AMD to Release 28 nm Mobile GPUs in Q2

3D Gaming Now Possible on Toshiba Glasses-Free 3D Laptop

Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced Optimized for NVIDIA GeForce 3D support for the groundbreaking Qosmio F755 3D, enabling users to experience glasses-free 3D gaming1 for the first time ever on a laptop. The update is currently available for download via Toshiba’s Service Station utility.

AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series Single-GPU Graphics Card Price-Points Surface

AMD is on course to releasing its latest "Southern Islands" GPU family, and a fleet of desktop graphics card SKUs based on it, which will be led by a new high-performance GPU, codenamed "Tahiti", which will make up Radeon HD 7900 series; followed by performance GPU "Pitcairn", on which HD 7800 series will be based; "Thames" and "Lombok" making up the rest of the lineup. According to a report by DonanimHaber, HD 7970 (working name) is expected to be competitive with (or outperform) GeForce GTX 580, and priced at US $499. The HD 7950 will be competitive with (again, or outperform) GeForce GTX 570, being priced at US $399.

Apple Suffers Setback in iPad Brand Name Dispute with Proview in Chinese Court

Barring the Mac, Apple's rather generic-sounding brand names have often invited trademark disputes. Be it Apple's now resolved dispute of the name "iPhone" with VoIP major Cisco, or its rather bizarre claim to the word "App" that was stonewalled by a variety of industry majors such as Amazon.com, which it is likely to lose. A relatively unheard of brand name dispute has been over the name "iPad", which Chinese company Proview Technology claims to have been holding since before the release of the popular tablet device.

AMD Reportedly Scraps 28 nm APUs at GlobalFoundries

The announcements made at the recent "worldcast" held by AMD's new CEO Rory Read have been kept a good secret with very little information trickling out to the public

Intel Aims at 10 nm Processors by 2018

It's not just host nations of the Olympics that are decided almost decades in advance, but also Intel's silicon names and the fab process they're going to be built on. Intel has its plan for the greater part of this decade already charted out, well beyond the upcoming Ivy Bridge architecture. Intel follows the "tick-tock" product cycle, where every micro-architecture gets to be built on two succeeding fab processes, and every fab process getting to have two succeeding micro-architectures built on it, in succession. Westmere is an optical shrink of the Nehalem architecture, it was a "tick" for the 32 nm process, Sandy Bridge is its "tock", and a new architecture. Ivy Bridge is essentially an optical shrink of Sandy Bridge, it is the "tick" for 22 nm process.

LG Leading The Way In Glasses-Free 3D

 LG Electronics (LG) today unveiled the world’s first glasses-free monitor utilizing eye-tracking technology to maintain an optimal 3D image from a range of viewing angles. The 20-inch D2000 monitor was developed as a fully func-tional entertainment display capable of reproducing games, movies and images in all their realistic glory.

Nvidia Kepler graphics processor to arrive later half of 2011

Graphics processor designer and maker Nvidia admits of having plans to make a new chip which would be coming in the later half of next year. Jen Hsun Huang, chief executive, Nvidia at an event in San Jose says that the new graphics processor,

MSI Launches the World’s First PCI Express Gen.3 Mainboard

MSI, the world-renowned mainboard and graphics card manufacturer, officially launches the Z68A-GD80 (G3), featuring world’s first large bandwidth PCI Express Gen 3 mainboard, and the latest UEFI technology: Click BIOS II which features a homogenous interface both under Windows and the UEFI interface. Conforming to Intel’s latest design standard, the MSI Z68A-GD80 (G3) with PCI Express Gen 3 provides a data transfer rate that is 200% faster than PCI Express Gen 2, enhancing the performance of graphics cards without bandwidth limitations.

Sony May Launch PlayStation 4 in 2012 – Rumours

Sony Computer Entertainment has reportedly began to negotiate with contract manufacturers of electronics in a bid to start production of its next-generation PlayStation 4 video game console late this year with the plan to launch the device in 2012.
Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron Technology, according to a market rumour published by DigiTimes web-site, will start production of the PlayStation 4 game console featuring movement-based control like Kinect at the end of 2011 for launch in 2012. Sony reportedly wants to release at least 20 million PS4 units in 2012.

Nokia N9 has NFC Technology

In the event Nokia Connection 2011 in Singapore on Tuesday (06/21/2011), Nokia launched the Nokia N9. Smartphone brings a beautiful design, easy use by simply rubbing and tapping as well as other advantages. Bob McDougall, President of Nokia Indonesia who was also present in Nokia Connection revealed that the launch of the Nokia N9 is one manifestation of the pillars of disruptive technology. 

Bulldozer Shines in 3D Gaming and Rendering

Close to two weeks ago, reports surfaced about AMD claiming that its upcoming "Zambezi" 8-core desktop processor based on the company's new Bulldozer architecture is expected to perform 50% faster than Intel's Core i7 and its own Phenom II X6 processors. The slide forming the basis for the older report surfaced, and it's a little more than a cumulative performance estimate. 

