaks about AMDs upcoming 900-series of AM3+ chipsets are now appearing on a daily basis. A detailed spec sheet of Asus six upcoming AMD 900-series chipset motherboards have tipped up on a Swedish website and although we have no idea what any of the boards except the already leaked M5A99X EVO will look like, we do at least know what features theyll come with.

So first up we have three AMD 970 boards, all three are full ATX boards and all three has a pair of x16 slots configured in x16 and x4 mode. The entry level model is the M5A97 which has a 4+2 VRM design and it has six SATA 6Gbps ports and three headers for six USB 2.0 ports as far as internal connectors are concerned. Around the back were looking at two USB 3.0 ports, six USB 2.0 ports, 7.1-channel audio and Gigabit Ethernet. This board doesnt feature Digi+VRM , but has all of the other common Asus features.

Next up we have the M5A97 Pro and Evo, both featuring a 6+2 phase Digi+ VRM design, six intenral SATA 6Gbps ports, three headers for six internal USB 2.0 ports and the EVO model also has an internal pin header for two USB 3.0 ports and a FireWire port. Around the back we have two USB 3.0 ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1-channel audio with the EVO board also sporting a FireWire port.

The M5A99X EVO weve already seen thanks to the leaked image on Thursday, although it seems like we got a couple of specs slightly wrong. It turns out that the board has two internal SATA 3Gbps ports, not two SATA 6Gbps ports as we thought. It also has a rear eSATA and an eSATAp (powered eSATA/USB combo port), but the rest was pretty much spot on except the VRM design which is 6+2 rather than 8 phases.

On the high-end side we have the TUF Sabertooth 990FX which as the name gives away is based on the 990FX chipset. Here were looking at an 8+2 Digi+ VRM design, four x16 PCI Express slots in a dual x16 or x16 plus dual x8 and a x4 slot. Internally we again have six SATA 6Gbps ports, two SATA 3Gbps ports, headers for four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and a FireWire port. Around the back the board has two USB 3.0 ports, 10 USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA, one eSATAp, Gigabit Ethernet, a FireWire port and 7.1-channel audio. Special features includes a return of Asus CeraM!X heatsinks, the TUF Thermal Radar, the various TUF components and a range of other more or less important stuff.

Finally we have the ROG Crosshair V Formula which as expected is the top of the range board, which is another 990FX board. We have the same slot configuration here as on the TUF board with four x16 slots in either dual x16 or x16 plus dual x8 and one x4 slot. On-board connectors consist of seven SATA 6Gbps ports and two front USB 3.0 ports. Around the back we have four USB 3.0 ports, 12 USB 2.0 ports, although one of them is dedicated to ROG connect, one eSATAp 6Gbps port, Intel powered Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1-channel audio with SupremeFX X-Fi 2. This board will also ship with Asus ROG ThunderBolt and comes with all the usual ROG features youd expect to find.

Overall a pretty decent line-up of boards, well just have to wait and see what the final boards look like. Its anyones guess what these boards will be priced at, but were hearing rumours of some very and we mean VERY competitive pricing on AMDs upcoming AM3+ CPUs in as much as youll get an eight core AMD CPU for about the same price youd pick up a Core i7 2600K. That sounds like a pretty good bargain to us, especially as most of the other CPUs will be priced lower than that.

Source: Sweclockers

ASUS Launches Silent and Effective Thermal Solution for Latest Graphics Cards

SilentCool Technology Offers Fanless Design to Deliver High-Performance Cooling at 0dB

Taipei, Taiwan; July 25, 2005 – ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), a leading provider of graphics solutions, today introduced SilentCool Technology, a fan-less, noiseless cooling solution for high-performance graphics cards. The all-new thermal innovation operates at 0db for silent operation and reduces GPU (graphics processing unit) by 40 C compared with competing cooling technologies.

“In the past, enhanced video capability also comes with louder noise. With ASUS SilentCool Technology, users can now enjoy high-performance graphics card applications without hearing the noisy cooling fan rotation,” said Kent Chien, Director of ASUS Graphics Business.

To provide a fan-less, noiseless thermal solution that also enables high-performance graphics performance, ASUS incorporated several unique innovations.

Larger and efficient heat exchange area

SilentCool included the large heatsink design, which significantly increases heat exchange area for absorbing heat away from the GPU. The hidden heat pipe and stacked fins, both made of copper (a very effective heat conductor), then conduct heat away from the heatsink for fast heat dissipation. SilentCool is similar to technologies used in processor coolers, and reduces GPU temperature by 40 C compared with thermal solutions for competing graphics cards.

