NVIDIA gobbles up ray tracing software maker RayScale

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/296090771/

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

Details are pretty slim on this one at the moment, but PC Perspective is reporting that NVIDIA has snapped up the Utah-based start-up RayScale, a maker of ray tracing software. As PC Perspective points out, the move is made particularly interesting in light of some recent comments made by NVIDIA CTO David Kirk, who mused about the merging of ray tracing and rasterization into a "hybrid renderer" of sorts, but didn't offer any firm details on the company's plans at the time. No word on a price tag for the acquisition just yet, or any other details for that matter, but it seems like things should be getting a bit more official in the next few days.

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Sharp trumpets world's thinnest 5-megapixel CMOS sensor

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/296328675/

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Every so often, we catch Sharp tooting its own horn in regard to sensor size. Needless to say, small is most certainly superior in this discussion, and the aforesaid outfit is patting itself on the back once more for the RJ63SC100. This 5-megapixel CMOS sensor is said to be the industry's thinnest at 9.5- x 9.5- x 6.6-millimeters, and it should fit snugly inside the already cramped innards of tomorrow's cellphones just fine. Samples are slated to ship out at the end of May for ¥10,000 ($96) a pop, while commercial production should get going a month later.

[Via Impress]

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3G iPhone to support 42Mbps Evolved HSPA data?

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/296410763/

Filed under: Cellphones

Get this. Australian site ChannelNews claims that a "senior executive of Telstra" is the latest 3G iPhone bean spiller. They quote the exec as saying the following:

"We know what is coming we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Christmas this phone will be capable of 42Mbps which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world."

Interesting. We know that Telstra's Next G HSDPA network has been capable of 14.4Mbps since 2007. At GSMA Mobile World Congress, they even committed to 21Mbps before the end of the year and 42Mbps using HSPA+ (aka, Evolved HSPA, HSPA Evolution) technology in 2009... not Christmas of 2008. Hard to say if this is just industry blow-harding or actual insider info. June 9th: T-minus 17 days and counting.

[Thanks, Paul S.]

Read -- Telstra 42Mbps HSPA+ in 2009
Read -- Telstra 3G iPhone rumor

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Video: Intel launching 80GB 1.8- and 2.5-inch SSDs in Q3?

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/296494968/

Filed under: Storage

As evidence begins to amass around the imminent launch of Intel's consumer oriented High Performance SSDs, we finally get model numbers, dates, and capacities from Taiwan. According to DigiTimes and its "sources at PC makers," Intel is prepping a 2.5-inch Client X25-M SSD and 1.8-inch Client X18-M SSD for launch in Q3. Both of the SATA drives will initially launch in 80GB capacities before hitting 160GB by the end of Q4 -- 250GB and beyond in 2009. We'll guess that they'll be sporting the "world's fastest" SLC NAND co-developed with Micron making the drives tres cher fo' sho'. However they come, they'll likely be snuggled up to Intel's new Centrino 2 laptops when they do arrive.

P.S. We dug up a promo video which we've bunged into the page after the break.

Continue reading Video: Intel launching 80GB 1.8- and 2.5-inch SSDs in Q3?

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Brands Punk'd By Social Media

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ForresterMarketing/~3/286852576/brands-punkd-by.html

[Posted by Jeremiah Owyang]

A list of companies that were blind-sided by the internet, they didn't understand the impacts of the power shift to the participants, or how fast information would spread, or were just plain ignorant. 

Criteria of "Punk'd" includes a situation where the story would have not been told if social media was not available, or if social media enhanced the situation.

This doesn't include fake blogs, companies who deliberately tried to cheat the system get their own honorable mention.

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2008

• Louis Vuitton gets Brand-Jacked in Anti-Genocide Campaign Artist creates and sells T-shirt demonstrating how the media turns a deaf ear to real world tragedies such as genocide in Dafur, infringing on LV logo.  LV fires back, with lawsuit, a groundswell begins. Submitted by Søren Storm Hansen
• Burger King exec trash talks using daughter's email Not sure why he didn't just create a new email address, that would have been a lot safer. Submitted by Hilker.
• Johnson and Johnson to bloggers: Hurry up and get dis-invited Sounds like a mis-coordination, bad timing, and not a well thought through process that ended up getting scobleized, and Maryamized.
•  Anonymous Unmasks Church of Scientology The church of Scientology has been criticized by an anonymous group, a faceless mass that has created videos, staged marches and protests, and is subvert the Church from around the internet.

2007

• Target's Rounders program "This is our secret game" Target encouraged it's premier members in the rounders program to pump up it's brand in a Facebook group, sadly, the covert operation ended up on blogs and then mainstream media
• HD DVD Decoded by Digg, unDugg, then Dugg again Digg users publish HD code, industry freaks out, Digg maintains stance.
• Wholefoods CEO caught being a troll Whole Foods CEO, was anonymously trashing competitors and pumping company up on Yahoo finance boards.
• Delta holds customers hostage What's worse than being held prisoner on Delta's dirty plane? (Video), watching the crew getting off da plane.  Oh, and no food, crying babies, but one talented videographer.
• Taco Bell's infestation crawls into YouTube A minor rat problem moved it's way to YouTube, spreading faster and farther than expected, a total of more than one million views for all videos. Submitted by Graham Hill

 

2006

• Data storage blogger posts industry price lists, sales reps cry f#ck! Robin Harris, one of the most well known of the data storage blogosphere posts price lists that were received from various customers.
• Dell Laptop Explodes, news at 11 --on YouTube More bad news for Dell, as laptops explode in Japan, all can see online.
• Comcast suffers from Narcolepsy Sleepy Techician caught on YouTube, then fired.  Also see Comcast must die blog, submitted by Jeff Jarvis.
• Hitachi Hell gets the finger Angry customer gets bad service, writes long experience, and flips off HQ in picture, he's also an influencer in the gaming community
• The naked NOKA chocolate uncovered A premium chocolatier (Noka) had a tremendous markup ($309- $2,080 per pound) of their secretly re-packaged chocolate, was exposed as a fraud and spread on blogs. And their google results is really painful. Submitted by Whitney.
• AOL gets canceled --how to get get on my nerves This guy really bothers me, I can see why Vincent Ferrari was miffed.  It's clear, he was dealing with the customer retention department. Nothing worse than the feeling of being held hostage.  Submitted by David Alston.
• Airplane fiasco's spread online: JetBlue There are so many examples, such as a YouTube testimonial about JetBlue's 8+ hours stranded in terminal. Related: JetBlue's CEO responds after flights are cut months later due to storm.
• Starbucks Brandjacked by YouTube Video Who wants a tasty frappuccino when there are kids starving?  This was one of the first cases of brandjacking we saw.

2005

• Why we Dwell on Dell Hell Jeff Jarvis launches blog post that sends a flurry of PR negativty at Dell's poor service, it's since been improved.

2004

• Kryptonite unlocked Locks were disabled using a simple bic pen cap, spread on forums and blogs, one of the earliest examples that got mainstream attention.

2003

• The Barbera Streisand Effect Singer star tries to remove content from internet, it all goes downhill from there. I actually learned about this from reading my colleagues Groundswell book

2001

• Apple's dirty little secret plastered over NYC Apparently, 18 months is all the iPod will run before you'll need to buy a new one, says this video, where street teams went around defacing ads. Submitted by David Churbuck (I got his name right this time)\

Also see: 8 Groundswell Examples: News, Education, Religion, Cops, Restaurants, Music, Conferences, and Analysts

This is a cross post from the Web Strategy blog. Thanks to Jackie Huba for correcting that Apple's dirty little secret was actually form 2001, very early on.

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