Friday, November 14, 2008

AMD announces Conesus netbook platform, ATI Stream brand, Fusion processor delay

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/13/amd-announces-conesus-netbook-platform-ati-stream-brand-fusion/

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We already got word of AMD's new 45nm Shanghai Opterons this morning, but it looks like that was only just the beginning of a deluge of news out of the slightly troubled company today, which includes the expected announcement of its netbook platform, the introduction of its new ATI Stream brand, and word of a delay to its much-vaunted Fusion platform. On the netbook front, AMD is hoping that its "Conesus" processor will prove to be a formidable competitor to Intel's Atom, with it apparently existing only in a 45nm, dual-core version that includes 1MB of cache and support for DDR2 RAM. Look for it to roll out in the first half of 2009. Coming ahead of that is AMD's new ATI Stream brand, which encompasses a number of the company's different stream and GPU computing initiatives and attempts to make them more attractive to both consumer and enterprise markets. To that end, AMD will be adding Stream support to its next Catalyst update (due in December), which will apparently let folks easily run stream applications that make use of your graphics card's GPU for some added computing power. It's not all high-fives around AMD, however, as the company has also let out word that its ! Fusion p latform based around the dual CPU / GPU "Shrike" processor will be delayed until sometime in 2011, a full year later than originally planned. As if that wasn't enough, it's also shaken up the rest of its processor roadmap a bit, although it's entirely possible that it'll fluctuate a bit further before things really settle down. Hit up the links below to break all that down piece by piece.

Read - Extreme Tech, "AMD Answers Atom with 'Conesus,' Roadmap Update"
Read - PC Perspective, "ATI Stream Computing: From the desktop to the datacenter"
Read - HotHardware, "AMD ATI Stream Computing Update"
Read - TG Daily, "AMD delays Fusion processor to 2011"

AMD announces Conesus netbook platform, ATI Stream brand, Fusion processor delay originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell's Vostro A860 yours for a song (and $379)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/13/dells-vostro-a860-yours-for-a-song-and-379/

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The Dell Vostro A860 we've heard so much about has finally hit the Stateside scene, and it looks like we'll finally be able to get our hands on the laptop that those lucky folk in the "emerging markets" of Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America have been into since before it was cool (that is, late August). Starting at $379 with Dell's instant savings, the 15.6-inch, 5.4 pound laptop comes with either a Celeron or Pentium Dual Core processor, GMA X3100+ integrated graphics, up to 2GB of memory, up to 160GB storage, 1366 x 768 display resolution, WiFi and optional Bluetooth. This "speed demon" comes preloaded with Vista Home Basic or Vista Business and is available now at Dell's website.

[Via Laptoping]

Dell's Vostro A860 yours for a song (and $379) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Walt Mossberg reviews Autonet: spotty, but still distracting enough to be dangerous

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/13/walt-mossberg-reviews-autonet-spotty-but-still-distracting-eno/

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Chrysler's in-car WiFi, Autonet Mobile, has been around for a little while now, and Walt Mossberg has helpfully reviewed it for us. He found the service (which is basically an in-car 3G WiFi router) to be great for email and basic web surfing, but it was too slow to handle anything much more demanding, like streaming videos. Speed test results ranged from 100 kbps to 500 kbps, with an average of 400-450 kbps... pretty average for 3G speeds, and Walt says the connection never dropped. On the plus side, it appears that Chrysler is willing to mount the ruggedized router in the trunk of any car -- not just their models -- which is great news if, like most people, you have no intention of driving a Chrysler around. The Autonet box runs $499 ($399 for the holidays) with a one-year contract and monthly fees of about $29. That may seem expensive, but can you put a price on your kids checking Facebook rather than asking "Are we there yet" every twelve seconds? Hit the read link for the full review.

Walt Mossberg reviews Autonet: spotty, but still distracting enough to be dangerous originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Callpod's Drone Bluetooth adapter turns your Bluetooth headset into Skype's best friend

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/14/callpods-drone-bluetooth-adapter-turns-your-bluetooth-headset-i/

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We were always curious as to why computers don't make it easier to take advantage of that fancy little Bluetooth headset of yours -- why buy a whole 'nother headset for Skype and Counter Strike (is that what kids are up to these days?) when your ridiculously overpriced Jawbone will do just fine? Callpod's newly released Drone USB Bluetooth adapter makes your Bluetooth headset look just like a regular headphone / mic combo to a PC or Mac, perfect for chewing out the kids from your hotel room over some long-distance Skype without messing with a tangle of wires. Callpod is also touting a 100 meter wireless range, and can naturally do regular, boring Bluetooth chores like transferring files and tethering your keyboard. The Drone is available now for $50.