Slide #14 from AMD's Desktop Client Solutions presentation to its industry partners reveals that the company went ahead and provided a breakdown on which kinds of applications exactly does its new 8-core chip perform better compared to present-generation processors. The breakdown provides an interesting insight on the architecture itself. To begin with, AMD's 8-core Bulldozer "Zambezi" processor is 1.5X (50%) faster overall compared to Intel Core i7 "Bloomfield" 950, and AMD Phenom II X6 1100T. Breaking down that graph, the processor performs similar to the other chips in media applications, but features huge gains in gaming and 3D rendering, which is where most of its gains are coming from.

New Dell Inspiron N4110 Modis Laptops Replaceable Cover

New Dell Inspiron N4110 / New Inspiron laptop 4R is present to accompany your life to be more confident and dynamic. This laptop is available in a choice of 25 stunning cover, Dell also pinned 13-hour battery life and USB 3.0 technology that can speed up the process of transfer of photos, videos, music and other files. To have this notebook, Dell Inspiron 14R New set prices ranging from USD690 to USD760, and cover SWITCH by Design Studio, with prices starting from USD 50 / pcs

Samsung Introduces First 30nm DDR3 Memory

After the end of last month's notice concerned has started to be mass produced 32GB memory modules based on 30nm fabrication node, Samsung is now reportedly preparing to launch its first consumer memory solutions that utilize the sophistication of 30nm DDR3 DRAM chips.

Range of memory that Samsung is preparing is going to involve very low profile (VLP) UDIMM for desktop and SO-DIMMs for notebooks. And this will be available both as a DDR3 module itself with 2GB and 4GB capacity, or in kit form to provide a 4GB or 8GB memory upgrade for users of DIY.

Ultrabook, Intel’s New Mobile Computer Generation

Intel will launch Ultrabook, a new high performance laptop with improved security features all in „thin and elegant design”, informed Sean Maloney, Intel’s Vice-President at Computex 2011.
Maloney added that the new laptop series will incorporate the best features from tablets and predicted that Ultrabooks will hold 40% of the consumer laptop market by 2012.

He also revealed that Intel is going to step up the innovation process for the Intel Atom processors which are based on SoCs chipsets and are used in netbooks, smartphones, tablet-PCs and other mobile devices. Maloney added that Intel would launch new product series every year, which would create multiple solutions for diverse market segments.
The new laptop class will combine laptops’ performance and capabilities with the tablets’ features: Ultrabook will have a faster response time and better security features all hosted in a thin, light and elegant design.

Intel's Thin and Light Ultrabooks News

Intel executive Sean Maloney is touting a new class of mobile consumer computers called Ultrabooks in a speech in Taiwan today. The company says that 40 percent of consumer laptops will be based on Ultrabook designs by the end of 2012.

As we reported on Friday, Sean Maloney, Intel’s newly appointed president of Intel China, is announcing a big shift toward low-power chips in a keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taiwan today, where he is unveiling a heavy-duty effort to steer Intel into the production of low-power microprocessors.

Maloney is expected to say that Intel will accelerate its efforts to make chips that are more appropriate for tablet computers, smartphones, laptops, and low-power desktops. Intel has been doing that for some time. But Maloney, a well-respected executive who has now recovered from a stroke that kept him sidelined last year, iwill take that message even further, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Intel to steer its center of gravity into low-power microprocessors (exclusive)

Sean Maloney, Intel‘s newly appointed president of Intel China, plans to deliver a keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taiwan next week where he will unveil a heavy-duty effort to steer Intel into the production of low-power microprocessors.


Maloney is expected to say that Intel will accelerate its efforts to make chips that are more appropriate for tablet computers, smartphones, laptops, and low-power desktops. Intel has been doing that for some time. But Maloney, a well-respected executive who recovered from a stroke that kept him sidelined last year, is expected to push that even farther, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This shift within Intel is similar to the shift that occurred when it launched its Centrino laptop processors in 2003 — which Intel referred to as a right-hand turn. This is another right-hand turn, since the current roadmap isn’t as ambitious when it comes to low power consumption.

Most of Intel’s mainstream desktop chips target power consumption of about 40 watts or so. That allows for very fast microprocessor performance, but such a chip generates enough heat that it can’t be so easily used in a laptop and has no chance of making it into a tablet or smartphone. Now, Intel plans to target mainstream chips that consume about 15 watts.

AMD Plans to Introduce Next-Generation Radeon Graphics Later This Year

AMD's Southern Islands on Track for Release in 2011Advanced Micro Devices confirmed on Tuesday at its AMD Fusion Development Summit (AFDS) that it would release a new breed of graphics processing units (GPUs) later this year. Apparently, AMD's code-named Southern Island graphics processing units are on-track to be launched in 2011.

"In a couple of days you are going to hear about our exciting new graphics architecture that will be coming out later this year and will be utilized by our future APUs," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD products group.