Unique mechanical designs

The stacked copper fins are positioned on a unique joint design, which enables the fins to rotate 90 . Depending on the locations of critical components such as the CPU, mosfets or capacitors etc., users can rotate the fins away from these areas for optimal heat dissipation. An additional cooling module attached to the heatsink and extends to the exterior of the PC further lowers GPU temperature by another 6 C.

Currently, SilentCool is available on ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer graphics card. More ASUS graphics solutions will implement this exclusive technology.

Apple suspends iPhone 4S sales in China due to unrest

Apple has suspended sales of its iPhone 4S in mainland China after violence and vandalism broke out at its flagship store in Beijing.

The Chinese launch of Apples latest smartphone was expected to go ahead today, but as demand skyrocketed past supply Chinese police ordered that the store in the Sanlitun district of Beijing remain shut to avoid unrest.Unfortunately this had the opposite effect, with people who had been camping out all night becoming frustrated with the news. Eggs were thrown at the Apple stores glass windows and people shoved police.Part of the problem is due to scalpers, who are paying people to buy the device for them, which they then resell at inflated prices. People working for these scalpers were told they would get the equivalent of around $16, but since the sales did not go ahead, they will be lucky to get a tenth of that as a food allowance, despite spending the night in the cold.The incident caused Apple to postpone sales of the iPhone 4S in all five of its Chinese stores, which will likely only exacerbate the situation. The device can still be bought online, however, or through authorised resellers.The Sanlitun store was previously the location of similar violence when the iPad 2 was released, resulting in the smashing of a glass door and four people being injured. Until supply meets demand we can likely expect similar incidents in the future.Source & Image Credit: New York Times

Apple's multitouch patents under attack

Two of Apple’s most important patents are under attack from an unknown party. U.S. Patent 7,469,381 and 7,479,949 are patents related to the multitouch software that Apple uses in its products. According to fosspatents.com, these are the reexamination requests of the patents by the anonymous party.

7,469,381:

PCT Publication No. WO 03/081458 on "controlling content display", by AOL/Luigi Lira, published on October 2, 2003

U.S. Patent No. 7,786,975 on a "continuous scrolling list with acceleration"; inventors are Bas Ording, Scott Forstall, Greg Christie, Stephen O. Lemay and Imran Chaudhri

PCT Publication No. WO 01/029702, which later resulted in U.S. Patent No. 7,152,210 on a "device and method of browsing an image collection"; assigned to Philips (named inventors: Elise van den Hoven, Josephus Eggen)

7,479,949:

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/036618 on a "method and apparatus for detecting and interpreting path of designated position", assigned to Canon (named inventors: Masanori Wakai and Satomi Kayano)

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0101354 on "gesture inputs for a portable display device", assigned to Nintendo (named inventors: Hideyuki Hashimoto and Shigetoshi Kitayama)

U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0012723 on a "system and method for a portable multimedia client", assigned to Move Mobile Systems (named inventor: Matt Pallakoff)

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0063073 on a "touch panel system and method for distinguishing multiple touch inputs" (assigned to a group of individual inventors; first-named inventor: Bernard O. Geaghan

It’s not strange for companies to go after each other’s patents, but usually the names of the two parties are known. In this particular case, however, we don’t know who is making a move against Apple. One theory is that Google is behind the filing, and it’s a legitimate theory. Apple has been using patents ‘381 and ‘949 to impose limitations on top Android manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola, and HTC.

Not surprisingly, everyday there’s a new patent war, but as it stands, many tech giants need to carve out a stake in the “multitouch” department to keep their devices competitive. It’s unlikely that ‘949 will be an Apple’s exclusive in the future since it mainly deals with the tolerance level and angle of the initial touch movement on a touch interface.

As seen in Figure 35, the patent cites the angles that coincide with the touchscreen behaviors. Any manufacturer can deviate from the angles shown in Figure 35 to mitigate the patent’s specificities.

An in depth conversation of the two patents under examination can be found here.

ASRock Revives the quot;Blaster quot; Sound Card Brand in Cooperation with Creative

ASRock just released a card which is the first sound card outside Creative to bear the name "Blaster" without a worry of a lawsuit. In the past, Creative was very vigilant in protecting the "Sound Blaster" heritage but the company opened to 3rd parties who can manufacture products of required quality.

The "Sound Core3D quad-core audio and voice processor" is the actual sound-chip powering the latest generation of Sound Blaster cards from Creative. We wondered who is going to take that chip and create a 3rd party product which is not a motherboard (ASRock, ASUS, MSI, GigaByte all shipped products with Creative chips in the past).

As you can see on picture above, ASRocks Game Blaster is an interesting product which combines two technologies in a single package: Creative Sound Core3D and Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet LAN. Unlike Killer NIC and USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet is not present to ensure the datastream fits the sound, but rather to enable Full-Duplex 2Gbps i.e. "teaming".