[Via Crave]

Callpod's Drone Bluetooth adapter turns your Bluetooth headset into Skype's best friend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Anandtech Lab Notes - Core i7 920 OC with Patriot Memory DDR3


Anandtech Lab Notes - Core i7 920 OC with Patriot Memory DDR3
By eva2000
Keeping VCore, VDimm, and VQPI in proper sync is the key to a stable overclock at voltages that will not shorten your processor's lifespan, well not by that much from what we can tell at this point. Intel's guidance continues to be not ...
i4memory.com - http://i4memory.com/wp/

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Giz Explains 3D Technologies [Giz Explains]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/h7bvHCqeRNQ/giz-explains-3d-technologies

Last week, CNN's attempt to display the future of TV news ended up making 3D look like the gimmick that it is. Yep, 3D is a gimmick, most associated (outside of CNN) with those stupid glasses designed to fit Blockheads from Venus. But as you know, there are many different scientific approaches dedicated to tricking you into thinking bullets—or other deadly projectiles such as children—are popping out of the screen and coming right at you. Here's a quick and dirty guide to 3D magic.

Most 3D operates on a single basic principle—tricking our dumb, binocular brain into interpreting a 2D image into one with depth. The most basic way to do this is stereoscopy, which is essentially showing a slightly different image to each eye which the brain mashes together into a 3D image. We've broken up the million different ways to do 3D in a few broad categories.

Stupid Glasses
It's easiest to do stereoscopic images with glasses or other nerdtastic eyewear to change how you see stuff—hence there are a lot of variations in 3D glasses tech.
• An anaglyph image is the old school 3D we all know and got headaches from: An image has two different color layers, one for each eye, with slightly different perspectives and when we look at them through those awesome plastic glasses (usually with red and blue lenses) that block one layer in each eye, our dumb brain takes the resulting separate image from each eye and mashes them together to make a 3D scene in our head.

Polarized 3D glasses are the more modern choice for cheap 3D for the masses—you've worn them at IMAX if you've caught a 3D movie there, or at Disney World, since the big thing they allow over an anaglyph is full color. They work kind of the same way as the red/blue glasses though—two synced projectors throw images with slightly different perspectives up simultaneously, but at different polarizations. The polarized glasses only allow a single corresponding polarized image into each eye, and the brain does the hard work again, combining two separate images into a single 3D one.

 • LCD shutter glasses are excellent because they're so ridiculous. They actually block vision alternately in each eye in time with the refresh rate on the display by rapidly darkening each lens, while the display alternately shows images with a slightly different perspective (this is called alternate frame sequencing). It's essentially the "show different stuff to each eye" principle taken to its logically absurd conclusion—literally blocking the sight of the unwanted eye. Yes, these complicated puppies usually run over $100, and can give you a headache on a monitor without a high enough refresh rate.

No Glasses Required
Okay, so you don't wanna wear glasses. No problem—you just move the one-image-per-eye dance to the display itself.
• A parallax barrier is one of the more popular ways for swinging 3D without glasses—you see it in Sharp TVs for instance. It actually works a lot like polarized glasses, it just moves where the obstruction magic happens to the front of the TV. Instead of having glasses filter the image for each eye, the screen's parallax barrier—think of it is a very finely grated fence with precisely angled holes—directs different light into each eye, and your brain turns the mixed signals into a 3D image. The bad part? With a normal parallax barrier, the screen is permanently in 3D mode and you don't have exactly have a wide viewing angle. Sharp's trick for 3D in LCD displays is fancier—there's a second LCD that creates the parallax barrier with a polarized grid of lines, which is nice because you can turn it off and go back to regular 3D viewing.

• Integral Imaging is a form of parallax actually. You've got a bunch of supertiny micro-images that you actually peep through an array of spherical convex lenses, one per micro-image. All these micro-images come together when you look at them to form a 3D image.


• Another form of parallax is continuous-motion parallax. Here, HoloVizio's system dumps pixels in favor of voxels, which can project multiple light beams in multiple directions simultaneously.

