Tech Zone Revolution™

Apple Introduces the iPad

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:11:00 +0000

During "yesterday Creation" event, Apple has finally said the system combines the long key elements of the society of iPhones and MacBook computers. Called the iPad, a tablet-shaped device to do everything possible to enable you would expect to find the iPhone, only much better, much faster and larger scale. This is also a great eBook reader, netbook, and a media player device, went through the demonstration took place at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts yesterday morning. A new version of the iWork suite, along with the iPad was even more benefits for the Tablet experience.

In an unusual way, Apple shows the press room of the announcement - Apple launches iPad "- after the big event. However, the introduction of this product except time (iWork revisions) specially for the device, it is not really surprising.

"Today, Apple iPad, a revolutionary device for surfing the Web, read and send e-mail to enjoy, view photos, videos, listen to music, play games, read e-books and more," reads the official press release. "IPad React's high-resolution multi-touch display allows users to physically interact with applications and content. IPad is only 0.5 centimeters thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds, thinner and lighter than a laptop or netbook. iPad includes 12 new innovative applications for the iPad, and nearly all more than 140,000 applications on the App Store. iPad will be available from late March began the pricing of just $ 499, 'concludes the introductory paragraph.

A statement by Steve Jobs does not want to follow, with the CEO of Apple, said: "Our latest technology in the device iPad magic and revolutionary at incredible prices. IPad created and defined the category of an entirely new device, which allows users applications and content are combined in a familiar, intuitive and fun than ever. "

The report mentions went to the specification of technology, and other important functions of the device. Apple iPad proudly showed that spread over 12 through a built-in, next-gen multi-touch, with each of them working in vertical and horizontal, then switch off automatically when the user views iPad rotate in any direction. Other features multi-touch served in the report, but also the ability of movies, television shows and YouTube to see them all in HD. This is due to 9.7 inches iPad due, backlit LED displays IPS technology to provide sharp images and colors in line with Ultra Wide viewing angle of 178 degrees.

By Apple of its next-generation system-on-a-powered A4-chip processor and the processing capacity is expected to deliver exceptional graphics performance with long battery life. The company claims up to ten hours of battery life, but something tells us that the video game racing fans will no trace of life.

Finally, we found iPad this report the various versions of Apple are, with the two versions were introduced - a Wi-Fi and other well-Wi-Fi and 3G - that this is a variety of boat storage. The unit is about $ 499 (U.S.) to launch the 16GB WiFi-only models, and up to $ 829 for 3 g WiFi 64GB model. The first model will be available at the end of March. E 'should also be noted that the iPad 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Not surprisingly, Apple iPad MicroSim made compatible, while the conventional SIM card in the back, making it difficult for many potential customers to choose their favorite players for 3G connection

Google Threatens to Pull Out of China

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:21:00 +0000

Google typically withdraw from the market despite the risk of censorship in China, he wants to give up the steps was the largest in the history of. The company's bold steps, China has a very great interest among foreign companies is rare. While others remain skeptical about some of these human rights advocates said the decision whether to Google Google motif or additional work. Chinese authorities and companies always have a problem, but the last one years has increased. Turning point, the coordination of large-scale attack from China's, the country's infrastructure, Google's Gmail service, the company's direction and target of the attack part of a broad range of large U.S. companies a total of 20 days. Other reports put the figure more than 30 years.

Gmail's attack

"In mid December, we are the intellectual property theft in China results from Google's corporate infrastructure, we discovered a very sophisticated targeted attacks. But it's about something that at first glance simply a security incident - though significant - surely kkwaedoeeotda also "David Drummond, Google's corporate development, a senior vice president and chief legal officer, said. "First of all, Google is also attacking. As part of our investigation, we have a large number of companies at least two other companies - internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors, etc. - have found the same goal," he said.

According to the mail service, Gmail, Google primarily for the purpose of attacking a strong focus. The company's attack on China's human rights activists investigating the possibility of access to e-mail account, the purpose was found. Your "Atack can read a detailed description of the security". Google's success in achieving its target of any violation could not have been there only two small accounts, and used to attack using multiple mechanisms in the fight said the new measures. Nevertheless, attacks in China created a relationship with Google to reconsider.

Thick

"These attacks show they are monitoring - one years and more efforts on the Internet, with limited freedom of expression - a conclusion we should consider doing business in China has brought us. We no longer want to keep finding Google.cn Google Results of the screening, "Drummond said.

Google does eunhaji explicitly that he would put an end to censor search results in China, simply voluntarily prevents the use of it. Companies have to find a solution to the deadlock has reached China.

"We are what we can work without the filter in consultation with the Chinese government's basis in the coming weeks will be [D] faith, the search engine law, according to all of you. We understand that this also could mean closure Google.cn, potential service when we went to China, "Drummond said.

Nevertheless, it is important that China has been a repeat of Google, a measure of the country to run a free search engine is likely to disagree. At the same time, national and government policies related to foreign companies in Google's experts publicly expressed intent to do this way, the English version of the blog, but only the possibility to remove all forms of negotiation, China.

Seriously considering the possibility of companies in China, no negotiation, Google, and the result was decided to stop the screening, the most probable results that Google will suspend all operations in the country. If you are experiencing this problem, a clear rebuke of China, these policies and the adoption of the final position will be the first major company.

Google China

Google 4 years ago, the highly controversial at the time to enter the Chinese market. To start a local version of the search engine, Google to censor some results based on Chinese laws and regulations, agreed. It certainly critics, "a story about his motto," Do not be evil, called the company to the principles of its own economic interests, not morals is to continue walking. Companies, and the censorship policy for China's reluctance to more information about the benefits in at least two crimes must select a response. However, at the time, Google added that they are not ready to compromise with China has been monitoring the situation.

As one of many Google.cn third of the search market in China, not far beyond the local search engine Baidu dudo, holding at least two times. Between them, almost all of them by other players, all of the search space is less than 1%. However, Google lost market share in recent years and the trend showed no sign of reversal. Most analysts and Google over Baidu positioning, who closely with the government or the state of the effect of increasing market share, I think we have a real chance. At the same time, Google's revenue in China is estimated to be smaller, Google shared some 22 billion U.S. dollars of profits each year. The income level of the billion dollars it does not matter, but nothing to be optimistic about Google is that they can not live without.