As far as sound capabilities go, theres CrystalVoice filtering technology, EAX 1.0-5.0, THX TruStudio PRO and probably the most interesting one - Scout Mode. This technology enables you to hear enemies from further away... while this may be called a cheat, the technology works that the part of the screen you focus in has more audio focus than things off the screen. If two foes are running towards you, the Scout Mode will "elevate your game" and focus the audio on the person closest to you.

Black Mesa disponible sur Tom's Games

Nous vous parlions la semaine passée, le mod d'Half Life permettant de profiter à nouveau de ce titre culte remis au gout du jour, est enfin disponible. Si vous souhaitez tester cet ambitieux mod, vous pouvez dès à présent télécharger Black Mesa directement sur notre site.

Pour rappel, Black Mesa est un projet amateur reprenant le tout premier et mythique Half Life, pour le faire tourner avec le Source Engine, le moteur de Valve. Sans être sublime, il permet de rajeunir un peu le titre de 1998. Venant d’acquérir le soutien nécessaire sur Steam Greenlight, Black Mesa devrait un jour débarquer sur Steam. En attendant, vous pouvez le télécharger sur notre site à cette adresse. Et si vous hésitez encore, nous vous invitons à aller lire notre test de Black Mesa.

· Télécharger Black Mesa
· Forum Black Mesa

AMD Radeon HD 7900 series to launch January 9th 2012

Turkish website DonanimHaber have received confirmation for final release date of the much anticipated Radeon HD 7900 series - January 9th 2012. This puts the big release one day before CES 2012 commences.

The previous rumoured date, Jan 10th, co-incided with CES 2012. However, AMD has decided to release on Monday, instead of the traditional Tuesday/Thursday release days.

More details about AMD Radeon HD 7900 / Tahiti can be found in our speculation round-up.

Source: DonanimHaber

Android and iOS will have Microsoft Office in 2013

Microsoft has been quiet about its development of Office for iOS and Android, but a version of Office has been spotted via The Verge. Per the same source, Microsoft is planning to release its mobile productivity suite sometime in early 2013.

TheOffice appwill be free to download so that Android and iOS users will be able to view Microsoft Office documents. Basic viewing functionality of Word, PowerPoint, and excel documents will be free of charge in Android, but to edit documents users have to have Office 365 subscription.

iOS users will, too, be able to view the same type of documents, and users will be able to buy Office 365 subscriptions directly from within the app. The Office app for iOS will supposedly launch around March, 2013, but Android users will have to wait until May, 2013 to have a whack at the app.

ASUS EN7950GT amp; EN7900GS Cards

Asus Technology Pte Ltd (ASUS), the leading provider of graphics solutions isproud to introduce two new graphics cards – EN7950GT/HTDP/512M andEN7900GS/2DHT/256M – designed specifically for serious gamers that also demandprice per performance in their video solutions.

EN7950GT/HTDP/512M – Stunning Gaming Power with HDCP

The EN7950GT/HTDP/512M is powered by the latest Nvdia GeForce 7950GT GPU and512MB DDR3 memory to deliver superb video capability for the latest games. TheEN7950GT/HTDP/512M is also HDCP ready to stay in step with Windows Vistarequirements. HDCP technology gives users peace of mind when upgrading theirsystems to support high-definition digital contents.

EN7900GS/2DHT/256M – Cost/Performance Card with Hot Game Bundle

Based on the Nvidia GeForce 7900GS GPU, the EN7900GS/2DHT/256M offers excellentperformance at an affordable price. ASUS further added more value to the packageby bundling “Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter”, market valued at US$ 49.9.

Splendid Video Intelligence Technology

Both the EN7950GT/HTDP/512M and EN7900GS/2DHT/256M support Splendid VideoIntelligence Technology, an exclusive feature found only on ASUS solutions. WithSplendid, images enabled by the ASUS graphics cards are fine tuned to delivervibrant visual representations in conditions most favorable to the human eye.

Splendid detects activation and usage of video applications and automaticallyoptimizes image quality for the best visual results, and further provides fivemodes (Standard, Game, Theater, Scenery and Night) and three skin tone optionsfor various video applications. Splendid works on top of NVIDIA’s PureVideotmtechnology to offer sharp decoded video.

Specifications

The ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP/512M and EN7900GS/2DHT/256M are now availableworldwide.

ASUS launches K93SM 18.4-inch notebook in Europe

ASUS has just officially released its latest K-Series notebook into the European market boasting an 18.4-inch sized LED-backlit Full HD (1920 x 1080) display. The K93SM can now be found online at various EU e/retailers with stock showing and pricing that ranges from 849 Euro to 1,149 Euro depending on the chosen configuration.

