Korea to sell programmable robot

South Korean scientists say they plan to begin marketing an advanced robot that can be programmed by personal computers.

The two-legged robot -- named D2V-ZN -- is to be introduced in October and sold from about $750, The Korea Times reported Monday.

"D2V-ZN can identify its owner with an embedded camera and take some pre-set orders after recognizing voices," D2E Robotics Chief Executive Officer Chung Kee-chull told the newspaper. "It will arguably be the smartest robot in the market. In addition, users can add new motions or functions to the model on their PCs with easy-to-use, customized graphic software. This is a programmable robot."

Chung, also a professor at Daeduk College in Taejon, said unlike current robots "our customers will be able to install new moves on their own."

"In other words," he told the Korea Times, "their imagination will be their only limit."

Chung said he is considering selling the robot through TV home-shopping channels in time for the Christmas season.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International

Critics, fans weigh in on Apple's iPad

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Heady from the success of the iPhone and iPod, Apple is getting spanked with criticism, even mockery, by pundits who expected the company to change the world anew with its iPad tablet computer.

Critics and fans were rushing Thursday to fill the 60-day void between the unveiling of what Apple chief executive Steve Jobs hailed as a "revolutionary" device and the time the first models will begin shipping globally.

While some heralded the iPad as a powerful "Kindle killer" with multimedia capabilities that eclipse current electronic readers, others scoffed at adding to their lives a mobile gadget seemingly named for a feminine hygiene product.

"Clearly, women are not finding this name attractive," said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley. "The name looks like a mistake a man would make. Steve should have spent more time talking to his wife and daughters."

Reaction by women echoed a video clip from an old Mad TV comedy television show skit about a fictitious high-tech tampon called an "iPad." The video has gone viral since Jobs uncloaked the iPad on Wednesday.

The mixed reaction to the color touchscreen tablet was reflected in two of the most popular gadget websites.

Gizmodo published an "Eight things that suck about the iPad" story while rival Ubergizmo crowned the device "the best tablet ever built."

Popular complaints included the lack of a camera, multi-tasking capabilities, a USB port, and support for videos made with Adobe Flash software.

Enderle recalled that "there is an extensive list of people who just pissed all over the iPhone when it launched.

"The iPad will advance a lot," he said. "Generation three will probably be the killer product."

It was a third generation iPhone, tied to an online store for fun applications, that catapulted the Apple smartphones to the top of the market and have brought billions of dollars to the firm's coffers.

"There are a number of things that have to come together to make this the 'Jesus Pad' people imagined," Enderle said. "The iPhone wasn't that great when it came out either."

Apple worked its marketing magic and built up hype and anticipation before the iPad unveiling, but has left two months for pundits, "fan boys," bloggers and others to nitpick a device that Jobs said must be held to be appreciated.

Still, some technology analysts predict the iPad will be the best-selling electronics device of 2010.

Unveiling the notebook-sized iPad, Jobs admitted he was taking a gamble by trying to carve out an entirely new device category between the laptop computer and the smartphone.

"We think we've got the goods," Jobs said. "We think we've done it."

Reviewers were mixed on whether the iPad will be a smash hit like the iPod, which controls over 70 percent of the market for MP3 players, or the iPhone, which completely transformed the smartphone arena.

The tech blog of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that after months of pre-launch hype, "expectations for the new Apple product were so high they were difficult to fulfill."

Spain's El Pais said the iPad opens up a new avenue for content creators struggling to adapt to the digital era, while a Los Angeles newspaper referred to the device as a large iPhone without the phone.

Om Malik of tech blog GigaOm said the iPad is "made for the consumption of digital media: games, music, photos, videos, magazines, newspapers and e-books.

"The iPad's primary purpose is to help you consume the ever-expanding amount of digital content on offer," he said, calling it the "ideal device for today's world."

Claudine Beaumont, technology writer for Britain's Daily Telegraph, hailed the sleekness of the iPad, its reading software and virtual keyboard.

"It won't replace your laptop, but I think it may have sounded the death knell for notebook computers," she wrote.

MG Siegler of tech blog TechCrunch, after playing with the iPad, said "it felt like I was holding the future" but the iPad may not be a "must-have" device yet.

Users eager to judge for themselves will have to wait two months before the first iPads are shipped worldwide at an entry-level price of 499 dollars.

High-performance 512GB SSDs with ultra-fast SATA revision 3.0 interface announced

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Samsung Electronics announced today volume production of SSDs (solid state drives) that support the Serial ATA Revision 3.0 interface with data transmissions at six gigabits per second (6Gb/s). The new high-performance PM830 SSDs are available at up to 512 gigabyte (GB) densities.

Samsung's new high-speed SSDs are ideally suited for use in high-performance OEM notebooks and tablets. Sample production of the SATA 6Gb/s 512GB SSDs began in May, with Samsung Electronics. “The industry is expected to quickly embrace SATA 6Gb/s-based SSDs, which also will help increase market interest in 256GB and higher densities significantly,” he added.

