Nintendo sells 100 million DS consoles

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Nintendo said sales of its handheld DS have topped 100 million machines less than five years since its launch, reaching the milestone faster than any other game console.

Worldwide sales of the dual-screen DS passed 100 million on March 6, including the original model -- which was launched in November 2004 -- as well as the DS Lite and DSi, Nintendo said in a statement Wednesday.

The success of

"We aim to shift from one machine for one family to one machine for one person," the Kyoto-based company said.

The latest model with built-in cameras, the DSi, went on sale in Japan in November and is due to be released in the United States in April.

The DS trumped Sony's economic downturn better than other electronics makers.

(c) 2009 AFP

A Laptop Circle of Trust

Laptop computers are quickly becoming standard-issue equipment for enterprise workforces across the globe, but the productivity gained from this added mobility comes at a price: increased exposure to theft, loss and damage.

Luckily, IT managers seeking to safeguard mobile data have a growing number of options at their disposal.

One such option is Seagate's fully encrypted Momentus FDE.2. On March 12, Seagate began shipping the drive to ASI Computer Technologies to be used in notebook PCs with hardened security. ASI is a hardware component distributor catering to white-box system integrators and is using the disks in machines branded for sale under the integrators' names.

The Momentus FDE.2 employs a dedicated ASIC to process the drive's AES 128-bit encryption on the fly. This enables SATA 1.5G bps transfer speeds on the 5,400rpm drive while minimizing load on a host machine's CPU. The drives will come in 80, 120 and 160GB capacities.

Seagate officials claim that the Momentus FDE.2's native hardware-based encryption gives it a performance edge over software-based encryption programs such as Microsoft Windows Vista's BitLocker and TrueCrypt, an open-source encryption application.

IT managers will be glad to know that Seagate's hardware-based encryption is always turned on and, perhaps more importantly, users cannot turn it off. After all, no security scheme is effective without consistent application in the field. Moreover, full disk encryption relieves the burden on users to remember to save sensitive files to specific folders or volumes on the drive.

To complete the circle of trust, ASI has incorporated Wave Systems' Embassy Trust Suite management tools. Wave's software handles management of keys and passwords, TPMs (trusted platform modules) and authentication with biometric, smart card and Windows domain logins.

According to Lark Allen, Wave Systems' executive vice president of corporate development, Wave has licensed software to most TPM chip manufacturers, and the company's Embassy software suite supports all existing TPMs. However, the current version does not support single sign-on. Therefore, users logging in with a fingerprint scan will be prompted for a password when starting up their systems and each time after the hard drive is power cycled.

Wave officials indicated that they would be working with OEMs and BIOS vendors to add that functionality in the future.

IT administrators can also access Seagate's DriveTrust security features built into the Momentus firmware with Wave's Embassy software. For example, the Momentus can store login and password pairs for as many as four users and four administrators. Regular user privileges are limited to log-in and password changes.

Administrators can add or remove users, assign recovery passwords and perform the "crypto erase" function to quickly and safely repurpose or retire disks storing sensitive data.

Seagate also will also begin shipping this month its second generation of high-performance 2.5-inch notebook hard drives. The turbocharged 7,200rpm Momentus disks will feature perpendicular recording technology, a 3G bps SATA interface and Seagate's optional G-Force protection.

Already available on Seagate's Barracuda and Cheetah product lines, G-Force technology bolsters resistance to damage of the drive's delicate platters, heads and spindle motors from nonoperational shock.

Similarly, Dell's StrikeZone technology, available on select models from its Latitude and Precision lines, uses specialized damping materials to cushion notebook hard drives and make them more durable.

Lenovo and Toshiba take a more active approach to this problem, utilizing motion sensors to detect impacts and sudden motions. When detected, hard drives are temporarily parked to protect the head and platter in a fall.

Lenovo offers this feature, called the Active Protection System, on select ThinkPad models. Toshiba's version, dubbed HDD Protection, is available on a number of Toshiba's Portege and Tecra laptops.

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International

Gateway Offers New Small Form Factor PC

The company believes the new PC lineup, the E-2610, which comes with Intel's Core 2 Duo processors and 945G chip set, will appeal to specific verticals, such as education.

Gateway, the third largest PC vendor in the United States, according to Gartner, is launching a new small form factor desktop that includes Intel's Core 2 Duo processors.

The Irvine, Calif., company introduced the new line of desktops, the E-2160 family, on March 29 and the company plans on marketing the PC to a steadfast group of vertical customers such as education institutions, government entities and small and midsize businesses.

While Gateway is advertising the 2610N desktop as a small form factor PC with three bays, the company said its BTX chassis will allow customers to configure the machines as a six-bay minitower, the 2610D, or as a three-bay desktop, the 2610S.

While the revenue OEMs used to collect from desktops sales have slipped as notebooks and other mobile devices have become much more profitable, some IT vendors believe that there still is a place for this type of PC.