Protection of human rights, or a smart business move

The success of Google in China proper, however, the company's sudden decision to some people about the reasons for doubting. Some out of China, Google is very little to lose but a lot to say, at least short-term increase. 338 million people online in China in the world's largest Internet market is expected to grow significantly in the near future. Foreign companies, especially for Internet companies to create a very attractive market, with China's economic growth is sustainable. Google, of course, you know, the reason why I agree with censorship in the first place.

However, companies rarely compete in national and regional progress by clearly preferred out. Close Google.cn, the company did not lose too much now, but may ultimately regret the next few years. At the same time, it increases the company's image will require a lot of violations in the past, you can get. This is especially now, under the company may be important in controlling the spread of the Internet has increased.

Google's financial losses resulting from China's great opportunity out of traffic and can not be balanced. Yet it is purely humanitarian, but Google has made this decision easy and the weight is not clear if all the factors, motivations, but it is not purely a business move. It will be interesting to see how China will evolve and how to respond if Google will actually become easier when a conclusion will be out.

Iranian Hacktivists Hijack Twitter

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:06:00 +0000

Iran's army cyber attackers "successfully hijacked the DNS records Tweeter last night," as he describes. Twitter.com domain and the other sub-domains that point to Web pages display a political message to taunt the United States.

The night attack under the cover was spot on about 10:15. Time the user access to twitter.com, Flag of Iran's image and was welcomed with a black page. Iran, "the site was hacked cyber forces," with the title of the page will be displayed along with your Gmail address.

Meanwhile, bottom, left, hackers pose a threat to the United States, "the United States, they will control and manage access to the Internet, but they are, we do not control the Internet to manage our government and people's irritation is not so .... Currently, the state ban list? Iran? United States? "We push the ban list:) Take care of yourself."

When normal, co-founder Biz Stone of Twitter, the company officials at this point "DNS a Twitter account, announced the return on the blog today, angry, but now has recovered." He is also a platform for this API, is not affected by an investigation into the incident revealed more information, intellectual commitment, the company move forward.

Blogger, where during the attack, according to the report, Twitter.com 'entry point 74,217,128,160 and the phone company that owns the host IP TEL: Address. Twitter.com current 168.143.162.36 then, NTT's IP address to point to the United States.

DNS hijacking attacks that can lead to serious consequences. "If they like the tweeter below the phishing site has been nominated by the Imagine what would happen (the login name and password, steal) a political non-signal design," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos said . However, some hackers are bad songs, such as access to the site you want to change this scenario.

There is information about how to attack tools, and any records in DNS are several ways you can capture. However, the most likely explanation for domain name registration management powers to steal your account login.

After that, it's the first time that hackers tweeter for the administrator account does not own sonedoeji. Twitter account name employees who crystals to obtain unauthorized access to the top in January, the age of 18 hackers. He managed to force password dictionary attacks.

5 years, who through social engineering on Twitter's own administrator account, "Kroll hackers hackers to call France. And the tweeter is similar to stealing the company's confidential documents using the tactic.

Update: the previous attack on the family identity had been stolen instruments, Tom Daly, CTO Dean stated is inc., Tweeter to support the provider's DNS. Mr. Daly is the security fix, "who through their own platform to recognize the legitimate user to log on to change the system is started. It is our system does not fail completely."

Vimeo Does HTML 5

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:45:00 +0000

This is perhaps, HTML5 video that at least a week, but one day YouTube neunyi supports standard, announced that the number appears in the video, Vimeo did the same thing. In fact, his new players as an option HTML5 video of the site will be available at all raised as a bar, and it's actually better than the flash-based.

"We see with the parameters of quality," Andrew Pile, Vimeo, and vice president of product development, we are committed to providing customers. "We support the request of members we have heard a lot about HTML5. We hope this is a beta version of the test results.

"The players in the latest version of Safari-compatible Web browser, Chrome, and add 90% of videos uploaded to Vimeo last operation. Users of the player, including loading time. HTML5 standard benefits Vimeo Flash Player link below the player to enable HTML5 can be done fast, smooth video playback on supported browsers, "he added in a statement on Vimeo.

If you are Vimeo, Chrome or Safari browser if you are using is called HMTL5 each of the links at the bottom right of the video, "You can see the switch. Clicking on the link, but, but, clearly at a glance the actual impact Load the page again. flash-based player to look like exactly, is more than can be done uirago YouTube. Of course, minimalist look of the player to facilitate this task, but the team still was a great achievement Vimeo.

And it's just ideological HTML5 Vimeo players have a choice, too, sometimes more than one virus, Mac, or Flash Player for Linux, especially in the more unstable, more clearly the benefits will be better. Loading the player almost immediately, HTML million - or more to download any flash content that is much easier - and without buffering. Live video game, your connection to the Internet, and can go directly to each location continues to play well.

It's determined by the implementation of HTML5, and Vimeo really to do with the proposed performance standards for their own plug-in is ready to be a real alternative functions, when it comes to proving the contents of the information. In other words, this is only a beta, some limitations in your browser supports this feature is particularly early.

Vimeo is about 90% of the date of the last 1 years working with HTML5 video player and flash video, but only 35% was required. In addition, this feature corresponds to approximately 25% of users Vimeo, Chrome or Safari, which, surprisingly high number of control. Technically, the People for Internet Explorer, Chrome frame, but it's probably not much use to calculate the number. Finally, the movie does not play in full screen mode, the browser's limitations in the implementation.

Why are some of Firefox, the HTML5 features: 3.5 Last 3.6, the release has been denied a lot of support, such as YouTube might be wondering at eit. The reason, Firefox does not support a good H.264 video codec is available in a simple Vimeo YouTube. This conscious choice on the part of Mozilla, the open codecs, in particular, support for Theora has decided to implement. The theme topic of heated debate in the Web development community, an old mate has been reached so far.

