TechSpot

Patriot introduces new PS-100 SSD series

Matthew DeCarlo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:06 -0500

Patriot has announced the release of its PS-100 solid-state drive series. The new lineup is the latest in the company's "cache-based" SSDs, and targets budget-minded consumers seeking the performance and reliability of solid-state technology without having to spend big.

Sony working on digital store for music, movies, books

Matthew DeCarlo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:19 -0500

Sony is reportedly gearing up to launch an online portal for digital entertainment. The new store, named Sony Online Service, will sell music, movies, and books along with other downloadable applications for mobile gadgets. The company's new service will enter into a competitive market, with Apple's iTunes and many other digital content providers.

Details of Intel's 32nm Atom emerge, on track for 2011

Matthew DeCarlo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:01 -0500

According to Fudzilla, some new information has emerged about Intel's 2011 Atom platform, which will be a successor to the imminent Pine Trail platform. Codenamed Cedar Trail, the 2011 refresh should bring the first Atom processors built with a 32nm fabrication. Behind the scenes, Fudzilla says those 32nm chips are codenamed Cedarview.

Xbox Live bans prompt class action lawsuit

Jose Vilches — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:15 -0500

Looks like the recent wave of Xbox Live bans -- in which as many as one million users were cut off from the service -- is ready to evolve into a into a full on legal showdown. A Texas-based law firm by the name of AbingtonIP is reportedly organizing a class-action suit claiming Microsoft timed the bans to extract the maximum amount of money out of customers.

News around the web: Why Chrome OS will fail

Erik Orejuela — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:51 -0500

Why Chrome OS will fail -- big time @ InfoWorld

OCZ to unveil USB 3.0 solid state drive at CES 2010

Jose Vilches — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:57 -0500

There just seem to be no stopping OCZ Technology when it comes to solid-state drive development. The company recently expanded their already impressive lineup with the 3.5-inch Colossus series, and touted a new and improved generation of drives based on controllers from startup SandForce. Now they are looking to introduce the first external SSD to hook up via the super speedy USB 3.0 interconnect....

Radeon HD 5970 supplies dry up quick, not a big surprise

Justin Mann — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:30 -0500

The expected took place this week after ATI launched their latest dual-GPU graphics card. In our review we praised the card for its performance and relative efficiency, however we were quick to conclude that its immediate success would primarily depend on availability. Other cards in the Radeon 5000 series have been equally well received, however shortage issues have kept them out of enthusiasts' ...

Tech Tip of the Week: Unearth Region-Specific Windows 7 Themes

Jose Vilches — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:20 -0500

Microsoft stepped up its game in more ways than one with the advent of Windows 7. The graphical user interface, for example, looks and functions better in than previous releases and is easy to customize. Without digging deep, even inexperienced users coming from Windows XP and Vista can see that Microsoft really attempted to bring a degree of style to its latest and greatest operating system.

Mozilla reveals 2008 revenue, rumors say Firefox coming to PS3

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:23 -0500

The Mozilla Foundation has revealed some financial figures from last year, showing 5% rise in revenue to $79 million during 2008. Much of that money came from the foundation's search ad deal with Google, which currently lasts through 2011.

Dell intros the multitouch-capable Studio 17 Touch

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:27 -0500

Dell quietly rolled out the Studio 17 Touch today, making it the company's first multitouch laptop. The system kicks off at $800 and sports a 17.3" (1600x900) LED display, a 2.1GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300, 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570, a 320GB 7200RPM HDD, a dual-layer DVD burner, 802.11g connectivity, a six-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium x64.

Dell profits fall 54% on quarter, slim enterprise budgets to blame

Justin Mann — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:33 -0500

Computer giant Dell took a huge hit in profit for the previous quarter, following a slump in sales. Overall, Dell says their profit has been cut by more than half, falling 54% below the previous quarter. The largest losses have primarily come from enterprise and business customers, which represent the bulk of Dell's profitable sales.

AT&T to offer HP Mini 110 netbook with 3G broadband

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:40 -0500

AT&T announced today that it plans to expand its line of 3G-connected netbooks with the HP Mini 110. The carrier expects to begin shipping the Mini 110 on November 22, which will cost $199 after a mail-in rebate and signing a two-year contract. Plans will include a 200MB limit for $35 per month, or a hefty 5GB for $60, which is paired with free access to some 20,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots in ...

Download of the Week: Power Plan Assistant for Windows 7

Jose Vilches — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00 -0500

Microsoft has made energy efficiency a key design element of Windows 7. By default, the operating system is now smarter than previous releases about what devices to turn on and when. It also includes fairly detailed power management options and offers three power plans out of the box to help end users extend battery life or reduce energy consumption in certain scenarios.

Google previews its upcoming Chrome OS

Justin Mann — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:49 -0500

Google offered a preview of its upcoming Chrome OS during an event today. Stressing its target audience, Google said it is building Chrome OS with web users in mind, and that it probably isn't going to be a replacement for Windows, OS X or Linux desktops. Instead, the search giant is trying to form a new niche.

Intel to launch a 32nm mobile Celeron in spring?

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:18 -0500

According to leaked information cited by Fudzilla, Intel plans to introduce its first Arrandale-based mobile Celeron processor in the second quarter of next year. It is reported that the new Celeron P4500 will be built on a 32nm process, feature a dual-core design with a clock frequency of 1.86GHz, and 2MB of L2 cache. If the rumors hold true, Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading will be disabled to kee...

