Calgary (CA) ā€“ Voodoo, the boutique end of HP, has been designing crazy computers for a while, and HPā€™s almost unlimited resources have now allowed it to make an even crazier laptop. We first wrote about the ultra-portable Envy 133 back on June 10th and now take a closer look at Voodooā€™s MacBook Air-killer.
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Redmond (WA) ā€“ Here we go again. It appears that there is little good news about Windows Vista these days and Microsoft is not doing much to correct the doubt about Vista impressions that exist today. Market research firm Forrester apparently found that only 8.8% of corporations are using Windows Vista today, while 87% still use Windows XP. He went as far as describing Vista as a product that was rejected by customers and as a flop that may force Microsoft to revert its strategy. No surprise, Microsoft is unhappy.
According to Microsoftā€™s Chris Flores, who not necessarily disagrees with the claim that the adoption rate of Windows Vista is low, claims that Forresterā€™s Thomas Mendel lacks common knowledge about software upgrade cycles in the industry and simply ā€skimsā€¯ over ā€common knowledgeā€¯.
Combining the answers from 50,000 businesses, Mendel found that fewer than one in 11 of PCs being used in big firms runs Vista. More than 87% were still running Windows XP at the end of last month. Considering the fact that Vista has been on the market for 18 months (21 months if you count in the Express upgrade period) and has been available to large-scale beta-testing even longer, the fact that only 8.8% of businesses run Vista may raise doubts over the benefits the operating system offers to businesses. Read the rest of this entry »
First Look - Product announcements are always tricky in a the way how you describe a products features in a flashy enough way to attract attention, but remain sufficiently careful to not overstate its features and benefits. Even a fantastic new product can easily be trashed in todayā€™s Internet world if you go overboard: That may be the case with Cuil, an interesting new try to come up with a new type of search engine, which, according to its developers, carries the worldā€™s largest search index. We have 12 hours of Cuil usage behind us to see what the engine offers. The result (surprise, surprise): Bigger isnā€™t necessarily better.
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Chicago (IL) ā€“ Once in a while we come across a company whose idea and products just make sense. Ncomputing is such a company and it may take some time until you will hear more about its products, but we do believe that the firm has what it takes to popularize cloud computing for the masses and become Intelā€™s biggest threat yet. We are talking about the ability to split one PC into possibly dozens of sub 5-watt computers with a cost of less than $100 each. To us, it is the first convincing cloud computing idea that has the potential to reach more users than any other computing product before.
The iPhone is the mobile device that we all want to play with. The problem is that some of us want to play with it more than others, and the companies that make the iPhone and market its services don’t always want you to. This article explains what those companies are doing to spoil the fun, and why.
The Issue at Hand
It is not news that people want to hack their iPhones to give it additional features, or to make it run on the services of another wireless phone provider, such as Verizon or Sprint. The phone has already been hacked by both professionals and hobby hackers alike who didn’t want to leave the phone as it is.
But those savvy end users who have taken the time to capitalize on the possible enhancements that hacking the iPhone that can offer may find themselves in a little bit of hot water when they try to take the newest update that Apple has to offer to users of the iPhone. Read the rest of this entry »
We are working on a final update to our first look at the new AMD SB750 Southbridge and Advanced Clock Calibration technology. Based upon requests, we are currently testing the 9600BE, 9550, and 8750 processors to provide an indication of overclock results based on older B2 processors and current non-BE units. In preliminary testing, we can already state that the Black Edition processors show the greatest promise when it comes to overclocking.
Also, we do not have any further technical information on exactly how ACC works. We have had several discussions with AMD but nothing concrete to report so far. There are some valid theories about what AMD is doing behind the big curtain, but nothing substantiated yet. Throwing caution to the wind, I would say inter-register fine tuning is occurring along with some other pipeline and clock optimizations. But I could be completely wrong (would not be the first or last time) if AMD ever opens the curtain for us to take a peek inside.