HTML5 web for "almost all the threads are flamewar. This does not comment or interfere with the open-source codec, please recommend. We know only our job to know the conversation beonhaeya" Vimeo Brad Daugherty said. "H264 simple fact that we now have more opportunities to display on different devices, and many players have the same file. If the changes are, so we. That's all there, I'm thank you for your patience!

Kaspersky Starts 2010 with Discounts

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:37:00 +0000

The new 1 week 1 years Kaspersky great discounts on products has released has passed, KIS (Kaspersky Internet Security) and KAV (Kaspersky Anti-Virus). According to the company's status and tweeters, a simple, if you price yourself at $ 20 to $ 10 can go KAV KIS coupon code at an affordable price, and one of the two products mentioned above, add to your cart for shopping.

Looks pretty good so far, but before you decide to accept the generous offer are a few things to remember. Discounts available for first year is only in North America, Northern store on your computer for a 3 to 1 for the two-year license to purchase products can cost a bit, to $ 79.95 increases to $ KIS and KAV 59,95. Because of a computer, you typically pay for only one year in the price of the complete Internet security protection for 3 computers can still quite interesting, however, do not discount.

If you apply the coupon code 2010Twitter it cost, but soon, will be dropped immediately reduced. Once you have a subtotal of $ 30 and will be automatically rebated can purchase both products. Unfortunately, no information on the date of the last interest rate, but at the time of this writing, the code works like a charm.

We look at the product purchase page, the license of the extension as part of the Save the current game, is the same injury. And extend the same rules apply, there are 3 computers, 1 for one-year license, $ 20 off $ 10 discount with KAV KIS is retained only by the North.

Kaspersky malicious code, and high sustained - courtesy of a respected independent antivirus test lab has made in the fight against a solid reputation. Years won many awards, captured in the market-leading security products.

Windows 7 Black Screens of Death for Some AMD/ATI GPUs

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:21:00 +0000

Windows 7 installed on multiple computers is an easy task, especially where compatibility and support issues. According to MS Windows 7, the machine can not play as well as the AMD / ATI's Radeon graphics processing unit (GPU) feature displays (PDP for) with built-in technology. Home Page Windows 7 distributed to a user's computer that they could not complete the installation to install the guest.

"Windows 7, the computer will be installed on a black screen during the installation process. Nevertheless, the installation will continue to work. If you are unable to complete the installation in this case. If you have only a black screen when dealing with the main multi-display the problem, "MS said.

MS was particularly uieseo AMD / ATI Radeon GPU under the influence of the above questions, including: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 (PCI \ VEN_1002 & DEV_9480); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670 (PCI \ VEN_1002 & DEV_9488); ATI Mobility The Radeon HD 4870 (PCI \ VEN_1002 & DEV_945A); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 (PCI \ VEN_1002 & DEV_944A) and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 (PCI \ VEN_1002 & DEV_9552). At the same time, Microsoft, Apple IMAC 27 "is included on the infected system is stressed.

Windows 7 DVD is over after the "AMD supports the PRP. As a result, Windows 7 for AMD's Radeon graphics driver does not support the ERP DVD in retail," MS said. "AMD's updated driver improvement has released EDP problem. Install this update to complete successfully the installation process must be included."

Microsoft has a simple solution that the customer is to provide a secondary monitor. In this context, all users on your computer before you install Windows 7 to be connected to the monitor. In this case, they finished the installation process will be able to view and later data processing by using Windows Update to fix the problem, install the updated driver.

In addition, the solution autounattend.xml response file and the latest graphics drivers and includes a USB flash disk is designed for advanced users. USB flash drive to copy the compressed graphics drivers for USB. To do so, the following steps: a Web site to download drivers for graphics adapters, AMD. Executable (. EXE file) to extract the driver. The program asks for an installation location such as C: \ ATI in the \ Support \. After the extraction is complete, you can find the installation folder noted in the previous step. Flash drives, USB to copy the installation folder, "he said in a statement MS.

Users can also create an answer file autounattend.xml need to open the file in Notepad at the bottom of the screen to copy the selected text in blue. autounattend.xml using the file must be stored in UTF - 8 form, and must be copied to a USB root directory.

"After you install the Windows 7 DVD, which eDP.Immediately DVD and then boot your computer by connecting a USB flash drive, an AMD Radeon GPU to run the computer. Follow the instructions to complete the installation process. When the first USB flash drive attempt to restart the system, "MS said.

One Laptop Per Child Pushes XO New Heights

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 10:01:00 +0000

One Laptop per Child (OLPC), their knowledge and modern forms of education as other children from around the world to provide access to locations closer to the announced target. OLPC since the 2010 release 3 of the 2012 roadmap for the creation of new notebook models announced. The XO computer only exceed the current performance is not configured, but should be at a reasonable price, too.

OLPC is the world's modern education accessible to all children is a non-profit organizations form to pursue. Therefore, XO laptop to fully meet these requirements, but also built a strong and powerful and water-resistant, or heat, and dry tropics rich lived. Thus, the 1,5 and 1,75 XO XO build the current design, while providing better performance and more were able to gain access to the targeted customer base. More XO 3.0, however, is to use a completely new design, far.

XO XO 1.5 is currently based on industrial design and March 10 will be available. This is the current one used by VIA, and AMD's processors will be replaced four times more than the double the speed of DRAM and Flash memory offers. The system for Linux and Windows operating systems can use the $ 200 cost.

OLPC second model of the ARM processor - XO based on the development of 1,75. It is no longer poor and rural communities will be able to access most of the cost of $ 175. ARM's processor 4 mabeleseo reduce power consumption during the first quarter to double the processing speed is set. External rubber bumpers, and be inside the screen is a 8.9-inch touch screen. 1,75 XO the x86 XO is designed to complement the 1.5.

Finally, OLPC is also working on an entirely new device, and UNESCO, much less the cost of $ 100 or more are expected. Developers using a flexible plastic sheet will focus on development.The goal, because the common security holes in the evidence unit to create a real environment, and conducted more than at least 1.75 x models will continue.

Child's "first version - Centric OLPC laptop in the XO, that the revolution at a lower cost. XO 140 of thousands children in 35 countries deployed in 25 languages, and low-power computers," Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman is one of one laptop per child. "At the corner of the planet to reach approximately 500 million children to complete our mission, OLPC innovator in the design and performance will continue. Because we are a non-profit organization, we hope that our industry will be copied."