In the last month, Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest PC vendor, has rolled out a number of high-end desktops for enterprises with a focus on energy efficiency.

Then, on March 28, HP also unveiled a refreshed version of its Compaq dx2300 desktop that is specifically designed for SMBs.

Much like HP, Gateway has been looking to attract customers to its products by offering the latest in Intel and Advanced Micro Devices processors, as well as touting the addition of Microsoft Windows Vista operating system for consumers and SMBs.

In addition to using a range of Intel chips - the Celeron D, Pentium 4, Pentium D and Core 2 Duo - the desktop comes with Intel's 945G chip set, a minimum of 512MB of DDR2 (double data rate memory) SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM) and a SATA (Serial ATA) II hard drive with up to 500GB of memory. With the tower version, the company offers an additional hard drive bay and a maximum of 1TB of memory.

The PC also includes GatewayShield, the company's Internet, hardware and data protection tool that includes TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2, which provides networking security and encryption features.

The E-2610, which is immediately available, has a starting price of $599, according to Gateway.

Copyright 2007 by Ziff Davis Media, Distributed by United Press International

Japanese researcher unveils 'hummingbird robot'

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Japanese researchers said Monday they had developed a "hummingbird robot" that can flutter around freely in mid-air with rapid wing movements.

The robot, a similar size to a real hummingbird, is equipped with a micro motor and four wings that can flap 30 times per second, said Hiroshi Liu, the researcher at Chiba University east of Tokyo.

It is controlled with an

The

Japanese firm develops world's first robot powered by fuel cells

TOKYO, June 30 (AFP) - A Japanese company on Thursday said it has developed a humanoid billed as the world's first robot powered by easy-to-replace, environmentally friendly fuel-cell batteries.

Speecys Corp, based in Tokyo and headed by former Sony robot engineer Tomoaki Kasuga, will on Friday begin selling the 50-centimeter (20-inch) tall, 4.2-kilogram (9.24-pound) robot carrying a built-in hydrogen cylinder.

Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, leaving water as the only by-product.

Fuel-cell batteries in cartridges can be easily replaced in contrast to conventional batteries that take hours to recharge.

"Fuel cells are a promising material as the source of energy for operating robots in the future," Speecys said in a statement.

"We believe that it is more suitable for (humanoid) robots to get fuel in cartridges as if they were having meals rather than to get batteries recharged," it said.

Speecys-FC is priced at 2.5 million yen (22,730 dollars) a unit, five times as pricy as a previous version run by conventional nickel metal hydride batteries.

The company aims to sell 10 units of Speecys-FC a year for research and display purposes.

ELSA Unveiled Gladiac 880GT Power Whale

ELSA has unveiled a special edition of their 8800GT card and they called itPower Whale. Indeed, the cooler looks like a whale and is the made by ZEROtherm.ELSA claimed a hefty 26oC lower in temperature over the Nvidia reference cooler.The card is clocked at 650MHz core and 1GHz for the memory. Availability by end of January.

Exclusive First official picture of MSI's N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition

MSI is getting ready to launch its insane version, sorry, Xtreme Edition version of the N580GTX Lightning and VR-Zone has scored the first official picture of the new graphics card. MSI has pulled out all the stops this time around and this should be one of the most powerful single GPU graphics cards out there.

MSI hasnt changed too much with regards to the physical appearance of the card, although the fan shroud is now black instead of gunmetal grey and the fans are blue. The box as announcing dust removal tech although the fan blades are actually the same as on the N580GTX Lighting, so were not quite sure what have changed. Apparently MSI has also added some new kind of smart thermal sensor which is meant to prevent the card from overheating when overclocked.

However, none of this makes it an Xtreme Edition card and the real selling point of the new card is that it comes with a massive 3GB of GDDR5 memory. Sadly we dont know the clock speeds of the new card, but wed expect them to be close to that of the non Xtreme Edition version. The card should launch sometime between now and Computex.

In related news weve also scored a picture of MSIs standard GTX 560 card, the N560GTX which has a slightly more basic cooler than the Twin Frozr II versions, as it only has two heatpipes rather than four. The card is still cooled by a pair of fans and should prove to be a bit more affordable than the Twin Frozr II editions.

Elpida Unveiled Fastest DRAM @ 4.8GHz

Elpida Memory, Inc. (Elpida) (Tokyo Stock Exchange Code 6665), Japan'sleading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS), one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing inhigh-speed chip architectures, today introduced the industry's fastest DRAM, the512 Megabit (Mb), 4.8GHz XDR™ DRAM, based on Rambus' XDR memory architecture.This latest addition to the XDR DRAM family provides an industry-leading datatransfer rate of 9.6 Gigabytes per second (GB/s) with a single device, making itan ideal choice for high-performance, high-volume applications such ashigh-definition televisions (HDTV), gaming consoles, PCs, servers andworkstations.