3D in 3D
So far, we've just talked about 2D images on a flat screen, which your brain is fooled into thinking are three-dimensional. The other side is creating images in real 3D— you know, meatspace.! Still, most of them make use of lighting and projection tricks too.
• The Graphics Lab at the University of Southern California has come up with a cheap way to create images in 3D space (as opposed to planar space) by using a spinning mirror called a light-field display. Basically high speed video is projected onto a quickly spinning mirror, which then "reflects a different and accurate image to each potential viewer." The system uses an algorithm to figure out the correct shading and occlusion for the image.

Japanese researchers' new plasma-laser hologrammy device takes advantage of the "plasma emission phenomenon near the focal point of focused laser light." By manipulating the laser's focal point, along the x, y and z axes, they can display real 3D images in mid-air.

• Heliodisplay actually creates a surface in mid-air to project an image onto, which allows you to do the "Help me Obi-wan Kenobi" type of floating holograms that look 3Dish, though they're actually planar (2D) images. Yep, it's expensive.

FAKE FAKE FAKE
There are lots of suggested 3D images out there that aren't any kind of real 3D—videogames are of course the most obvious. But why pick on them when you can pick on CNN?
• Sorry Wolf, but we gotta hit people with the truth: CNN's "holograms" are totally fake. We alrea dy explained this before, but no one was projected in front of Wolf Blitzer. He was looking at a wall. What we saw at home as computer-generated: A bunch of HD cameras filmed the hologramee from all sides, computers crunched that data and delivered whatever angle the studio camera needed at the time. As long as the source angle was synced to the studio angle, it looked, to viewers at least, like a 3D "hologram." Nice try, Wolfie. Call us when you score an R2 unit. –With Reporting by Seung Lee

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about 3D, double Ds or croissan'wiches to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.


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The Linux Boot Sequence, Visualized [Software]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lT3sUqioMRA/the-linux-boot-sequence-visualized

Most of us don't appreciate all the processes involved with our OS's boot sequence; we're far more interested in watching that status bar fill. In this visualization of the Linux boot sequence, each function is a node, and each line connecting the nodes represents a call, direct branch, or indirect branch. The image itself was created via logarithm interpreting the process as electrical signal, so if we're reading this correctly, it's almost as if you're looking at the brain pathways that boot Linux (oh you computer science junkies will have a field day with that analogy). [Perry Hung via MAKE]


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Fiber Optics May Change The Way You View Wallpaper [Fiber Optics]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/yG5yMnVIq2o/fiber-optics-may-change-the-way-you-view-wallpaper

As a prospective homebuyer, I have watched enough HGTV to learn a few things: people like open floorplans and they like big kitchens with stainless steel appliances—but they don't like wallpaper. Still, that has not deterred designers from trying to make wallpaper appealing again. One such designer named Camilla Diedrich is attempting to achieve this feat using intricate designs and fiber optics. Her Nature Ray Charles series comes in several different colors and can be purchased for about $231 a roll—although there are no details on how the wallpaper works or how it is applied.

It still looks too busy if you ask me, plus that lighting effect could get real annoying real quick—unless there is a way to shut off the power (or you are tripping balls 24 hours a day). [Bodie and Fou via Inhabitat]


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GreenHouse 32GB, 64GB SSDs Upgrades Your Eee's Paltry Storage [Upgrade]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5Eo116eFbFM/greenhouse-32gb-64gb-ssds-upgrades-your-eees-paltry-storage

If you got one of those 8.9-inch Eee PCs and found that the 12GB of included drive space just wasn't enough, don't despair! GreenHouse Japan has released two new SSD modules which sport 35MB/s reading speeds and 15MB/s writing speeds. The modules are specifically made to work with the 901 and 900 lines, and will cost $143 for a 32GB version and $292 for the 64GB one. [Greenhouse via Akihabara News]


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BlackBerry Curve 8900 Pallin' Around With FCC, Coming to US Early Next Year [BlackBerry]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RzqHE40u6TY/blackberry-curve-8900-pallin-around-with-fcc-coming-to-us-early-next-year

Almost immediately after news of a release date and lovely little price on T-Mobile in Germany, RIM has let on a little info as to the new Curve's US release: it's imminent, and should come within Q1 of next year. RIM is just going through the motions with the FCC for now, but T-Mobile and AT&T are likely carriers for the neat little handset. Neither has formally staked their claim. [Gearlog via Engadget]


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Eye-Fi celebrates a year with 4GB Anniversary Edition SD card

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/eye-fi-celebrates-a-year-with-4gb-anniversary-edition-sd-card/

