TechnoVoyance

Visit VIA Arena

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:46:34 +0100

Hi. As of today I will be writing exclusively for VIA Arena (www.viaarena.com) . For news, videos and articles about forthcoming VIA products and initiatives visit VIA Arena at www.viaarena.com (www.viaarena.com)

S3 Graphics in Mini-Notes

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:24:32 +0100

S3 Graphics yesterday blew the doors off mobile graphics by announcing a set of mobile GPUs that can work in the tiniest of places, including ultra compact devices like mini-note PCs.Using the same core architecture as the desktop Chrome 400 series, the 400 ULP GPUs are DirectX 10.1 compatible and feature S3 Graphics' HD Chromotion video engine for playback of HD movies. And how can S3 Graphics go where no discrete GPU has gone before? Simple. Chrome 400 ULP chips use significantly less power than rival products. The 430 ULP uses even less than most IGP solutions.After all, why should having an ultra portable PC mean sacrificing your gaming and HD video needs? Why not have it all?

Vivienne Tam's HP Digital Clutch

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:27:12 +0100

While attending the IFA Show in Berlin a week or two ago I was asked by a journalist what I thought about the nascent mini-note/netbook market. Did I think that this was simply a fad? Would the recent buzz around these devices translate into real sales figures? What was the target market for these compact mobile PCs?Well, I scratched my head for a moment and considered these important questions and considered that many of the latest mini-note PCs where available in a variety of colors with some quite unique and elaborate designs. To me, this is a clear indication of who these devices are aimed at. Young people. Especially young women. I'm sure a lot of young women would love to own an ultra compact notebook similar to Sony's TX range of ultra portables, but with an ultra prohibitive price tag of a grand and a half or more, few actually do. Sony of course were happy courting the business types with a few bob in their expense accounts when they designed the TX notebook range, and this is my point. Small and sexy used to come at a price. A hefty price.So when New York-based fashion designer Vivienne Tam teamed up with HP (http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/10/hp-shows-off-vivienne-tam-designed-digital-clutch-the-10-inch/) to develop the HP Clutch (http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/feature_stories/2008/08fashionista.html) , I was far from surprised. It made perfect sense to me. Devices like the VIA C7-M based HP 2133 Mini (index.php/HP-2133-Mini-Note-Arrives.html) have proved to be hugely successful. But who's buying them? Techy guys like me? Gamers? Well, possibly. But I've a notion that there's a generation of young boys and girls out there that find being online a lifestyle necessity, and resent being without Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Flicker and the rest of the Web 2.0 diaspora for any peroid of time.Computers are becoming fashionable (http://www.mininotefreedom.com/index.php?option=com_content task=view id=32 Itemid=1) and sexy for the first time in history. It's no longer just geeky boys and their toys. Girls need to be connected too. The rise of the mini-note as a serious consumer electronic device is simply an extension of this transition. They're affordable. They're small. And they're also becoming fashionable. So, yeah. How did I answer the original question? Mini-notes are going to be huge. Massive in fact. And of course the experts (http://idc.com/getdoc.jsp;jsessionid=NR3SD2A2131BMCQJAFICFFAKBEAUMIWD?containerId=prUS21420408) agree with me.

Tangent's Green All-in-One PC

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:18:13 +0100

Having not long returned from the IFA Show in Germany (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XIrY2kGKScw) , I was just catching up on what I may have missed from being on the road when I noticed Tangent's Evergreen 17 PC (http://www.tangent.com/t_all_in_one_LCDPC/vitaevergreen.htm). Using 72% less energy than the Energy Star 4.0 limit, the Evergreen 17 comes with either a 1.0GHz VIA Eden (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/eden/) processor or a 1.5GHz VIA C7 (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7/) and is designed to be a light, durable PC that can be powered by batteries and used in 'point of care' situations. I'm thinking hospitals, care centers and places where a PC can be wheeled around on a cart, perhaps attached to specific or specialized medical equipment, which perhaps explains why it's lacking the raw sexuality the Engadget crowd (http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/28/tangents-evergreen-17-all-in-one-pc-barely-needs-a-power-plug/) are used to. Storage varies according to your needs, with anything from 1GB to 64GB of flash memory available as well as regular hard drives of up to 250GB. WLAN is built-in and there's also the option of a touch screen display. Tangent focuses primarily on vertical markets, so unfortunately I wouldn't expect to see the Evergreen in high street stores anytime soon, although another option would be to attempt to create your own. This article on Mini-ITX.com (http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/i-epia/) details the hard work and effort of one dedicated modder and his desire to create his own All-in-One PC. A testament to dedication and hard slog. Although worlds apart, both these devices are both very much centered on the power efficiency of the VIA platforms that run inside them. One borne of blood, sweat and tears....the other designed to assist doctors and nurses in averting the appearance of such fluids.