The SATA 6Gb/s SSD shortens system boot-up time to about 10 seconds, while its high-performance allows users to download up to five DVD video files in less than a minute.

The 512GB SSD utilizes Samsung’s most advanced 20 nanometer (nm) class** 32Gigabit multi-level cell (MLC) NAND memory chip incorporating the toggle DDR interface. A proprietary NAND controller facilitates exceptional performance levels that take full advantage of the toggle DDR architecture and the SATA 6Gb/s interface. The new SSD doubles the performance of a SATA 3Gb/s drive, with sequential read speeds of 500 megabytes per second (MB/s) and sequential write speeds of 350MB/s.

The drive also features the industry’s highest level of security, which uses an AES 256-bit encryption algorithm to protect personal or corporate data from unauthorized access.

Samsung’s SATA 6Gb/s SSDs are available in 512GB, 256GB and 128GB densities. The new high-performance SSD line-up is targeted for use in premium OEM notebooks, and tablets.

According to market research firm IDC, the global outlook for client-side SSDs is expected to grow ten-fold from 11 million units in 2011 to 100 million units in 2015. Moreover, the use of NAND in 256GB SSDs is forecast to more than double from 19 percent of all NAND used in SSDs in 2011 to 42 percent in 2015. Further, demand for 512GB SSDs is expected to grow from a 0.3 percent portion in 2011 to eight percent in 2015, also underscoring the growing interest in higher density SSDs.

Cornell robot fails to break a record, but students learn

Engineering education needs to include a few rough spots to be worthwhile. An attempt to set an unofficial world record for how far a robot could walk failed the night of March 30, but the team will keep trying.

The Cornell Ranger, a robot developed by a team of students working with Andy Ruina, professor of theoretical and applied mechanics, fell down after about 4.75 laps -- about .95 kilometers ( .59 miles) -- around the running track in Barton Hall. An earlier version of the same robot had already set a record by free-walking a bit over 1 kilometer, about .62 miles. (Another robot has walked 2.5 kilometers (1.55 miles) on a treadmill, Ruina noted.)

Ruina was hoping for 10 or more kilometers, more than 6 miles, depending on how long the robot's battery charge would last. The Ranger, like other robots developed in Ruina's lab, is designed for maximum energy-efficiency. Although its four-legged design makes it look a bit like a walking sawhorse, it mimics human walking technique, using energy only to push off with its pivoting toes, but depending on gravity and forward motion to swing its legs forward.

The goal of the research, Ruina said, is not only to advance robotics but also to learn more about the mechanics of walking so the information can be applied to rehabilitation and prosthetics for humans.

After a promising start, the robot literally stubbed its toe after failing to tilt one of its feet upward as the leg came forward. With that, the team of students went into an intense diagnostic session, reviewing telemetry that showed the signals sent by the robot's computer controller to its motors and switches, watching video of the fall and taking new video as the robot was repeatedly tested. The problem was eventually diagnosed as a loose connection in the wires leading to a sensor that measures the angle of the legs relative to the ground.

"I'm actually sort of glad this happened," Ruina said as he watched the students cluster around a laptop to review the robot's programming. "They need to learn that failures are a part of engineering in the real world."

Source: Cornell University

NTT DOCOMO Develops Solar-powered Handset

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NTT DOCOMO, Japan's largest mobile operator, announced today its development of the SOLAR HYBRID (docomo STYLE series SH-08A), a solar-powered, waterproof mobile phone that will go on sale in Japan from September.

The SOLAR HYBRID can be recharged with sunlight as well as electricity. Even if the battery has completely lost its charge, just 10 minutes of solar recharging via a panel on the phone's body provides approximately one minute of talk time.

The handset comes with an 8-megapixel CCD camera that takes excellent photographs even dim lighting or when objects are moving.

The SOLAR HYBRID's waterproof body, resistant to water sprays from all directions and submergible to depths up to one meter, enables safe, carefree mobile communication in the bath, kitchen, beach, rain or other environments where water is present.

The SOLAR HYBRID will be exhibited at the DOCOMO booth at Wireless Japan 2009, which will take place at Tokyo Big Sight from July 22 to 24.

Provided by NTT DOCOMO

DFI LANParty SLI-DR Expert Board

SLI-DR Expert

SLI-DR

DFI is getting their SLI-DR Expert board ready for massavailability this week and will use the current nForce 4 SLI chipset instead ofthe new nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset. Reason cited is that there is no performancebenefit running two x16. The layout of the SLI-DR Expert board is different fromthe current one with changes made to the CPU socket, DIMM slots, PWM area.According to DFI, it is meant to improve overall heat dissipation. The x16 slotsare now wider and the SLI mode is digitally controlled that will bring moreconvenience to the SLI users. The emphasis of this board is on the memory aspectwhere it can support 4 sticks of 1GB DDR400 memories at 1T. The memory voltagesoption in the BIOS is further enhanced with finer steppings for eg. 2.80, 2.83,2.87, 2.9V.