"The industry's demand for memory bandwidth in next-generation products isgrowing rapidly as high-definition image data becomes more popular," saidYoshitaka Kinoshita, officer for the Digital Consumer Division of Elpida Memory,Inc. "Working with Rambus on XDR DRAM, we can provide the most cost-effective,high-bandwidth memory solution to our customers."

Elpida's 512Mb, 4.8GHz XDR DRAM (Part number: EDX5116ADSE-5E-E) device isorganized in 8-banks (x16/x8/x4 programmable), and with a 9.6GB/s data transferrate delivers six times the peak bandwidth of industry-standard DDR2-800 memorydevices. The 4.8GHz XDR device is manufactured using Elpida's 70 nm processtechnology and is available in a 104-ball FBGA package. To support bothhigh-speed and robust data transfer, XDR DRAM utilizes key enabling technologiesbuilt on patented Rambus innovations such as Differential Rambus Signaling Level(DRSL), which minimizes signal swing and noise; Octal Data Rate (ODR) technologywhich transfers eight bits of data on each clock cycle to achieve 4.8GHzoperation with just a 600MHz clock; and FlexPhase™ circuit technology forprecise on-chip data alignment with the clock. The 512Mb XDR DRAM device alsofeatures adaptive impedance matching, dynamic request scheduling and zerooverhead refresh.

"Elpida's 4.8GHz XDR DRAM is an excellent fit for consumer electronicsapplications requiring high bandwidth for 3-D graphics, high-definition imageprocessing, and advanced multimedia," said Sharon Holt, senior vice president ofworldwide sales, licensing and marketing at Rambus. "Elpida is well establishedas a leading XDR DRAM supplier and we are proud to work with them to advance theroadmap for XDR to 4.8GHz, achieving the world's fastest DRAM."

XDR DRAM is an integral part of the XDR memory architecture, working seamlesslywith the XDR Memory Controller (XMC), XDR IO controller interface cell (XIO),and the XDR Clock Generator (XCG) to enable unprecedented levels of memoryperformance while utilizing the fewest number of ICs. A single XDR DRAM deviceoperating in x16 mode achieves a data transfer rate of 9.6GB/s. In comparison,it requires six DDR2-800 x16 devices to achieve an equivalent data rate.

Proven in high-volume applications, Rambus XDR memory solutions are backed bycomprehensive engineering support services that range from chip design to systemintegration. XDR DRAM continues to provide an order of magnitude higherperformance than today's standard memories. For more information on the XDRmemory architecture, as well as the next-generation XDR2 DRAM withmicro-threading, please visit www.rambus.com/xdr.

Availability
Elpida's 512Mb 4.8GHz XDR DRAM devices (Part number: EDX5116ADSE-5E-E) will beavailable for sampling in December 2007. Volume production is expected to beginin April 2008. A datasheet is available upon request.

CUPP Computing shows off working setup at Computex

We wrote about Norwegian CUPP Computing a few days before Computex and we meet up with them at the last day of the show for a quick hands on with their new setup. Although we didnt actually get to fondle the PunkThis board, as it was hidden away in a perspex box, the company also had a fully working, tricked out Asus netbook that was used to demo the board.

The netbook is Asus Eee PC 1015PN and its the first solderless solution for the PunkThis board. This is by no means meant to be a retail ready solution though, instead its targeting developers that want to get their hands on a solution that makes it easy for them to develop for various ARM operating systems. The core of the PunkThis board is a TI DM3730 SoC which is a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 based CPU. Its been paired up with 512MB of RAM and theres a micro SD card slot for storage memory and another micro SD card slot that acts as shared storage between the ARM and x86 platforms.

CUPP claims 20h worth of battery life using the PunkThis board over the Atom N550 CPU fitted in the Eee PC, although youd be “limited” to using either Ubuntu or Android 2.3 at the moment, but the platform is open, so any OS that supports the SoC will work. Other features include Wi-Fi, USB ToGo support, a USB host port, a programmable keyboard controller and audio I/O. The board interfaces with most of the external ports on the netbook as well.

However, CUPP is also working on a desktop enclosure for the PunkThis board which should arrive sometime in September. This will offer DVI pass-through connectivity, five USB 2.0 ports, audio I/O, an SD card slot and a headphone jack. This would once again be targeting developers, but it should work out as a more affordable solution than having to buy an entire netbook.

The PunkThis board should retail for less than US$200 and should start mass production sometime in July. This is just the start though, as CUPPs goal is to work with the large notebook manufacturers and get its solution built into notebooks as a standard feature. As such it would also cost a lot less than the PunkThis board, although this would of course depend on the ARM SoC used. In as much as CUPP is currently offering a total solution, the long term goal is to license the switching hardware that makes it possible to switch between the x86 and ARM platforms on the fly.

