2012-12-21-487

Adobe Announces New Acrobat X PDF Editing Software

Sending a file saved with the PDF format is usually a great way to have an angry friend screaming at you on the phone or on MSN for 'forcing' him (or her) to download an additional application just so that your file can be viewed. And while that is usually the case when it comes to home users, the same cannot be said for the corporate users and knowledge workers, where the need to preserve a document's fidelity and formatting is of critical importance.

Of course, ensuring that files reach their intended recipients with all its formatting and content intact is no easy task. However, Adobe is keen to show the world that it is now possible to not only create such files, but also enhance them with various rich and dynamic content without much difficulty at all.This is now made possiblebecause of the new Adobe Acrobat X software, which was announced by Adobe at a media event held yesterday at The Screening Room.

Speaking at the event was Adobe's Group Marketing Manager for South East Asia Janie Lim, who gave a brief description of what the new software was capable of delivering for knowledge workers.

"Adobe Acrobat Xis not just a product, but rather, it is a family of services which we feel will define how the next generation of documents will be used, managed and perceived," she said, while adding that therewas a need to draw more attention to PDF technology.

"We are always trying very hard to have the public understand what PDF technology is, because all the attention has always been around Flash," she added.

Up next was Adobe's Regional Manager for South East Asia Vicky Skipp, who proceeded to give a short explanation on Adobe's contribution to the computing world with its PDF document format.

"There are over 160 million PDF files facing the web today, 600 million copies of Reader installed on devices around the world, and one million are on Android, which is quickly becoming more popular.There is a need to view data on your devices on all platforms," she said.Skipp also explained how Acrobat X will bring value and enhance the productivity of users who often engage in information sharing and online collaboration.

"Acrobat X is all about being transformational. It is all about next-generation technology. People typically perceive Acrobat to be a PDF converter, or some sort of software for document security. We want to share with people the true benefits of using Acrobat, not only as a knowledge worker within a business environment, but also as students in school, prosumers and consumers, and of course, enterprises around the world. Adobe continues to revolutionize the way the world world engages with ideas and information," she said.Last but not least, Adobe's Senior Consultant Ashish Deshpande proceeded to demonstrate some of the new features available in Adobe Acrobat X, while further elaborating on how the software is set to change the way people perceive the PDF document format.

"What we have done in Acrobat X is that we have taken the PDF format to the next level by having all sorts of communication possible through the PDF medium. People are no longer going to say 'I've read your file'. You'll probably say 'I listened to your file', 'I viewed your file', or 'I watched a video inside your PDF document'," heexplained."We have made it possible for people to provide such dynamic experience for other uses as part of the features available to the Acrobat family."

2012-12-21-381

Accelero Xtreme For HD 2900 / GeForce 8800 Series

ARCTIC COOLING today announced the launch of the Accelero Xtreme series,which is specially designed for ATI HD 2900XT/Pro and nVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra/GTX/GTgraphic cards as stock cooler replacement.

The Accelero Xtreme series features with 5 heatpipes, 107 fins and 3 PWMfans. Its radical optimized airflow design enables up to 240 watt heatdissipation, which guarantees outstanding cooling performance. Accelero Xtremebrings out the heat from GPU effectively, resulting in at least 20ºC lower thanthe stock cooler. Together with the integrated memory cooling and voltageregulator cooling, Accelero Xtreme not only enhances the overclock potential,but also extends the service life of the card.

The three 80mm PWM fans operate in extreme silence and generate maximumairflow simultaneously, thanks to the promising low noise impeller as well asthe patented fan holder that eliminates humming noise. With this outstanding lownoise cooling technology, Accelero Xtreme brings enthusiasts and overclockers tothe new level of non-disturbed gaming experience.

Accelero Xtreme will be available by mid February 2008. The MSRP of theAccelero Xtreme 2900 is US$ 49.90 and €34.90 (excl VAT). The MSRP of the AcceleroXtreme 8800 is US$ 47.90 and €32.90 (excl VAT).

2012-12-21-133

[Rumour] Intel to stagnate Core 2 prices

Although Core i5/i7 Lynnfield CPUs are out in the wild, it must be notedthat Intel have so far refused to cut prices of previous-gen Core 2processors. The Core ix line will be further advanced come January 2010with the introduction of dual-core Clarkdale CPUs, branded Core i3/i5.However, Fudzilla reports that there are no signs of price cuts even inJanuary.