Foxconn has provided a new BIOS update tonight for the A79A-S motherboard that allows us to switch off the TLB fix as our preliminary results with the 9600BE have been a bit strange. Also, we have production release RAID 5 drivers to test in order to answer a few storage performance questions and we will take a quick look at 8GB memory clocking on this board in our update. Read the rest of this entry »
Even though both DisplayPort and High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) were developed with different priorities in mind, their co-existence on the market inevitably means competition between the two standards for display and audio interconnection. Market research firm iSuppli believes that DisplayPort will mostly be used on the market of personal computers, whereas HDMI will remain de facto standard in consumer electronics (CE).
iSuppli forecasts that global shipments of DisplayPort-enabled equipment will grow to 263.3 million units by 2012, up from zero in 2007. Meanwhile, HDMI-enabled equipment will grow to 772.8 million units in 2012, rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 32% from 193 million units in 2007. While HDMI has been adopted by desktop and mobile PC platforms and presently surpasses DisplayPort in this market, iSuppli expects that DisplayPort will take over the lead in this market after 2010, as PC OEMs move away from VGA interfaces and adopt HD solutions. Read the rest of this entry »
Round Rock (TX) - DellDell is offering BIOS updates to mitigate the effects of faulty GPUs shipped by Nvidia. The BIOS upgrade will not “repair” the GPU, but Dell hopes that the update will alleviate problems caused by the chip in most usage scenarios and make the Nvidia GPUs more usable.
Dell has prepped the BIOS update for ten notebook PCs in the Inspiron, Latitude, Precision, Vostro and XPS series and if you have a product that is affected by a failing GPU , flashing your BIOS is certainly a good idea. The update delivers what Dell calls “enhanced thermal control,” which basically consists of a capability to moderate the fan speed to mitigate GPU temperature fluctuations.
Fremont, California, and Glasgow, UK , Wednesday, July 23, 2008 ā€“ Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced immediate availability of Crucial BallistixĀ® PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333MHz) and PC3-14400 (DDR3-1800MHz) high-performance memory modules. These new modules expand on the award-winning Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 and DDR3-2000MHz product offering.Ā As part of its commitment to the PC enthusiast and gaming community, Lexar Media continually seeks to bring new memory offerings to market and enhance its product lines. For complete product details on the Crucial Ballistix line-up, visit: www.crucial.com/ballistix, www.crucial.com/uk/ballistix or www.crucial.com/eu/ballistix.
Specific Crucial Ballistix modules, such as the DDR3-1600MHz, -1800MHz, and -2000MHz modules, have enhanced performance profiles within the module programming that when paired with a supported platform, provide users with an option for easy setup and configuration instead of a manual process that may require trial and error or advanced system knowledge.Ā The modules also support manual configuration in the event the user wants to maintain full control.
ā€Weā€™re pleased to offer gaming enthusiasts a full spectrum of DDR3 product speeds and densities that will satisfy their system and over-clocking requirements,ā€¯ said Jeremy Mortenson, Lexar Mediaā€™s senior DRAM product marketing manager. ā€Crucial customers can now select from a wide variety of award-winning DDR3 offerings to best suit their needs, while experiencing advanced performance and stability.ā€¯ Read the rest of this entry »
ASUS has just launched a PCI version of the Xonar D1 soundcard. Equipped with AV100 chip, which features a 116 dB output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and a 112 dB input signal-to-noise ratio, with 24-bit resolution and up to 192 KHz sampling rate, this new soundcard features 7.1 audio format and supports DS3D GX 2.0 and VocalFX technologies. Xonar D1 PCI will reach the market next month.
Following the success of the award-winning PCI express Xonar DX soundcard, ASUS, producer of top-notch audio devices, has responded to audiophile requests for a PCI version with the same exceptional features and value. Today, with the release of the ASUS Xonar D1 PCI soundcard, users can enjoy the same rich gaming audio effects and extensive Dolby Home Theater features as the Xonar DX, and free up PCI express slots for other uses at the same time. This iteration of the Xonar provides fine-tuned audio components that reach a clear 116dB SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio); while the built-in DS3D GX revives support for DirectSound HW multi-channel gaming audio and the latest EAX (Environment Audio Extension) in PC games.