The company also has a lot of other ideas and even ended up getting some rather unusual requests during Computex for what some potential customers wanted to use it for. The long term goal for CUPP is somewhat more complex and might never happen, as it involves what the company refers to as CISS or CUPP Integrated Southbridge System. CISS would only be possible if Intel or AMD got on board, as it involves integrating a low power processor into the chipset of the x86 platform. However, the selling point here goes beyond just switching between two platforms, as CISS could also be set up to act as a firewall, a feature that is lacking on notebooks and a feature that could be very popular with large corporations. It will be interesting to see how things develop for CUPP and well be keeping a close eye on them and whatever partners they team up with.

Asus Announces New External Blu-ray Writer

ASUS continues its lead in high performance optical storage devices forhome/ high-end professional storage environments with the release of its SBW-06C1S-U Blu-ray writer.



The sleek and compact writer features a USB 2.0 interface, 8Mb of buffermemory, and supports burning speeds up to “6x for BD-R, 4x for BD-RDL, 2x for 2x for BD-RE (DL), 8x for DVD-R/+R/+RW, 6x for DVD-RW, 24xfor CD-R, and 16x for CD-RW”. Available in piano black finish, theSBW-06C1S-U is bundled with CyberLink's Power2Go 6.0 and PowerDVD 9software. It is covered by a two year warranty and can be purchased fromauthorized resellers and e-tailers at a MSRP of 167 Euros.

News via [Techconnect]

AMD teases Cape Verde HD 7700 with... Pills

In a most unique marketing stunt, AMD is sending out special pills to internet websites. Yes, you read that right, pills. They are no ordinary pills, however, they reveal several details about the upcoming AMD GPU along with a viral website for the same pills.

The "natural performance enhancement" pill is called "Verdetrol" which not only refers to Cape Verde but is also an obvious jab at NVIDIA. AMD sends in exactly 28 pills - as we know Cape Verde is a GCN based 28nm GPU.

HD 7770 is now all but confirmed as worlds first 1 GHz reference GPU. The "Never Settle" slogan for HD 7000 family continues, this time pushing "Never Settle for Average Performance". The viral website can be viewed at www.verdetrol.com, where a promotional video will be uploaded soon. HD 7700 series is rumoured to release in February with performance close to HD 6850.

Source: Legit Reviews

AMD reduces Radeon HD 7970, 7950 and 7770 pricing

If youre looking at picking up one of AMDs fairly recently launched Radeon HD 7970, 7950 or 7770 graphics cards, but havent gotten around to it yet, then we have good news for you. AMD has finally decided to lower its prices to a somewhat more affordable level, especially in the case of the two high-end models.

The Radeon HD 7970 stands for the biggest price drop, of US$70 compared to the launch date and you can already pick up some cards for the new MSRP of US$479. This puts the Radeon HD 7970 at a US$20 lower price point than Nvidias GeForce GTX 680, although were not sure if this is enough to sway users over to the Radeon HD 7970.

A US$50 saving is what youll be seeing for the Radeon HD 7950 which has come down from US$449 to US$399. This will likely make some of the overclocked Radeon HD 7870 cards a tough sell; especially models priced in excess of US$370. That said, it seems like some of AMDs partners are dropping the prices here as well, without any official word on the matter from AMD, as we spotted Radeon HD 7870 models going for as little as US$330.

Finally the Radeon HD 7770 has been reduced by US$20, from US$159 to US$139 making it a pretty attractive option to the Radeon HD 6850 which is retailing at around the same price point these days and offering similar performance, albeit drawing more power.

The Radeon HD 7970 and 7950 will also come with three games for a limited time, as part of the three for free promotion. The games are Deus Ex: Human Evolution (including the Missing Link DLC), Dirt: Showdown (expected in May) and Nexuiz, a DX11 first person shooter (again expected in May). Presumably the games will be digital download only.

Source: Hardware Canucks

ASUS EN8800GTX Over 18K 3D Mark 06 Single Card

ASUS EN8800GTX is performing nicely on the sweet ASUS Striker Extreme Motherboard.First I have to push the FSB as much as I can, and this is about as far as anyboards can push a Kentsfield Processor:

378MHzFSB with Kentsfield

380MHzFSB with Kentsfield

And nice stuff from the ASUS EN8800GTX, no SLI yet, just single card gave over18,000 3D Mark 06:

18,220Single Card!

Card Clocks was at 945MHz Core, 1200MHz Memory...