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising demo now available

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:11 -0500

If you're among the few people who were disappointed by Modern Warfare 2, you may be interested in another, lesser-known first-person shooter that just released a demo. Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a tactical military simulator which debuted on October 6 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The title is a sequel to 2001's Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, and the expansion pack ...

Microsoft offers free Xbox Live Gold weekend

Jose Vilches — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:42 -0500

In an effort to boost the numbers of Gold subscribers on Xbox Live and to celebrate a host of new features being added to the service, Microsoft is giving all Xbox 360 owners the chance to get mangled online by complete strangers for free. From the 20th of November until the 23rd, Silver members in the United States will be able to try out all the services available on Xbox Live Gold and see if th...

Lenovo readies AMD-powered ultrathin, ThinkPad x100e

Jose Vilches — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:31 -0500

Lenovo today became the latest in a growing list of laptop vendors slotting an ultrathin product between their low-cost netbook and conventional notebook lines. Pitched as an extension of their popular X-Series, the new ThinkPad X100e is built on AMD's Athlon Neo platform and should retail for under $500.

News around the web: Game Consoles at a Crossroads

Erik Orejuela — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:21 -0500

Game Console Makers at a Crossroads @ BusinessWeek

Latest Office 2010 beta available to members of MSDN and TechNet

Matthew DeCarlo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:37 -0500

Update - Now also available to the public: Microsoft has taken another step forward by releasing the Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta to the general public today. So if you are wanting to take a taste at the new Office suite, you can download that here. In addition you can also download betas for Project 2010, Visio 2010, and SharePoint 2010.

Silverlight 4 beta now available, PDC attendees received free tablet PC

Matthew DeCarlo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:00 -0500

Microsoft announced the availability of Silverlight 4 beta today at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC). The company has designed the latest version of Silverlight to simplify the development and consumption of rich-media content. Silverlight 4 is more tightly knit with PCs at a programmatic level to improve the way applications and media run when outside the browser.

Asus introduces first multi-touch netbook, Eee PC T91MT

Justin Mann — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00 -0500

The new world of multi-touch mobiles is expanding beyond devices like the iPhone as more manufacturers embrace the technology. Asus is the next vendor to begin offering such devices, launching the first multi-touch netbook.

Modern Warfare 2 breaks sales records across entertainment industry

Matthew DeCarlo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:00 -0500

Despite a bit of controversy in Russia, Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 has taken the video game world by storm, and now it is breaking sales records across the entire entertainment industry. The title reportedly generated $550 million in sales during the first five days available, beating all other video game launches and raking in more cash than any movie in the same timeframe.

Google and Microsoft gain in US search market, Yahoo loses share

Matthew DeCarlo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:00 -0500

Research outfit comScore has released the US search engine rankings for October 2009. During the month, Americans conducted some 14.3 billion core searches, the majority of which (9.4 billion) were through Google, which held 65.4% of the search market, up from 64.9% in September. Yahoo served some 2.6 billion searches, trailed by Microsoft with 1.4 billion, Ask with 552 million, and AOL with 412 m...

GeForce 195.55 WHQL-candidate drivers bring Flash 10.1 support

Matthew DeCarlo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:07 -0500

Nvidia has released its first drivers to support the GPU acceleration brought by Adobe's Flash Player 10.1. Adobe introduced a public beta version of Flash 10.1 just yesterday, which delivers hardware-based H.264 video acceleration to Windows PCs. The new functionality should make it easier to view HD videos on sites like YouTube (which recently announced support for 1080p), Vimeo and Hulu.

Mozilla releases third Firefox 3.6 beta, fixes numerous crashes

Justin Mann — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:30 -0500

Just a week after Mozilla pushed out the Firefox 3.6 Beta 2 release, they have readied the next version for eager testers to try. Firefox 3.6 Beta 3 is now available for download, bringing with it a short list of bug fixes.

Microsoft reveals first Internet Explorer 9 details

Jose Vilches — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00 -0500

Speaking at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference today, Steven Sinofsky, president of the company's Windows and Windows Live division, has officially announced plans for the next version of IE: Internet Explorer 9. The new browser is still very early in the development process, with work beginning just three weeks ago, but early builds are already showing smoother rendering and improved ...

MSI announces new flagship all-in-one PC, Wind Top AE2220

Matthew DeCarlo — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:31 -0500

MSI has launched its new flagship touchscreen all-in-one PC, the Wind Top AE2220. Aimed at families, the system features a 21.5" 1920x1080 multitouch display, the choice between an Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 (2.2GHz) or a Pentium dual-core T4300 (2.1GHz) CPU, 4GB of DDR2 800MHz RAM, an Nvidia ION chipset, and a 500GB HDD.

AMD intros Catalyst 9.11 drivers, adds Flash 10.1 support

Jose Vilches — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:34 -0500

Keeping up with its monthly release schedule, AMD has shipped a new set of Catalyst drivers for Radeon graphics card owners running Windows 7, Vista, and XP in 32-bit and 64-bit variants. Among the new features in version 9.11 are support for GPU accelerated H.264 videos using Adobe's latest Flash Player 10.1 Beta release, as well as improved support for their video converter tool.

Nvidia teases first Fermi-based GeForce graphics card

Jose Vilches — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:17 -0500

AMD officially lifted the curtain today on its much-anticipated Radeon HD 5970, a dual-GPU solution which as of today has become the world's fastest graphics card on the market. Packed with some pretty impressive specs, the new card outclasses the competition in every benchmark thrown at it with ease, and puts AMD at the head of the high-end graphics segment for the first time in a long while.