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Eye-Fi has been adding in some pretty swank extras of late for its current stable of wireless SD cards, but we're pretty sure you'll agree that we're due for some new hardware. Today, the outfit is taking the wraps off of a limited edition 4GB Anniversary Edition, which boasts double the capacity of its other cards and "improved memory speeds." Outside of that, there's really nothing too special about it, but those who've already been convinced can procure one right now for $129 at the firm's website or for $99 if you're a Costco member. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Eye-Fi celebrates a year with 4GB Anniversary Edition SD card

Eye-Fi celebrates a year with 4GB Anniversary Edition SD card originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 reviewed on Engadget Mobile

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/sony-ericsson-xperia-x1-reviewed-on-engadget-mobile/

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Sony Ericsson's long-awaited XPERIA X1 is finally closing in on a US release, and Engadget Mobile has the low-down on the North America-bound X1a. Care to see how this hunk of sexy fared in real-world use? Do you love butterflies and magnetic fields? If you can honestly answer yes to any of the aforementioned questions, grab your reading glasses and head on over.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 reviewed on Engadget Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UMID's "super mini laptop" is small, shiny, super

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/umids-super-mini-laptop-is-small-shiny-super/

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UMID's
Netbooks too big for you? MIDs too cramped? What you need is a super mini laptop from Korean company UMID, one of the sexiest entrants into what seems to be a burgeoning sub-netbook category (or subnet-books for the network admins out there). It weighs just 315 grams (a little over a half-pound) and, while exact dimensions weren't listed, seems to sit somewhere between Nintendo DS and Everun Note in terms of size (judge for yourself, more pics below). Inside it can pack a 1.33GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and up to 32GB of storage via SSD, meaning it can hold its own against the netbook hordes, and do so on the run thanks to WiBro, WiMAX, HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity. It also has a 1.3 megapixel camera situated next to a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen and can be yours running XP, Vista, or Linux. Well, not yours, since we don't know when or where this thing will be appearing for sale first or, for that matter, how much it will cost when it does.

[Via jkkmobile]

Continue reading UMID's "super mini laptop" is small, shiny, super

UMID's "super mini laptop" is small, shiny, super originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cray supercomputer is world's fastest (that we're allowed to know about)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/cray-supercomputer-is-worlds-fastest-that-were-allowed-to-kno/

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Cray supercomputer is world's fastest (that we're allowed to know about)
Seattle-based Cray has been wowing us with massive, ridiculously fast supercomputers since the '70s, establishing a position for its machines high on every geek's most wanted list -- despite never publishing a Doom benchmark. In recent years the title of "world's fastest" supercomputer had been lost by the company, ping-ponging from Wako, Japan to Armonk, NY, but is now back in Cray's hands with the implementation of the XT Jaguar. It's comprised of over 45,000 quad-core Opteron processors, 362GBTB of memory, and has a 10PB (petabyte) storage array, able to perform calculations at a massive 1.64 petaflops. That's over one and a half quadrillion operations per second and more than 50 percent faster than IBM's previous heavyweight. Mind you, Cray is quick to point out that this is the fastest machine being used for non-classified research, a caveat that just makes us even more curious about what's keeping the Pentagon's server rooms warm and loud... and apparently orange.

Update: That should be 362 terabytes of memory, not mere gigabytes.

[Via UPI.com]

Cray supercomputer is world's fastest (that we're allowed to know about) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3M's MPro110 pico projector hits the streets for $359 a pop

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/12/3ms-mpro110-pico-projector-hits-the-streets-for-359-a-pop/

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With the holidays at hand, all these improbably-small projectors we've been seeing around for the past year or so are starting to land in force, and 3M's MPro110 is certainly a contender. The little unit shoots a VGA image onto screens as large as 50-inches (though we wouldn't recommend it), with a long lasting LED backlight backing it up. We got an up-close look at the thing last night, and have a few quick notes: the image is about as dim as you'd expect, and looks exponentially better the smaller the area you're trying to project on -- at about 30-inches in a decently lit room the image was insufferably dim, but at around 17 or 18-inches we were getting some pretty good definition brightness. The projector autofocuses plenty fast, which is clutch for a "handheld" projector, but it does get fairly warm despite its LED usage. Overall, we can't fault the projector too much, with a $359 pricetag and a "paperback book" form factor, but the application is certainly limited at the moment, and we're guessing these will be getting a lot better in the future. The MPro110 is now shipping.

3M's MPro110 pico projector hits the streets for $359 a pop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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