AMD Rev. F Opteron In Mid 2006

Opteron 854 (Rev E)Rev. F OpteronOpteron 875Rev. F OpteronNo. of Cores1122Die Size106mm2126mm2194mm2220mm2L2 Cache Size41.4mm238.7mm282.8mm277.4mm2Transistors120M129M233M243MMemory FrequencyDDR-400DDR2-800DDR-400DDR2-800Memory Bandwidth6.4GB/s12.8GB/s6.4GB/s12.8GB/sCore Frequency2.8GHz?2.2GHz2.6GHzVDD1.35V?1.35V1.35VTDP95W?95W95W

ASUS enhance features on their laptops, desktops, netbooks and nettops for better Win 7 experience

Taipei, Taiwan, Oct 22, 2009 – ASUS today announced that a select group of its notebooks and Eee Series PCs—including the Eee PC™, Eee PC™ Touch, EeeBox PC and EeeTop PC—will feature exclusive enhancements that are designed to extend and improve the overall Windows 7 experience. The applicable ASUS notebooks, which will come installed with 64-bit versions of Windows 7, promise a level of performance and security over and beyond that of notebooks running previous versions of Windows—most notably up to 40%* faster bootups and server-level security with enhanced core protection.

All ASUS notebooks installed with Windows 7 will run 64-bit versions of the operating system. This allows the notebooks to fully utilize the vastly-higher RAM ceiling that 64-bit Windows 7 affords—up to 128GB—dramatically improving their multitasking capabilities and processing speeds. 64-bit Windows 7-equipped ASUS notebooks will also boot up up to 40%* faster than competing notebooks, thanks to FastBoot technology which shortens notebook boot times to as low as 30 seconds*.

The marriage of Eee Series PCs and Windows 7 is the ultimate expression of the Eee brand's "Easy, Excellent, Exciting" mantra. Windows 7-equipped Eee Series PCs allow users to enjoy near-instant access to the web and beyond with Fast Bootup Technology. They also feature Eee Docking or Eee Bar, user-friendly shortcut bars that give users direct and intuitive access to applications and web services, as well as ASUS @Vibe which serves as users' window to a world of web-based multimedia entertainment. Furthermore, ASUS WebStorage gives users additional online storage space, allowing them to easily backup and share their files.

Source: ASUS

ASUS Computers Installed with Windows 7

ASUS NotebooksF81Se / F83Se / F83T N60DP/ N61Vn/Vg/ N71Vn/Vg/ N81Vp/ N81VgG60Vx / G71Gx / G72GxUX30 / UX50K40AB / K40C / K50C / K40IJ / K40Ac / K50IJ / K40IN / K50IN / K60IJ / K70AB / K70AC / K51AC / K70IJ/K70IO U20A / U50A / U50Vg / U80A / U80V UL20 / UL30A / UL50A / UL50Ag / UL50Vg / UL50Vt / UL80VVX5 / F6VEASUS Desktop PCsCM5540 / CM5570 / CM1525 BM5220 / BM5320 / BM2220CG5270 / CG5285 / CG5290BM2320 / BM5240 / BM5265CP5140 / CS5120 / ES5000BM5365 / BP5220 / BP5265Eee Series PCsEee PC™ 1008HA / 1005HA / 1005HR Eee PC™ 1101HA / 1201HA / 1201NEee PC™ Touch T91MTEeeTop PC ET2002/ ET2002TEeeTop PC ET2203/2203TEeeBox PC EB1501/1502

Apple iTunes to take the 2nd spot in media player market soon

It appears that Apple could hardly get out of news these days. The latest one here is about their wildly popular iTunes software. Being increasingly popular, the Apple iTunes software is gaining on popularity and might soon over take RealPlayer to hold the No.2 position in the media player market. One of the major reasons on why the iTunes is climbing fast in popularity will probably be due to podcasting subscriptions, and their chic iTunes music store. "The popularity of iTunes as a streaming media player is undoubtedly related to the burgeoning popularity of podcasts; Apple was the first major player to jump on the podcast bandwagon, integrating a podcast directory into its iTunes Music Store and building podcast subscription features into the iTunes player."

App Store Subscriptions recurring your way soon

Expected to debut as one of the key features in iOS 4.3, the new digital billing service will be similar to In-App Purchases, as currently used in most apps in the App Store.

Subscriptions purchased from within the App Store will be sold using the same App Store billing system that has been used to buy billions of apps and In-App Purchases. Publishers set the price and length of subscription (weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly). Then with one-click, customers pick the length of subscription and are automatically charged based on their chosen length of commitment (weekly, monthly, etc.). Customers can review and manage all of their subscriptions from their personal account page, including canceling the automatic renewal of a subscription. Apple processes all payments, keeping the same 30 percent share that it does today for other In-App Purchases.

With regards to whether content may also be offered outside of this new billing mechanism, Apple CEO points out that publishers are free to offer content outside of the app. But if so, the same or better offer has to be given to subscribers of the app.

"Our philosophy is simple - when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing," said Steve Jobs, Apples CEO. "All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app. We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers."

Besides providing customers an easy way to keep track of their subsription and ease of activation and billing, Apple is pushing this new App Store Subscriptions as 30% of the content providers revnue will go to Apple.