The last official Core 2 price adjustment was way back in late Q2, inresponse to the Phenom II threat. Since then, however, the prices haveremained the same.

Judging by current prices, the Core 2 line up simply does not make sense. In the performance category, the Core i7 860 priced at $284 runs circles around the entire Core 2 Quad line-up. This includes Core 2 Quad Q9650, which is still selling for ~$330. This CPU even loses out to the ~$200 Core i5 750 and even the AMD Phenom II 965BE.

Coming to the mainstream <$200 segment, Intel has been losing out on price/performance to AMD's Phenom II CPUs for the last few months. In the entry level <$100 segment, the Athlon II CPUs are a formidable force, often outperforming much more expensive Intel Core 2 CPUs. Simply put, none of the Core 2 products make any sense at current prices. Unless, of course, you have a LGA775 motherboard and are unwilling to buy a different motherboard for upgrading your CPU.

Clearly, despite poor value products, Intel are feeling no pressure to drop Core 2 prices. Perhaps there is still a large market for LGA 775 upgrades, or Intel are using their marketing prowess.

Reference: Fudzilla

2012-12-21-473

ADATA Releases XPG SX910 SSD

ADATA unveiled its newest performance-segment consumer SSD, the XPG SX910. The new product appears to be a slightly improved version of the XPG SX900 the company launched back in February, 2012.

According to the company, the NAND flash chips used in the XPG SX910 are put through an improved screening process, picking the best performing ones out for building these drives. In industry jargon, the process is known as binning. Its likely that this change enhanced the product warranty.The XPG SX910 comes with a longer product warranty of 5 years, compared to 3 years of the XPG SX900.

Despite improved NAND flash chips, the rated sequential transfer rates advertised for the XPG SX910 havent changed from those of the XPG SX900. The drive reads at speeds of up to 550 MB/s, and writes at speeds of up to 530 MB/s. Its maximum 4K random read/write performance is rated at 50,000 and 85,000 IOPS, respectively. Perhaps the improved flash chips result in improved "performance yields" (the performance you actually end up with).

The ADATA XPG SX910 is driven by LSI-SandForce SF-2281 processor. It comes in three capacities, 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB. Unlike with the XPG SX900 series, a 64 GB model is excluded. The drives also take advantage of a reworked over-provisioning scheme by LSI, which results in higher unformatted capacity. The drives are built in the 2.5-inch / 9.5 mm-thick form-factor, with SATA 6 Gb/s interface.

The 128 GB variant sells for US $189.99 (S $242), the 256 GB variant for US $379.99 (S $485), and the 512 GB for US $749.99 (S $957). The three will gradully phase out older XPG SX900 models from the market.

2012-12-21-495

Adobe kicks off Acrobat X Wizard quiz

Do you fancy getting your hands on a copy of Adobes latest office productivity and creative tools? If so, then you are in luck: Adobe has got a few of these products to give away as prizes. All you have to do is take part in a simple quiz or quest known as the Adobe PDF Guild Quest, answer some questions, recommend a few friends to take the quiz and you might be one of the lucky few to walk away with a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.

To take part, users have to visit Adobes PDF Guild website at http://www.adobepdfguild.com/and sign in with their Facebook account, as shown in the screenshot below. Doing so will make you a member of the Guild.

Do take note that you will need to have an actual working copy of Adobe Acrobat X (either 30-day trial or full version) in order to proceed with the quiz, as users are required to use the software as a tool for fulfilling certain tasks such as creating certain PDF files which must then be uploaded to Adobes servers. The goal is to attain a Wizard ranking at the end of the quiz to prove your mastery of Adobes Acrobat X productivity tool.

Heres a caveat though: users are only allowed one attempt at the quiz, and the scores gained in the process of doing so is definitely not enough to net some of the better prizes Adobe is giving away. This is where having a huge network of virtual friends becomes a huge asset. Indeed, Adobe has confirmed that there are other ways of chalking up points, and that involves being an active member on Adobes PDF Guilds Facebook page and recommending more friends to take up the Guild quiz.

Of course, you can also expect some form of rewards for your efforts.

2012-12-21-510

Adobe takes a page from Microsoft with new sandbox protection on Adobe Reader

When it comes to security, Adobe probably shares the same position with Microsoft over the severity of zero-day exploits and security holes. However, while Microsoft had made great improvements in securing and harderning their software for malicious attacks, Adobe generally took a longer time to patch known vulnerabilities, thus creating the impression that it is not taking security as seriously as the former.