During his keynote at the AFDS, Eric Demers, AMD corporate vice president and chief technology officer at graphics division of the company, will recap the evolution of GPUs in the recent years, including the latest VLIW5 and VLIW4 core architectures and instruction sets. But more importantly Mr. Demers will present an overview of the next generation of AMD cores under development, which will propel forward new capabilities and continue the GPU evolution.

While it is not completely clear what kind of peculiarities of next-generation graphics processors will be revealed at the summit, it is highly likely that going forward both AMD and its arch-rival Nvidia will attempt to make GPUs more programmable and better suitable not only for graphics processing, but also for complex computing.

Later during this year AMD is projected to release its first graphics processing units made using 28nm process technology code-named Southern Islands. The SI family is projected to support DirectX 11 functionality along with architectural improvements and some new features. Theoretically, the company may start revealing architectural peculiarities about the chips behind closed doors in order to let software designers to prepare their software for new chips.

source: www.xbitlabs.com

Apple and Intel unveil Thunderbolt I/O

So it's perhaps not the most original moniker that Apple and Intel could have chosen, but it's here just the same. After years of waiting Apple has launched its implementation of Intel's Light Peak standard and it's called Thunderbolt. It's making its appearance on new MacBook Pro models and it's promising 10Gb/second transfer rates. That's dual-channel, too so you'll get 10Gb/sec both to and from your devices. Apple suggests this will be useful for external RAID arrays, Gigabit Ethernet adapters, and also mentions support for "FireWire and USB consumer devices" along with HDMI, DVI, and VGA over DisplayPort. Apple expects that Thunderbolt will be "widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O," but we think the USB 3.0 crew might have a thing or two to say about that. Full PR is embedded below.

Update: Intel has thrown up its page on the technology, and it looks like the Light Peak name is officially no more. Intel indicates this speed will be enough to transfer a full-length HD movie (roughly 10 - 20GB in size) in less than 30 seconds. Intel also reinforces that this is compatible with existing DisplayPort devices and it also uses the PCI Express protocol for enhanced compatibility. Daisy-chaining will be possible, along with bus-powered devices, and cables can be made using either optical or electrical construction.
source:www.engadget.com

iMessage, BBM Miss the Mark in Consumerized Tech Age

When iOS 5.0 arrives on millions of devices this fall, business users loyal to Apple's mobile platform will get their first baked-in taste of what has proven to be one of RIM's most desired features, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). But will what they get leave them satisfied?

Like BBM, Apple's new iMessage feature, baked into its text message application, will allow users of the platform to share text messages, photos, videos and other information using a data connection, avoiding additional usage charges for SMS text messages or MMS media messages. And like BBM, it will offer better security, feedback on when a contact is messaging you, and full read receipts support--features that have made BBM a core communication tools for many businesses.

And also like BBM, if you want to connect so someone on another network, you are out of luck.
Such single-platform communications tools may have made sense when a single platform--the BlackBerry--dominated the discussion for business smartphones. But in the age of the consumerization of IT, where IT departments are largely allowing mobile devices to be a personal buying decision, the value proposition is much greater. The trend, which generally allows users to pick their own device and purchase it with an allotted budget, has permeated so far that even the U.S. government is eyeing a "bring your own" strategy.
The result is that BlackBerry isn't the only corporate smartphone in the game now, and devices powered by Android and iOS are stealing ground from RIM's venerable but arguably aging BlackBerry.
In an era where business users free to choose from a variety of platforms for their mobile devices based on their individual needs and wants, a single-platform stack for exchanging text messages amounts to the balkanization of business communications. BBM users get a great instant-messaging experience, as long as they're talking to other BlackBerry loyalists. It's too early to say if iMessage will deliver the kind of loyalty that BBM has enjoyed, but it too will suffer from its lack of connectivity outside its native platform.
 There are ways to make this kind of third-party direct connection across platforms happen. WhatsApp, a 99-cent download, offers users BBM/iMessage-like functionality, including group chat, across iOS, Android and BlackBerry. But compared to functionality that is, or will be soon, baked directly into a device's operating environment, relatively few people know of such an app. And the number of people searching for the functionality is likely to decline, as a certain group will find the iOS-only nature of iMessage enough to meet their needs.

But to make this kind of on-device on-the-go messaging meet its lofty potential in a multi-platform era, cross-platform connections are desperately needed.
There have been persistent rumors that RIM is looking at bringing BBM to Android and iOS. The arrival of iMessage in iOS 5.0 would suggest that at least Apple's mobile platform will be closed to BBM as an app.
One can hope that, pressured on all sides by users, the major smartphone platform vendors will find a way to get their disparate messaging systems connected. Or, it is possible that a scrappy third-party upstart--be it WhatsApp, a more traditional cross platform IM app like Skype, or a whole new tool yet to see the light of day--will come up with enough killer features and mindshare to overcome the incumbency advantages of BBM and now iMessage.
But it would be a shame for one of the most promising business communication tools in a long time to fizzle out because BlackBerry and iPhone users can't easily collaborate, whether it's last-minute planning for a crucial meeting or just trying to figure out where to go for drinks after work.

source: www.pcworld.com