But for the ease of potential customers and the vast distribution power of the App Store, Im sure many content providers will submit to Apples demand in exchange for a potential 160 million iOS users around the globe.

Source: Apple

Amiga returns... with an $98 Android Tablet

Lo and behold, we received news from Bill McEwen that Amiga is introducing a seven inch tablet powered by Android 2.2 operating system. The price of the 7" Amiga Xpedio 7MTB is set at only $98, while the add-on USB keyboard and protective case raise the price to only $118.

The Amiga Xpedio 7MTB is powered by VIA Technologies WM8650 ARM chip ticking at 720MHz, 256MB LPDDR2 memory, 4GB embedded storage and of course, the multi-touch screen. In order to keep the price down, 7MTB comes with resistive two-point touch-screen. You can expand the storage up to 32GB locally via MicroSD/MemoryStick/MMC cards.

Besides the Xpedio 7MTB, Amiga also offers Xpedio 7 MT ($189) and Xpedio 10 MT($289), which also feature Samsung PV210 SoC with ARM Cortex-A8 processor ticking at 1GHz, 512MB LPDDR2 memory and 8GB of local storage, also expandable up to 32GB. 7MT and 10MT are both equipped with capacitive multi-touch display.

The manufacturer is stating that the preorder prices are good until November 11, 2011 with the delivery taking place before December 25, 2011.

Angry Birds developer shows trailer for next game

Rovio, the developer behind the popular Angry Birds series, has released a trailer for its next game, Amazing Alex, which promises to bring more physics-based puzzles to mobile gamers.

The game focuses on Alex, a kid who sets up various contraptions with his toys, giving players over 100 levels of physics puzzles that will make use of toy cars, footballs, balloons, and any piece of furniture in the vicinity.Another unique feature of the game is a level creator, which means gamers can expand the possible game experiences with 35 interactive objects, a number which is sure to grow over time. Player-created levels can also be shared online and Rovio is promising plenty of free updates.If the game is as well-crafted as Rovios bird-flinging pig-crushing antics the gaming world could be in for another puzzle phenomenon.Amazing Alex launches tomorrow, 12 July for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

An app store for non-smartphones

It is common knowledge that the draw of smartphones does not lie in the devices themselves; that honour has to go to the online applications store (or app store for short), where owners of such phones can access various downloadable widgets and applications which provide additional functionality, either for free or at a price.

Of course, with smartphones well on the way to becoming the next mainstream devices in mobile telecommunications, it is easy to forget that there are still large numbers of classic web-capable non-smartphones which are every bit as capable as their newer counterparts, and locking all of these handsets out from the boon of online services would no doubt cause many owners to feel somewhat left out of the trend.

And that is where Snaptu comes in to save the day: by releasing an app store specially targeted at non-smartphones.

To access to Snaptu's app store users need to access its homepage with their mobile phones at m.snaptu.com to download and install an application (which TechCrunch claims is Java-based, something which most older phones should have pre-installed)., as shown below:

Once this is done, you should have a new application installed in the handset which allows you to browse through the various applications that Snaptu has to offer.

So if downloadable apps are what you have been craving for, there's no reason to junk your current handset away now that Snaptu has given it a new lease of life with its own app store. Of course, you 'll still need a data plan before you start downloading anything.

Source: Snaptu via TechCrunch

AMD Showcases Bulldozer At E3

AMD 8-Core Bulldozer Processor

AMD 4-Core Bulldozer Processor

8-Core on AMD Vision!

AMD is going to bring back some fond memories by naming the Bulldozer processors, AMD FX-Series. The FX-Series come in 4-core, 6-core and 8-core processors. Fans will love the attractive design of the FX-Series boxes. Just look at the 8-core sweetness in the AMD Vision.

Source: 4Gamer

AMD reports Q4 and 2011 results

AMD has announced financial results for Q4 2011 and full year 2011. Revenue for Q4 2011 stayed flat over Q3 2011 at $1.69 billion, while revenues were slightly up in 2011 to $6.57 billion over 2010.

Non-GAAP net income for Q4 2011 was reported as $138 million. However, AMD underwent restructuring changes costing $98 million, and an impairment of AMDs investment in Globalfoundries at $209 million. Accounted for in the GAAP results, this lead to a net loss of $177 million for Q4 2011. Despite this, AMD still managed an increase in net income for 2011 to $491 million, up from $471 million in 2010.

AMD shipped more than 30 million APUs in 2011 over A, C and E series. AMDs server division also saw strong growth, due to the introduction of Bulldozer bazed Opteron 6200/4200 series. The graphics segment however saw a decrease in Q4 2011, 5% over Q3 and 10% over Q4 2010. This was largely due to a decline in mobile GPU shipments, possibly caused by processor graphics / APUs gaining traction, as well as NVIDIAs Optimus gaining mind share. However, this was offset partially by increase in royalties from increased Xbox 360 and Wii sales in Q4.Curiously, AMD made no mention of the hard drive shortage, something NVIDIA and Intel have blamed.