For that you get a notebook that packs a Core i5-2450M or i7-2670QM processor, up to 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GT 630M 1 GB graphics card and a 500 GB (or 1 TB) HDD. Connectivity includes Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a USB 3.0 port and 3-in-1 card reader. Rounding out the specs, the S93SM comes with either a 8x DVD writer or 6x Blu-ray combo drive, 6-cell (5200 mAh) battery and a chiclet style keyboard; in all weighing in at 4.1Kg.

ASUS keeps temps at bay and ensures the palmrest wont get uncomfortably warm with the implementation of its proprietory IceCool technology. The notebook ships with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Source: Notebook Journal.de

ATi Chipsets Renamed

After the completion of acquisition, AMD revealed the company’s plan to mergeATI’s chipset under the brand of AMD. Affected chipsets include those releasedCrossFire enabled RD580, RD550, RD480 and all future chipsets for AMD platform.The product segment includes X(Multi GPU), T(Premium Class IGP), G(MainstreamClass IGP) and V(Value Class IGP).

ATi Xpress 3200 (RD580) --> AMD 580X CrossfireATi RS690 --> AMD 690G Chipset with ATi Radeon X1250 GraphicsRX690M --> AMD M690

RD600 and RS600, which are designed for Intel platform releasing in Dec 2006and Q1 2007, are the only future ATI products excluded from this change.

AMD Updates Server Workstation Roadmap

"Shanghai" on track to begin production in 2H08. Development of AMD‘sfirst 45nm server processor, codenamed "Shanghai" is on schedule to beginproduction in the second half of 2008 and will now feature coherentHyperTransport 3.0 for processor-to-processor communication. In addition toincreasing the shared Level-3cache from 2MB to 6 MB, "Shanghai" will includecore and instruction-per­clock (IPC) enhancements.

"Istanbul" to bring 6-core processing within current socket in 2H09. Newto the AMD server roadmap, "Istanbul" is will be a 6-core server processor thatwill fit within the current Socket F1(1207), which will enable OEMs to preserveplatform investments and increase system performance-per-watt."Istanbul" isplanned to be available for 2P and above configurations, and will leverage AMD‘sindustry-leading Direct Connect Architecture, which alleviates the systemcommunication bottlenecks in other processors.

The third-generation AMD Opteron processor Socket G34 platform is planned for1H10. In 2010, AMD expects to introduce its third-generation AMD Opteronprocessor Socket G34platform. The Socket G34platform is planned to offerfeatures such as DDR3 memory capabilities and the AMD RD890 chipset fornon-coherent HyperTransport 3.0, along with an additional HT link.

New six-and twelve-core AMD Opteron processors for Socket G34 planned for1H10. A six-core processor, codenamed "Sao Paolo" is planned to incorporateDDR3memory and an additional HyperTransport 3.0 linkas well as a 6-core design.—MagnyCours,“ a 12-core processor will also leverage these features.

GTA5, GTAV - De nouvelles images pour GTA V

Après une première salve d'images ce lundi, et une seconde ce mercredi, Rockstar poursuit la communication autour du futur GTA en nous livrant quatre nouveaux screenshots à se mettre sous les mirettes.

Contrairement aux deux précédentes livraisons de screenshots, largement contemplatives, on semble ici entrer un peu plus dans le vif du sujet avec des représentations de scènes d'action. Il sera ainsi possible de voir un personnage, arme à la main, en train de s'acoquiner avec un hélicoptère, ou bien en train de faire grimpette sur un camion en marche, avec la police aux premières loges, le tout sur ce qui semble être une autoroute. La troisième image montre pour sa part une magnifique voiture de sport se faisant la malle, coursée par quelques voitures de police et un hélicoptère. La dernière enfin, la plus impressionnante de toutes, présente un magnifique biplan en train de survoler un paysage naturel, dont la rivière est tout bonnement magnifique.

Si ces images restent magnifiques, et laissent à penser que le moteur graphique de ce GTA V s'apprête à nous fracturer les rétines, il commencerait à être de bon ton que Rockstar nous offre un peu de contenu "décent" à nous mettre sous la dent.

· Voir les nouveaux screenshots de GTA V
· Forum Grand Theft Auto V

2012-12-21-342

A+ Launches CS-500 Mid-Tower Chassis

A+ CS-500 Mid-Tower Chassis

A+has unveiled the CS-500, a basic chassis for users on a budget.


Rear With Pre-Drilled Holes for Water-Cooling Cables


Side Panel


Interior

Measuring 200 x 472.6 x 430 mm, the black colored case features atool-less design and has four 5.25” bays, pre-drilled holes (forwater-cooling tubes) and a front panel with two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA andaudio connectors. With provisions for fans at the rear and side panels,the CS-500 can now be purchased from major retailers and e-tailers at aMSRP of 34 Euro.


News via [Techconnect]