End users have more links to the official website of the organization, planning, and the XO laptop, you may be familiar with.

HP Smartbook in the Works

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:48:00 +0000

Simply SmartBooks new concept in the computer market and its ability to survive in the current market environment is questionable. While portabilitas and connectivity products will be quality, sustainable netbook features very similar. However, some products have been shown as a power device such as Lenovo and Snapdragon Skylight concept shows hp at 2010 International CES.

Hewlett yet while ago, the FCC, asserting that pengajuan Packard plans to launch the electronic found. This device is called HP Compaq Airlife 100 and ultra-portable electronic products, the specifications are not disclosed. All that pengajuan FCC is a very rough sketch showing the device, from which all things that can distinguish the most likely area for 3G-connection.

At this time, most likely Airlife 100, which was built with the Snapdragon platform. Since the core, the speed of 1 GHz, which is very close to the NVIDIA Tegra platform through a combination of computing power, low power and connectivity.

According to Electronista, Smartbook shown in the Consumer Electronics Show as miniature versions of mini-series notebook, which according to the system with the presentation. Thus, speculation suggests the strength of Snapdragon devices with 10-inch screen, because most netbook. Products must run Option 2 OS Android, as the ARM chip is not compatible with Windows. May Smartbook HP 3G, ability to type the device to be connected when traveling.

Unfortunately, except for a few lines that form the image, no additional details. Additional information should be available in the near future, not yet clear when Airlife be detailed in full. Of course, there is no word on the price of products up to sports.

NVIDIA Removed PhysX Multi-Core Optimizations

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:36:00 +0000

NVIDIA acquired PhysX, Ageia, when he bought in 2008. Because the manufacturer of the GPU was publicity of this technology, and showed that the benchmarks that indicate that the GPU performance is superior compared to the GPU in this area. In an interview with bit-tech.net, AMD developer relations manager worldwide, Richard Huddy, "has a pop-up" from NVIDIA, openly questioning the current state of PhysX and the lack of several basic optimizations.

"All of these processor cores, we used a lot, and I'll do another pop NVIDIA here. When purchased AGEIA, are very respectable multi-core application of PhysX. If you look now, most of which works primarily on one, or at least case, the two cores, "Huddy says.

"I wonder why Nvidia did this?" I wonder why Nvidia could not do everything in their spaceship on the things that I do not care - what's working effectively for processor cores - because the company cares about the consumer experience, which is concerned only more for you graphics card sales in consolidation of both the GPU is faster than the CPU. The old tricks that the Intel compiler, which used to do, Nvidia simply takes all the multi-core optimizations on PhysX.

Huddy even said that the CPU is actually the most capable of physics processing in games."While encrypted, the processor can solve most physical situations presented to him. The emphasis we see in physics from the GPU is the excessive emphasis that comes from a company that has a GPU ... Promoting PhysX physics as if it were God's answer to all problems of physics when it is actually more in finding solutions to problems. Huddy says.

NVIDIA is currently the most popular brand when it comes to playing with physics, but Advanced Micro Devices is working with companies to bring these products themselves. "We are working on two areas of physics, which are very important, as the three companies to integrate the physics of the GPU," Mr. actions Huddy.

In the same interview, Huddy talks about some of the company's plans for the current year. He said he did not expect, AMD, always have a fast card for 2010, but that will graphically wise, dominated most of the year.

Multi-Touch iWork, Complex Gestures for Apple’s Tablet

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:07:00 +0000

A former Apple designer claims that Apple has been developing a multi-touch version of iWork for the past two years, in what looks like a move to equip the rumored iSlate tablet with productivity software. The source fails to indicate to the New York Times whether the efforts are centered around the actual tablet Apple is believed to unveil this month.

The paper digs up older reports regarding the operating system of Apple’s forthcoming tablet device saying that, “Conversations with several former Apple engineers who worked on the long-gestating tablet [...] suggest that Apple may be asking users to learn a somewhat complex new vocabulary of finger gestures to control it, making use of technology it acquired in the 2007 purchase of a company called FingerWorks.” That technology is widely known today as Multi-Touch. Apple is believed to have developed a tablet operating system entirely based on this technology.

“The tablet should offer any number of unique multitouch experiences — for example, three fingers down and rotate could mean ‘open an application,’” a former Apple engineer, who declined to be identified due to Apple policies that demand secrecy from all current and former employees, said , the New York Times reveals.

In its report, the site includes information disclosed by another Apple employee, a designer who claimed that a team at Apple had “spent the past couple of years working on a multitouch version of iWork.” The NY Times speculates that Apple may have developed a tablet more like a full-fledged computer, “rather than a more passive device for reading books and watching movies.” This aspect would justify a higher-than-average price, the paper says.

This falls in line with predictions coming from Andy Hargreaves, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, who says, “I think the black-and-white readers still survive in the niche market as reading devices. I’m not expecting the Apple device to be as good as the Kindle or Sony Reader for reading.”

Apple Books Stage for Major Tablet Announcement, Tipsters Say

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:23:00 +0000

People familiar with Apple’s plans have confirmed that the company developing the Mac operating system has booked a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for late January in what looks like a move dedicated to announcing the much-hyped tablet computer. Apple has historically used the respective venue for major announcements. Analysts trust Apple will finally release an oversized iPod touch specifically tailored for multimedia playback, and other purposes.

A Financial Times report cites unnamed sources as saying that, “The company has rented a stage at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January.” According to these people, “Apple is expected to use the venue to make a major product announcement on Tuesday, January 26th.” Apple has declined to comment on these claims, as did the people at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

For years, Apple has been experimenting with different technologies to achieve a satisfying input method for a tablet device. Some have recently dug out a document asserting that Apple has owned the iSlate.com domain since 2007, suggesting a move to secure the name (trademark) of the forthcoming device.

Just as relevant is the prognosis of one of the most vocal analysts on Apple matters, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. Recently, the researcher speculated that an Apple event was imminent (in January), according to the Financial Times report. His words were, “We believe there is a 75 per cent likelihood that Apple will have an event in January and a 50 per cent chance that it will be held to launch the Apple Tablet.” “If Apple announced the Tablet in January, it would likely ship later in the March quarter,” he wrote in a new research note.