Looking forward to Q1 2012, AMD expect revenue to decrease 8% ± 3%.

Source: AMD Press Release

Asus readying Rampage IV Formula for LGA-2011

It appears that Asus has more motherboard coming based on Intels X79 chipset and its next model will be the Rampage IV Formula, a more affordable sibling to the Rampage IV Extreme. This move makes sense considering the price tag of the Rampage IV Extreme and in all fairness; the two boards have slightly different target markets as the Rampage IV Formula is more of a gamers board than its more expensive sibling.

Sadly we dont have a top-down view of the board, so its not entirely clear what has been changed. However, the Rampage IV Formula has some features that you wont find on the Rampage IV Extreme, such as a new audio design which has a small part of the PCB isolated to reduce EMI interference. Asus took the opportunity to add a rather pointless but interesting looking backlight to the PCB to highlight the separate audio area. Asus has also added a massive 1,500uF capacitor to the audio circuitry which the company claims will somehow improve the audio quality thanks to reduced ripple.

Most of the other features are cost savings, such as a pair of PCI Express x1 slots instead of that fifth x16 slot and a x1 slot, four DIMM slots, a simpler cooler design which were happy to say is using a passive heatsink and a few cuts when it comes to connectivity options such as only two front USB 3.0 ports. The rear I/O is fairly similar, but the Bluetooth dongle is gone, but you still get a PS/2 port, six USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA ports, Intel Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1-channel audio with optical S/PDIF out and a clear CMOS and ROG connect button.

The rumour also has it that Asus is working on a Rampage IV Gene, i.e. a mATX LGA-2011 R.O.G. motherboard, although neither model has a firm launch date at the moment. This brings Asus total board count for the LGA-2011 platform up to eight boards, thats a few too many in our opinion as the platform isnt likely to gain a major uptake among consumers until at least the more affordable quad core Core i7-3820 which were hearing has been pushed even further back now and is not expected to launch in January. Check out the source for a slide deck detailing a few more of the features of theRampage IV Formula.

Source: Sweclockers

AMD Socket F Opterons Has No Pins

It seems like the next generation Opteron based on the newSocket F will have a LGA775-like socket. The dual-core Opterons next year willmove on to 1207 contact pads it appears instead of the usual pins.It willsport DDR2-667 memory support and also Pacifica Virtualization, PresidioSecurity, Memory RAS.

ASUS SABERTOOTH X58 Heavy Duty Motherboard Joins Durable TUF Series

The new SABERTOOTH X58 motherboard delivers the latest Intel chipset and support for the fastest processors on the market, including the Intel Core i7-980X, as part of the TUF Series of heavy duty motherboards. It is the latest entry in this ruggedized lineup, providing uncompromised durability and the utmost reliability to users who demand 24/7, high-intensity usage.

As the name implies, TUF Series motherboards put reliability and endurance above all else. They are built with more rigorous stress testing than normal motherboards, and ship with added longevity measures. TUF Series motherboards are the most reliable and stable models on the market, making them ideal for tough, heavy duty tasks where compatibility is critical.

True to its TUF Series form, the SABERTOOTH X58 offers superior stability and reliability, putting it at the level of server and mainframe boards in terms of durability.

Covering all the Essentials of Reliability

The key emphasis for TUF Series motherboards lies in enabling prolonged use. The SABERTOOTH X58 can keep going round the clock with no pause thanks to its meticulous thermal design, which means heat and stress are not obstacles. This new thermal design revolves around CeraM!X Heatsink Coating Technology, using revolutionary ceramic application on vital motherboard surfaces and components to ensure unrivalled heat resistance and dissipation. Thus, it is the perfect choice for server functionality and extreme, steady reliability. CeraM!X application has never been done on a motherboard before the ASUS TUF Series entered service.

Reliability Tested to Military Grade

The SABERTOOTH X58 from ASUS uses heavy duty materials and parts to ensure truly unmatched capabilities in terms of stability, reliability, endurance, and value.
The chokes, solid state capacitors and MOSFETs have all been tested under the most arduous of conditions and harsh environments based on military standards, providing users with a proven heavy duty solution.

TUF Series motherboards are ruggedized from the ground up, so they can handle more than just long-haul usage and heat. They are also tested to server-grade standards and can stand up to humidity and ambient temperatures to an exponentially larger extent than normal motherboards. As a consequence, they are long-life products users can install with complete confidence.

Being strong does not mean TUF Series motherboards compromise added features. The SABERTOOTH X58 ships with new data transfer standards USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s, so it offers some of the latest innovations in addition to superior strength. It is a complete package of guaranteed reliability and compatibility.