Buy an ARTiGO and Win a HP Mini

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:37:45 +0100

VIA has today announced (http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp?press_release_no=2667) a competition where cutomers buying an ARTiGO Builder Kit (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/embedded/artigo/) between now and the 10th of October have the chance to win themselves a HP Mini (http://h40059.www4.hp.com/hp2133/) . For those of you out of the loop here, the ARTiGO Builder Kit allows enthusiasts to construct their very own compact PC using the world's smallest x86 mainboard, the VIA EPIA PX10000EG (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=472) Pico-ITX board. The kit includes a VIA EPIA PX10000EG board, custom designed chassis with power supply and the various cables you'll need to make it all work. Purchases made from today until October 10th qualify for the prize draw, in which HP's ground breaking Mini-note PC is the prize. Oh, and you can also invite your friends to join in the fun too.Check out the details here: (http://activity.via.com.tw/artigo/luckydraw/index.jsp)

VIA's Pico-ITX Drives Robotics

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:28:04 +0100

VIA is attending this year's Taipei International Robots Show (http://www.via.com.tw/en/company/events/2008-TIROS/index.jsp). From today until Sunday you can see first hand how VIA's ultra compact boards, including, most notably, VIA EPIA Pico-ITX boards like the VIA EPIA P700 (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=690), are becoming the must-have component for robotics enthusiasts everywhere. Most hobbyist robots are fairly small, certainly not the size of the Asimo from Honda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASIMO) or the VIA EPIA Mini-ITX-based BEAR from Vecna (http://www.vecnarobotics.com/robotics/product-services/bear-robot/index.shtml), and while size is a very important consideration, the platform architecture itself is also very important. That's where products like VIA's EPIA Pico-ITX boards have the edge. Not only are they super compact (a mere 10cm x 7.2cm), use very power and produce very little heat, but they are also x86 based. The advantages of using the x86 architecture are that robotics developers can write and compile software much more easily and also take advantage of decades of software expertise and programming languages that have become mature. Today's robots, at all levels, are more sophisticated and realistic than ever before and that's largely due to software. The intelligence that developers seek to imbue in their creations comes from software, and when it comes to writing software, x86 is where it at. This is a video that we've put together, showing a few VIA EPIA-based robots strutting their stuff. Enjoy.RwGxTgdDkmg

The VIA EPIA N700 Nano-ITX Board

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:15:25 +0100

VIA continued its commitment to uncompromisingly compact x86 devices with the release of its VIA EPIA N700 Nano-ITX board late last week (http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/pressroom/pressrelease.jsp?press_release_no=2587) . The VIA EPIA N700 is the first Nano-ITX form factor board to sport VIA's latest VIA VX800 unified chipset and promises to be a firm favourite with embedded developers and enthusiasts alike. With your choice of either a 1.5GHz VIA C7 processor or a 500MHz VIA Eden processor (the famous 1 watt chap), the VIA EPIA N700 (http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=710) has more ports than previous Nano-ITX boards, which predominantly used pin-headers for connecting devices, thus making it that bit more user-friendly. The N700 has a Gigabit network port, VGA and COM ports as well as two USB ports right on the board.While only 12cm x 12cm in size, the EPIA N700 is no slouch when it comes to features. The unified VIA VX800 chipset, or media system processor if you prefer, is essentially a combination of North and South bridge chips, which saves valuable real estate, and offers all the features you'd ever need. These include S-ATA, IDE, Audio, VGA, LVDS support as well as a mini PCI port, compact flash slot and our signature VIA Padlock security features.Although it was designed specifcally for embedded developers (think industrial PCs or automation devices), it'd be a perfect board for making a mini-PC or homemade mod machine, having all the essential ingredients, i.e. tons of features, compact size, low heat and as stable as a stone rocking horse.