This is not the first time we hear this forecast, with Munster being just one of the analysts foreseeing an Apple tablet being designed in Cupertino. Apple is yet to confirm the rumored event. If this information is proven accurate, the Mac maker will most likely issue one of its typical press releases announcing the event schedule one to two weeks ahead.

One Laptop Per Child Pushes XO Innovation to New Heights

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:22:00 +0000

One laptop per Child (OLPC) has announced that it is moving closer to its goal of providing every child in the world with access to knowledge and modern forms of education. OLPC has revealed its roadmap for the creation of three new laptop models that will be released from 2010 through 2012. These computers are set not only to surpass the performance of the current XO but will have lower prices as well.

OLPC is a non-profit organization that aims to make modern forms of education accessible to all children in the world. As such, the XO laptops are designed powerful enough to meet these needs but are also built sturdy and resistant to the humidity and/or heat, which abounds in arid or tropical settlements. As such, the XO 1.5 and XO 1.75 will build upon the current design and will deliver better performance while becoming more accessible to the targeted consumer base. The more remote XO 3.0, however, will use an entirely new design.

The XO 1.5 will be based on the current XO industrial design and will become available by January 10. It will replace the currently used AMD processor with one from VIA and will also boast double the speed and four times more DRAM and FLASH memory. The system will be able to run both the Linux and the Windows operating systems and will cost about $200.

The second model OLPC is designing is the ARM processor-based XO 1.75. This will be more accessible to poor and rural communities, costing at most $175. The ARM chip from Marvell is set to double the processing speed while reducing power consumption to a quarter. The outside will be rubber-bumpered while the inside screen will be an 8.9-inch touch-sensitive display. The XO 1.75 is meant as a complement to the x86-based XO 1.5.

Lastly, OLPC is also working on an entirely new device which, the organization hopes, will cost much less than $100. The developers will focus on a design using a single sheet of flexible plastic. The goal is to create a device completely environment-proof, thanks to the total lack of holes, and will still deliver a performance at least as high as that of the X 1.75 model.

“The first version of OLPC’s child-centric laptop, the XO, is a revolution in low-cost, low-power computing. The XO has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries and in 25 languages,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “To fulfill our mission of reaching 500 million children in all remote corners of the planet, OLPC will continue to innovate in design and performance. Because we are a non-profit, we hope that industry will copy us.”

End-users may become more acquainted with the organization, its plans and the XO laptop by following this link to the official website.

Final Fantasy XIII Breaks Records in Japan

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 21:05:00 +0000

It seems that Final Fantasy XIII might be one of the biggest games of the year even if it is only released in Japan and on a single platform, the PlayStation 3 from Sony. The game, which was released on December 17, has managed to sell more than 1.5 million copies in just three days, topping the sale chart for the market and breaking the record held by Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which was released in 2008.

The Famitsu magazine reports that some stores have run out of copies of Final Fantasy XIII as Square Enix is rushing to send in new stock. The publisher delivered close to 2 million units to retailers before the release date, about the same number as that initially put out for Final Fantasy XII that was released for the PlayStation 2.

A good chunk of the games sold are bundled with a special edition of the PS3, branded with the logo and images from the title, which is good news for Sony, which also gets to sell more of its devices.

Square Enix is saying that it expects Final Fantasy XIII to perform just as well in the West, when it arrives in March 2010. Although the game is a PS3 exclusive on the Japanese market, it will also be released on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft on other markets, in what marks a first for the series.

Square Enix has marked the new Japanese role playing title as one of the centerpieces of its strategy of attracting wider audiences outside of its core market.

Since it debuted in 1987, more than 92 million units of Final Fantasy-labeled games have been sold and the XIII installment in the series seems poised to be one of the biggest hits yet.

Vodafone Intros SHOWWX Pico Projector in Spain

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Wireless carrier Vodafone Spain has recently announced the launch of a new device for its users, namely the SHOWWX pico projector. The carrier also added that the new innovative portable projector comes from Microvision Inc., a leading ultra-miniature projection display and image capture products provider all around the world.

The new SHOWWX pico projector has been designed to make use of revolutionary laser-based display technology, which enables it to deliver large, colorful and vivid images. Moreover, the device can project images that are in focus at all times, no matter the projection distance, the company announced. “We are proud that Vodafone Spain sells the SHOWWX for its customers. We believe that SHOWWX will provide a truly enhanced visual experience to Vodafone’s customers and greatly enhance functionality of their mobile devices,” Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of Microvision said.

The new device is a plug-n-play pico projector that offers users on the go the possibility to easily view and share various content, including mobile TV, movies, photos or presentations. The pocket-sized projector can be carried anywhere, plugged into portable media players, mobile phones or notebooks, or to any other mobile device that sports TV-Out or VGA functionality. The projected images can range from 12” to 150”, depending on the ambient light.

“The introduction of the Microvision SHOWWX laser pico projector in Spain presents a great opportunity for Vodafone to offer our customers new and exciting display capabilities to enhance the experience with their mobile devices,” explained Ignacio Roman, head of Terminals Spain and Portugal at Vodafone.

The new SHOWWX pico projector is available for Vodafone's customers from €289 (without vat). Moreover, users will be able to get it through the Points Program, which means that it will be cheaper. At the same time, the wireless carrier also noted that it will market the new device along with the Nokia N97 mini handset

Twitter and Facebook Are Increasingly Influential

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:39:00 +0000

There are a lot of metrics for website traffic, unique visitors, user numbers, and the likes. Measuring a website's “influence” is a harder proposition though, it's not exactly something you can count. Some people beg to differ though and ://URLFAN aims to do just this, measure a website's influence by counting the number of mentions it gets on blogs. It's not the most objective metric out there, but it's probably as good as it gets and it's an interesting perspective.

The ReadWriteWeb blog put together a list of the top sites on the service and their standings a year ago. At this moment, despite the growing number of people predicting its demise, Wikipedia sits at the top as the most influential site on the planet. It's not much of a surprise this one, the crowd-sourced encyclopedia holds huge amounts of content and information which comes in handy when you're trying to put something in perspective or provide more background information.