However, that impression is set to change now that Adobe has announced a new layer of protection for Adobe Reader, its solution for opening and viewing PDF files. More interestingly, it seemed that Adobe had some outside help from Microsoft in writing that added protection layer.

According to a blog post by Brad Arkin of Adobe's Secure Software Engineering Team (ASSET), Adobe is currently working on a Protected Mode for Adobe Reader, which he claims is based on Microsoft's Practical Windows Sandboxing Technique, and that the team had been working very closely with Microsoft to implement the feature in Adobe Reader.

“Adobe Reader Protected Mode represents an exciting new advancement in attack mitigation. Even if an exploitable security vulnerability is found by an attacker, Adobe Reader Protected Mode will help prevent the attacker from writing files, changing registry keys or installing malware on potential victims’ computers,” he wrote in the post.

He goes on to state that Protected Mode will be turned on by default when Adobe Reader is installed, while explaining that the protection works by making Adobe Reader work in “a very restricted manner inside a confined environment”, or sandbox. And in the event that the application needs to make calls to various parts of the operating system due to circumstances such as writing to a temp folder opening an external attachment, these calls will be intercepted and passed through a series of policies to ensure that the application does not become an unsuspecting centre for malware distribution.

In other words, its implementation and execution is very similar to Windows' much-maligned UAC. And this brings with it its own problem: there is nothing to stop a user from turning off Protected Mode and exposing Adobe Reader to a whole wave of malware waiting to break into the application.

But on the bright side, at least we can sleep easy knowing that Adobe is taking steps to harden its software against more security flaws.

Source: Adobe ASSET Blog

2012-12-21-47

Intel to scrap Celeron branding for entry-level processors?

When it comes to processor rumors, Intel definitely has more than its fair share of them, no doubt due to the fact that it was, and is still the most powerful x86 processor manufacturer with the lion's share of the market. Indeed, it would seem that speculating on Intel's plans has become a favorite topic for discussion, especially when their chips are found in many top-end and server-grade machines.

But one particular rumor which always rears itself whenever Intel introduces new mainstream processors would be that of the Celeron, which is the chipmaker's current offering for the entry-level segment of the market. In fact, the entire Celeron line has been the subject of scrutiny for a very long time now, although, at first glance, there seems to be a little credibility about rekindled rumours of the entry-level chip's imminent demise.

The reasoning for such rumours stems from the fact that Intel has typically drawn a clear line between the Celeron and its mainstream brands' performance by intentionally stripping down or disabling some more-advanced features from the current mainstream processor lineup. As such, while Celerons may share the same architecture and may be perceived by some to be more value for money, they usually suffer from a significant performance penalty, enough to prevent both product lines from cannibalizing one another.

However, it is worth nothing that Intel's Atom processors has had greater success in the entry-level segment than the Celerons: with netbooks and nettops being reported as the fastest growing areas in PC purchase figures, it seems as though the humble Celeron may be forced to retire. This is especially true considering that the Atoms have drastically lower power consumption ratings than the Celerons, and they usually offer enough computing power for most daily tasks: mainly word processing, web surfing and the occasional simple gaming, and yet retain a significant performance gap to prevent any overlaps between itself and the budget-oriented Pentium brand.

But more importantly, Intel's Atoms, or rather, PCs built with Atom processors are usually sold for a fraction of a mainstream machine's price, and the entry-level segment is one that can be quite price sensitive. Therefore, it is argued that it would make greater business sense for Intel to drop the Celeron lineup and focus on pushing Atom-powered PCs to the low-end segment.

That would be fine and all, except that the proponents of such rumours seem to have forgotten something important: the Celeron lineup is not an independently designed product, as previously stated. This means that the lineup's future is dependent on the current micro-architecture in use (which, in this case, is Nehalem), and Intel had just recently released Nehalem-based Celerons for use in the desktop, mobile and embedded space. For the curious, the new desktop Celerons are Clarkdale-based, while the mobile and embedded segments get Arrandale and Lynnfield-derived designs respectively.

And while Intel has stated that they do not comment on rumours, the mere presence of the aforementioned processors suggest that the chip giant has no plans to drop its entry-level Celeron branding. At least, not when the most recent Celerons are already Nehalem-based.

Source: X-bit Labs