Old News and New Dawns

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:29:03 +0100

In an interview with CustomPC.co.uk (http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/604608/via-quits-motherboard-chipset-business.html) , VIA mentioned that it was focusing on providing it's own processor platforms and was in fact leaving the 3rd-party chipset development business. Within 24 hours dozens of sites around the world had posted the 'news', with some headlines even implying that we'd left the motherboard business too. This media reaction came as a complete surprise to all who work here at VIA, including myself. News? This is news? We haven't released a chipset for Intel or AMD systems in around two years. How can this be news?It's amusing really to think that certain sections of the media thought that VIA still saw itself as provider of chipsets for other processor manufacturers when in fact VIA was completely focused on developing its own complete platforms (which includes chipsets of course) and had been for some time.The recently launched VIA Nano processor has gone a long way to assuring our customers and the media that VIA is entirely serious and committed to successfully competing with Intel and AMD in processor platforms for mainstream and mobile devices. Reviews of the VIA Nano continue to appear. Each bearing the same message. Check out TweakTown's review (http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1540/intel_atom_vs_via_nano_platform_comparo/index.html) published yesterday.At least, now the 3rd party chipset story has had its day and everybody is clear on VIA's strategy, we can draw a line under the past and concentrate on the future with our VIA C7 and VIA Nano processor platforms.Check out my boss Richard Brown talking to PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/149699/vias_thirdparty_chipset_business_back_in_the_spotlight.html) .

VIA Nano Beats Intel Atom on HD Video

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:33:53 +0100

In the last day or two several sites have been touting the performance advantages of our VIA Nano processor when compared to Intel's Atom. One crucial area of contention, however, is HD video playback. HD video playback using either VC1 or H.264 codecs take a lot of processing power to run smoothly, and while the VIA Nano is clearly a high performance-per-watt processor, aimed at low power and mobile platforms, consumers today are still demanding smooth HD playback. Can the energy-efficient VIA Nano deal with true HD video? This video shows a modified OpenBook running a VIA Nano at 1.3GHz competing with an Asus EEE using a 1.6GHz Atom. Who's the smooth operator? 3MklPBVPSp0

Media Favors Nano Over Atom

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:59:13 +0100

I'm finally back in Taipei again after having spent the last few weeks traipsing around Europe talking to the creme de la creme of Europe's tech writers and generally having a fine time. It was in welcome contrast to hustle and bustle of Asia, although I confess, it feels good to be back. The VIA Nano (javascript:void(0);/*1217849632188*/) tour has, as we'd hoped, created a plenty of positive news for VIA and its latest processor. It was great to be able to talk face to face with journalists about the VIA Nano and especially to be able to hand them a sample which they could then test themselves. This week has seen plenty of benchmarks and analysis on the VIA Nano; all addressing one important question: How does the VIA Nano compare with Atom? Here at VIA we are convinced that the VIA Nano has what it takes to successfully compete in optimized desktop, notebook and mini-note markets. It would seem that the media is starting to agree: ..the performance on the Nano puts to shame the hyper-threaded Atom . - the Inquirer I have spent a good week or so using both the Atom and Nano in a Windows Vista 32-bit environment, and I can tell you now that I never want to be subjected to Atom on the desktop again...When it comes to a sheer performance comparison, the VIA Nano rules and the Intel Atom drools. The Nano is simply superior in so many ways when side-by-side with Intel Atom. - HardOCP Our benchmark results demonstrate that VIA's wunderkind is more than capable of competing in its target market; Nano beat the tar out of Atom in the majority of the tests we ran . - ars technica