Wikipedia is followed by YouTube and then Flickr, which have switched places since last year. Their presence is entirely expected, one being the most popular video site on the planet and the other being the most popular photo sharing site among bloggers, even if it's not the biggest in its category. Things only get interesting on fourth place where Twitter now resides up five places from last year. With the huge surge in popularity and users the microblogging site has seen this year, the rise is actually rather unspectacular, but the service was obviously a lot more popular with bloggers in 2008 than it was with the rest of the Internet population.

The other hyped up social media service of the moment, Facebook has also shot up quite a few places entering the top 10 at the seventh place. With 325 million users and a warmer attitude towards making content public, the social networking mammoth will probably only get more influential and it should be interesting to see how it will compete with Twitter in 2010. There certainly other ways of measuring online influence but ://URLFAN's is interesting as it puts more weight on people's opinions rather than just cold numbers.

AMD's Radeon HD 5970 Is Here, World's Fastest Graphics Card

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:16:00 +0000

It appears that the recent reports on the Internet have been correct and that the Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices has now detailed its latest Radeon graphics card, the much-anticipated HD 5970, a dual-GPU monster designed to be the fastest graphics card in the world. Featuring full support for Microsoft's DirectX 11 and the company's recently introduced Eyefinity multi-display technology, this card is expected to deliver a noticeable performance boost over any other card that is currently available on the market.

“With the arrival of the ATI Radeon HD 5970, the fastest graphics card in the world, we’ve cemented AMD as the unquestioned graphics leader,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. “With the holiday shopping season right around the corner, the new card, coupled with the awesome power of ATI Eyefinity technology, is the ultimate setup for serious gamers.”

Getting right down to the technical specifications of the new card, it looks like previous reports have been right on target, as it comes with a GPU clock speed of 725MHz and a processing power, for single precision, of 4.64 TeraFLOPS. The new Radeon card comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory that was clocked at 1GHz (with 4GHz data date), and 2 x 2.15 Billion transistors. There are 3200 Stream Processors, 160 Texture units and 64 ROPs, while the card's TDP has been specified at a maximum of 294W. Interestingly enough, according to AMD, it reaches 42W in idle mode, something that has been enabled by a unique feature that will disable one of the GPUs, when the PC is in Idle.

One thing you should keep in mind is that, this is a monster of a card, by all definitions. It's design might lead to some modifications of your ATX chassis, as this card is 13.3-inches long, which could raise some problems, even for owners of full-tower cases.

With those specs and the fact that NVIDIA currently has nothing on the market that could beat the Radeon HD 5970, expect prices to be high. In fact, according to the world's second largest chip maker, these cards will be available for a MSRP of US$599. The prices are likely to go down when NVIDIA launches its Fermi-based cards, or by the time the 40nm yields at TSMC would improve.

T-Mobile to Partner with AT&T, Clearwire or MetroPCS

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Telecom service provider Deutsche Telekom is reportedly looking out for partners for its U.S. Subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, and might consider teaming up with AT&T, Clearwire or MetroPCS, recent reports suggest. Moreover, it seems that there might also be the perspective of unnamed financial investors from outside the wireless industry, at leas this is what the German newspaper Handelsblatt states, cited by fiercewireless.

“The report, citing unnamed sources from the German telecom giant, said that the company is looking for a partner to help finance T-Mobile's network expansion. If Deutsche Telekom were to partner with a financial firm, the paper reported, that company might take a minority stake in T-Mobile. The carrier, the nation's fourth largest, is in the midst of building out its 3G network, and plans to upgrade its network to HSPA+ beginning next year to capitalize on the growing demand for mobile data,” the news site notes.

Deutsche Telekom has been said a few times before to plan including its US subsidiary in a joint-venture, and a Bloomberg report from September suggested that Clearwire and MetroPCS were possible partners for T-Mobile. According to the report, the aim was gaining access to the spectrum holdings of the partner companies.

Some other rumors that emerged earlier into the wild suggested that Deutsche Telekom would be interested in the purchase of Sprint Nextel, yet it seems that the deal is off now. The talks with the aforementioned partners appears to be only in their early stages, yet AT&T, Clearwire and Deutsche Telekom declined to comment on the deal.

Xbox LIVE Update Drops November 2009

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Microsoft will make available the next update to the service it has built around its Xbox console, come next week. Larry Hryb, the director of programming for the Microsoft gaming network Xbox Live, revealed that the Redmond company would offer all members of the Xbox LIVE community the latest refresh to the service starting with November 17, 2009. At the time of this article, the Xbox LIVE update has been already offered to a select pool of testers. However, it appears that Microsoft’s Preview Program for the upcoming Xbox LIVE Update will soon be shut down, as the company will start delivering the fully-fledged refresh.

“I know some of you are already enjoying many of these features through the Preview Program, but I am happy to announce that the next update that contains Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune video will be available to all Xbox LIVE members launch Nov. 17,” Hryb noted.

When it comes to the Windows LIVE update there are a few things that Xbox console users need to be aware of. First off, the refresh is designed to kill unauthorized memory units. The Redmond company made it clear in October, when it debuted the Preview Program, that it would tackle the usage of unauthorized memory units with Xbox 360 consoles.

In addition, not all users will be free to enjoy the new enhanced social networking capabilities of Xbox LIVE. Testers that have been running the public preview and that were younger than 18 were cut off from accessing Twitter, Facebook, or Last.fm. This situation will not change after Microsoft will release the fully-fledged update.

“We made this decision because as it stands now, parents aren’t able to use Family Settings to customize which of these applications their children can access. In order to offer an age-appropriate environment for everyone, we decided to turn off these applications for those Gold members under the age of 18. As expected, this has been a hot topic with the preview users. We want to make sure everyone was aware, however, that the development team is working on an update that gives parents the choice of which social applications their children can access. This means that Xbox LIVE members between the ages of 13 and 17 will be able to use Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm as long as their parents approve,” Hryb added.