Source: ASUS PR

ASUS Singapore announces RT-N53 Black Diamond dual band wireless router

ASUSSingapore has recentlyannounced the launch of their latest RT-N53 Black Diamond dual band wireless router, designed to bring the best home and office networking experience to users. It has a slim and elegant wall-mountable design, universal repeater mode that extends and enhances Wi-Fi network coverage, and boasts data rates of up to 600Mpbs at bandwidth with simultaneous 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The 2.4GHz band allows users to download files and browse the web, while the 5GHz band takes care of high definition content streams. In the security department, the RT-N53 features enhanced network security with support for up to four SSIDs.

There is no need for software installations and users can easily configure the settings, thanks to the intuitive ASUS QIS wizard that automatically connect to the Internet regardless of the OS being used, and EZ UI that offers user-friendly graphics-based management interface. The ASUS RT-N53 Black Diamond dual band wireless router is available at all ASUS authorized resellers, at S$169.

Apple Changes Its Website, Virus Proof No More

Apple gathered a lot of negative press in terms of security, with hackers and crackers gaining access to the user files within half a minute, becoming a running joke of conferences such as Defcon.

Still, the company rode the wave of "Im a Mac and Im a PC"focusing on the "fact" that Windows-based PC systems get viruses, while OSX-based PC systems cannot (be inflicted). With the fact not being true anymore, and Flashback botnet destroying the sense of security for the already insecure platform - Apple did what it does the best - deploy its legal system to remove any traces of potential liability for the company.

In a story that spread thanks to Australian version of Computerworld, a security blog Naked Security by Sophos discovered that Apple has changed its security policy, as you can see on the picture below:

The company is slowly changing its approach to security, with Geniuses in Genius bars recommending Anti-Virus products, security guides for mobile operating system iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod). Furthermore, do you remember User Account Control (UAC), a controversial security routine which debuted with Windows Vista, continuing its existence with Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well? UAC was designed to prevent users from installing different application types, restricting access to websites and so on and so forth.

Well, Apple users will get the same dosage of security - the 10.8 version of the OS X codenamed "Mountain Lion" will bring a similar feature, an "Apple-ized" version of Microsofts UAC named "Gatekeeper".

At the end of the day, attacking other platforms based on your claim of security is something that will only bring attention and provoke people from other side of computing specter.

ASUS confirms Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade on Eee Pad family

Google hadannounced the latest update for the Android mobile operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which claims to bring exciting new features and capabilities to devices. In a statement issued by ASUS, the company has confirmed that theAndroid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade will be available on the Eee Pad family.

"We are delighted to confirm that we will be supporting Ice Cream Sandwich on our ASUS Eee Pad Family – our aim is to bring the latest Android updates to the Eee Pad Series. At this time, we are unable to confirm a date for this update. Please stay tuned for more news on our Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans"c

ASRock X79 Extreme7 Full Board-Shots Surface

Here are some of the first press shots of ASRocks elusive X79 Extreme7, which we broke to the world last month with a teaser picture. The pictures reveal a beast that more or less meets our expectations from a high-end socket LGA2011 motherboard, and confirms much of the feature-set we guesstimated with the help of that teaser pic.

Youve got to hand it to ASRock, theyve managed to give this board the right amount of high-end "polish" to woo enthusiasts with even the deepest pockets. The X79 Extreme7 has a bustling landscape. Power is delivered to the CPU using a 16-phase VRM that uses high-grade chokes and Poscap capacitors. The memory looks to be powered by a 4-phase VRM arranged in sets of two on either sides of the socket.

An oddity here is ASRocks choice of six DDR3 DIMM slots for a platform with four memory channels. Among channels A, B, C, and D, channels B and D have two DIMM slots. So users with four memory modules to spare should populate the six slots as "1-0-1---1-0-1", in which the middle slot in each of the two sets of DIMM slots is left blank. Assuming this board supports 16 GB module densities, a total of 96 GB of memory is supported.

Expansion slots include five PCI-Express x16, among which two are electrical Gen. 3.0 x16 capable, four are Gen 3.0 x8 capable, and one is Gen 2.0 x4 capable, depending on how the slots are populated with add-on cards. ASRock didnt leave out legacy PCI, in case you dont want to let go of your awesome PCI sound card such as the X-meridean or X-Fi Elite Pro.

In terms of storage connectivity, there are four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, a total of seven SATA 3 Gb/s, and one eSATA 3 Gb/s. 8+2 channel HD audio is care of a Realtek ALC889 codec, there are six USB 3.0 ports in all (two on the rear panel, four via internal headers), FireWire, two gigabit Ethernet connections, and a number of USB 2.0 ports.

The board uses UEFI firmware. We expect the setup program to be rich in overclocking options that take advantage of the awesome (on paper) VRM deployed on this board.

The ASRock X79 Extreme7 is expected to be a part of the companys first wave of socket LGA2011 motherboards, due for November 2011.

Source: XFastest