Windows 7 Copies Mac OS X, Microsoft Employee Says

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:56:00 +0000

Microsoft’s Simon Aldous has been talking through his hat, the Windows maker claims, when the company's partner group manager stated that Microsoft tried to “create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics” for Windows 7. As reports circulating on the Internet say, Aldous appeared to admit that Microsoft had looked at Mac OS X for inspiration. Microsoft vehemently denies this.

Via Neowin, the full quote from the respective interview has been reproduced below.One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use. What we've tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it's traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.

As the same report reveals, the people in Redmond immediately issued a counter-statement revealing that Aldous' comments were not only “inaccurate,” but downright “uninformed.” In a post on the Windows Team blog, Microsoft blogger Brandon LeBlanc stated the following:

An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was “borrowed” from Mac OS X. Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7. I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.

While Microsoft cannot possibly admit Windows 7 mimics Mac OS X, the Redmond giant can’t hide the obvious – a great deal of people (and vocal ones, may we add) have given their verdict: Windows 7 does look like Mac OS X from quite a few perspectives. However, as this editor has stressed over and over again, there is a thin line between copying a product and using universally intuitive solutions for graphics, functionality, etc. There’s a limit to how much things can be changed just to be different from each other, yet still work for the customer. Do share your own opinion in the comments.

Google Chrome OS to Be Launched Next Week

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:50:00 +0000

Google's most hotly anticipated project, the brand-new, web-based operating system Chrome OS, is about to become a reality if rumors about its impending launch as soon as next week turn out to be true. When it first announced the project, Google said that the first public release should come this fall so this wouldn't be too much of a surprise. There's not much info aside from the fact that it will be launched and any type of details about Chrome OS have been scarce so far, so there's plenty of anticipation in the tech crowd to see just what Google cooked up.

The rumor comes from the TechCrunch blog which has been on somewhat of a roll lately with rumors about Google. Adding the fact that we already knew that Chrome OS would hit at around this date, the info seems solid enough. But don't get your hopes up yet, just because Google is launching the OS doesn't exactly mean that you'll be able to pop it into any computer or laptop and run it. It's likely that it's at a pretty unpolished state and Google previously said that Chrome OS wouldn't be ready for the market at least until the second half of 2010.

Hardware support is one of the biggest issues at this point. Chrome OS is based on the Linux kernel so, in theory, at the low level, it should have some very good driver support. It's unclear though what kind of changes Google has made and how far along the other components of the OS are to take advantage of the hardware capabilities. Google is building Chrome OS with netbooks in mind, so chances are that some of the more popular machines like Asus' Eee PC will probably work right off the bat.

But even if you can install it and run it, it doesn't mean that there will bemuch to look at, from a user's view point, Chrome OS will most likely be very lacking at this point. This release is meant to get developers familiar with the platform and give hardware manufacturers enough time to get used to it, before presumably starting to ship machines with Chrome OS. Anyway, even so there's plenty to be excited about, we'll finally get a look at the mysterious GUI Google has been working on and see how the company has adapted the more system-oriented tasks to an OS designed for the cloud. There have been some clues already, but the speculation should end soon enough.

FriendFeed Cofounder Not Giving Up on the Service Yet

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:44:00 +0000

The chatter is once again picking up around FriendFeed, the real-time social aggregator Facebook acquired a couple of months ago. At the time of the deal many were left wondering about the fate of the service which, despite not becoming as successful as hoped, managed to secure a core of loyal users and to stay ahead in the innovation department. Not much has been said since, and despite claims that the service won't be shut down, users have mostly abandoned it.

Now FriendFeed cofounder Paul Bucheit has decided to come out with some clarifications though the future of the service is as vague as ever. “There was a lot of chatter about the future of FriendFeed this weekend. The short answer is that the team is working on a couple of longer-term projects that will help bring FriendFeedy goodness to the larger world. Transformation is not the end. Consider this the chrysalis stage — if all goes well, a beautiful butterfly will emerge,” Bucheit wrote in a FriendFeed post.

The message tries to be reassuring but ends up confirming the rather bleak future that awaits FriendFeed in its current form. A couple of preeminent bloggers, both great supporters of FriendFeed, raised concerns about the future of the service and the fact that the activity on the site died down after the news of the acquisition. Everything is still there, in terms of features and functionality, but nobody wants to invest in a dead service.

At the time of the acquisition, many argued that Facebook bought FriendFeed for its talent, as the service was backed by a small but all-star team of engineers. The four cofounders are all ex-googlers and were behind products like Gmail and Google Maps. Facebook is no doubt at work integrating some of FriendFeed's best features but it may be a while until the social network can be seen as a proper replacement if ever. The project may very well be open-sourced – an underlying component has already been released as an open-source project – but this won't help save FriendFeed either. Something may still pop up but as time passes the service is losing even more users.

AMD Updates Athlon II Family with Eight New Processors

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:29:00 +0000

Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices has announced today the debut of a couple of new desktop processors, part of the company's extending line of Athlon II chips. With Windows 7 just around the corner, these new parts are expected to provide system builders and users alike with a choice for an affordable CPU that can also perform decently for its price range. The new lineup of Athlon II CPUsincludes dual-core,triple-core and quad-core models in total of eight new chips, six of which are part of the chip maker’s energy-efficient lineup.

The lowest priced model, announced today by the world's second largest PC manufacturer is the dual-core Athlon II X2 235e, designed to provide consumers with a clock speed of 2.7GHz and a TDP of 45W. As a matter of fact, all of AMD's new energy-efficient Athlon II processors have been designed with a 45W TDP. The aforementioned 235e model will become available for a price tag of US$69, in thousand-unit quantities, according to AMD.

The new lineup includes the Athlon II X2 240e, 400e, 405e, 600e and 605e, all of which are designed to work with a TDP of 45W and sport clock speeds of 2.8GHz, 2.2GHz, 2.3GHz, 2.2GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively. The Athlon II X2 400e and 405e models are part of AMD's triple-core offering, while the last two are part of the expanding line of quad-core CPUs. Price wise, these models are rated at prices of US$77, US$99, US$102, US$133 and US$143, respectively.

In addition to all of the aforementioned models, the chip maker also announced the triple-core Athlon II X3 425 and Athlon II X3 435, designed with a 95W TDP and core speeds of 2.7GHz and 2.9GHz, respectively. These two will be made available for US$76 and US$86 in thousand-unit quantities and according to early reviews users should be very pleased with the performance/price ratio that the US$435 model offers, especially when compared to similarly-priced Intel Core 2 Duos.

Next Version of Office for Mac Drops in 2010

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Microsoft is not only hard at work cooking the next iteration of the Office System for Windows users, but also the next version of Office for Mac. In this regard, the Redmond-based company has announced that the successor of Office 2008 for Mac will be offered to customers next year, ahead of the holiday season. Office 2010 for Windows is also planned for release in 2010, however, ahead of the general availability of the next iteration of Office for Mac, namely in the first half of the coming year. With the successor of Office 2008 for Mac, Microsoft will kill the Entourage for Mac email client, which will be replaced with Outlook for Mac.

“It is an exciting time for the MacBU [Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit] with updates to our current products and the first public announcement about the next version of Office for Mac. For several years we have focused on providing the best Microsoft Exchange client for the Mac, and the Web Services Edition delivers that today for Entourage users,” revealed Eric Wilfrid, general manager for the MacBU at Microsoft. “Outlook for Mac will bring features our customers have long requested — such as Information Rights Management — that make working across platforms even easier. I think people will see that this move to Outlook for Mac is more than just a name change.”

In a move designed to simplify the Office for Mac SKU lineup, MacBU informed that it would introduce the Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition on top of the current offering of Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition. The software giant explained that Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition would be available for purchase come September 15, 2009, with customers being able to pre-order it on August 18. The new SKU will cost $399.95 and $239.95 for Version Upgrade. For current Entourage users, the Redmond-based company is already offering Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition today.

“Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server have been a cornerstone of communications and collaboration for our enterprise customers,” added Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of the Office product management group at Microsoft. “Today’s release of the Web Services Edition strengthens Exchange connectivity for Entourage customers and sets the stage for the move to the new application — Outlook for Mac. These updates continue Microsoft and the MacBU’s tradition of delivering the most complete solution to help customers manage their time, and better share their information and collaborate with others.”

Computer Repair Shops Rifle Through Customer Data

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:36:00 +0000

An investigation carried out by Sky News uncovered severe abuses of trust in computer repair shops around London. Technicians purposely misdiagnosed a simple problem in order to charge more, while others rifled through or copied documents clearly marked as private.

Sky News reporters took a brand-new laptop with Windows installed on it, loosened a memory module so that the operating system would not boot anymore, and took it at six different computer repair shops, some of them being pretty renowned. In addition to the easy-to-fix technical problem, the laptop was rigged with keylogging software and the web camera was set to start recording once Windows booted. A folder called "private" containing photos of a woman in bikini and a document comprising fake login details for email, social networking and online banking accounts was also planted.

The conclusions were that computer repair shop employees could seriously abuse the trust that customers placed in them, most of the times without even realizing. A single repair shop from the ones investigated treated the problem professionally by identifying it, addressing it and even charging no money for the simple job.

Three of the shops said that a new motherboard was required, after they had actually discovered the real problem and fixed it, thus showing a clear intention of deceiving the customers. For one of the shops, the undercover reporter refused to pay for a new motherboard and the technicians soldered the memory-bus pins together.

But the abuse goes much deeper and probably becomes more illegal too. At two of the shops, employees rifled through the personal pictures and even called in other colleagues to watch them together. One particular creepy technician even copied the photos into a folder on his memory stick, called "mamma jammas." He then went on and tried to use the login credentials found in the private folder, giving up after five minutes of trying to access the accounts that, obviously, weren't his.

The results of this investigation raise serious questions about how less technical users should go about fixing their computers while protecting their privacy at the same time. If the problem is with the hardware, one could plug the HDD out and leave the shop to repair the computer using their own hard drive for tests. However, this implies a novice user figuring out that the problem is hardware-related and that they know how to remove an HDD, which can be difficult, especially for laptops.

In order to overcome these issues, it is better to ask the technician to inspect the computer and diagnose the problem right in front of you, if possible. If they determine that the problem is not HDD-related, ask them to remove the hard disk and give it to you. If the problem is software-related (operating system), you might be forced to leave the HDD, in which case it is better to move all the personal documents to a folder and encrypt it with specific software in advance.

Even with all these precautions, it is impossible to cover all scenarios. Moving browsing history, saved-form information, locally stored emails, etc., to the encrypted folder, and then deleting them from their usual location might be too much of a challenge for the less knowledgeable. Because of this, it is always a good idea to call a friend who is more computer-literate to assist you with such tasks.

Intel 32nm SSDs Now Slated for Tuesday Launch

amvidia4@gmail.com (2008) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Late last month there were some reports indicating that the world's leading chip maker Intel was planning to update its line of Solid State Drives with the introduction of the new 32nm-based solutions. The launch of the new SSDs was supposed to occur in the following two weeks from the report,consequently providing end-users with a choice for a more energy-efficient alternative to other SSDs on the market. However, it now appears
that the much-anticipated SSDs will make their debut early next week, on Tuesday.

The news comes from a recent article on the Inquirer, where the first round of rumors initially surfaced approximately two weeks ago. According to them, new information that they have just come across, indicates that Intel will launch the next-generation SSDs on the 21st of July, which is next-week, on Tuesday. These new Flash-based storage solutions will be powered by the new 32nm flash chips and will provide users with an increase of energy efficiency, better price tag and higher storage capacities.

Intel's upcoming SSDs are expected to become available in capacities of 320GB, 160GB and 80GB and deliver a boost of energy efficiency, compared to the chip maker's previous generation of SSDs. They will most likely be launched in a notebook-ready 2.5-inch form factor and could prove as a noteworthy alternative to other SSDs currently available on the market.

The Inquirer further reports that Intel's new SSDs have also been designed to address a different issue that has been encountered in the adoption of SSDs as a general storage solution. Apparently, these new drives will be considerably cheaper than their direct competitors, which will allow Intel to increase its share in this still growing market. To find out whether that will be the case, we still have to wait a couple of days, until the Santa Clara, California-based chip maker decides to take the official wraps off its new products.