Expensive hard disks boosting SSD sales

The effect of last months Thailand floods is still felt far and wide in the storage industry as well as the computer market in general. Prices triple that of usual are still not uncommon for many hard disk drive types, as the componentry for them was coming from flood-affected areas - even then, its hard to find them. Now, SSDs dont suffer from the same problem, it seems, so what to make out of it?

Yes, it does seem that there is benefit for SSD sales, even the biggies like Intel have privately acknowledged that. The immediate benefit for them is that, coupled with some SSD price reductions and Xmas period promotions, having a 120 GB-class SSD is now not exactly unaffordable even for a mainstream PC. A 240 GB one may still feel a little pricey, but not nearly as much as it was a quarter ago when the price-per-GB vs hard disk was like five times higher. And, when you take into account that exponentially higher read performance - writes can still be a bit of problem sometimes depending on the controller youre using - and the cool factor of having a solid state drive to show off, the sales would improve surely.

With the differential being much lower now, having the first system drive as SSD, and using your old - no extra price to pay - HDD as the second drive for the paging file and often-rewritten documents or data, means good sense. However, keep in mind that, within a quarter, the HDD supply situation should come back to normal, so SSD vendors better figure out the way to maximise the use of the current hard disk supply doldrum before their comparative price benefit diminishes again.

Fastest X800 Pro Card New 3DMark03 Record

A new 3DMark03 record for X800 Pro has been set by Shamino witha score of 14250 3DMarks using the PowerColor X800 PRO Assassin Edition card running ata core/memory clock of 779/637Mhz! Check out his achievementshere.

Defeat acirc;€淔atal1ty acirc;€ @ Computex amp; Win US$ 3K!

PowerColor, Cooler Master and Universal ABIT are in search of a challenger inTaiwan to take on Johnathan 鈥淔atal1ty鈥?Wendel, the world鈥檚 best knownprofessional video gamer, during COMPUTEX 2007. Is this guy human? Can he bedefeated? PowerColor, Cooler Master and Universal ABIT want a worthy challengerto give him a run for his money. We will reward the challenger with 100,000 NTDif he or she can defeat Fatal1ty on June 5th.

Universal ABIT, a leading manufacturer of high-end gaming motherboards andperipherals and a Licensee of the Fatal1ty Brand, has invited Fatal1ty to visitTaiwan during COMPUTEX 2007. All three companies, Universal ABIT, Cooler Masterand PowerColor, have decided to collaborate to gather the best gamers in thenation to put Taiwan on the map of professional gaming and international eSports.

Qualifiers will be held on June 2nd, 2007, from 1pm to 6pm at Aztec InternetCaf茅 (Nan King East Rd. branch), Taiwan鈥檚 foremost chain of Internet Caf茅s. Thechallenger will emerge from the qualifiers and get a chance to take on Fatal1tyat the same venue at 4pm on June 5th, 2007. Sign up online at the Aztec website(http://www.azteccup.com/Race_Detail.php?RaceNo=72) or sign up in person at anyAztec branch.

鈥淚 love Taiwan, and welcome a chance to go back to support our licenseeUniversal ABIT and participate in this great event to help promote gaming andhopefully inspire gamers from Taiwan to compete professionally鈥? says Johnathan鈥楩atal1ty鈥?Wendel

鈥淐ooler Master is the master of thermal solutions and the first to design an allaluminum PC case for gamers worldwide鈥? says Coco Lee, Gaming Project Manager atCooler Master. 鈥淭hrough interactive activities, Cooler Master will build up itscommunication with gamers and contribute with professional technology andquality products to the gaming community.鈥?br>
鈥滱s long time supporters of the global gaming community, ABIT is extremely proudto be able to spread the word about competitive gaming and eSports in Taiwan鈥?says David Jarlestedt, brand manager at Universal ABIT. 鈥淏y inviting Fatal1ty,the world鈥檚 most successful professional video gamer, to Taiwan, we hope todemonstrate the true magic of gaming at the very highest level, and hopefullyinspire the best talent in Taiwan to take the leap, get serious and go pro.鈥?br>
鈥淲e are ecstatic to be having the best gamers in Taiwan challenge the best knowngamer in the world. We really want to step up and challenge him, which is why weare giving NTD 100,000 as prize money to any person who manages to beatFatal1ty鈥? says Raymen Wu, marketing manager at PowerColor.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer preorder starts today

Update: 100 sets of pre-order units for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer had been sold out within 3 hours.

ASUS today officially announced the start of preorder for the Eee Pad Transformer which claims to be the perfect tablet solution for both media consumption and mobile productivity.

Designed to provide the most personal and seamless cloud computing experience, the innovative Eee Pad Transformer has a uniquely designed full-size QWERTY keyboard docking station that offers two USB slots, SD card reader and extends battery life up to 16 hours. It also boasts an IPS panel made from a durable, scratch-resistant glass, dual cameras and supports Adobe Flash 10.2 video playback. ASUS has also developed an intuitive user interface called Waveshare which hosts a variety of unique applications including MyNet, MyLibrary and MyCloud.

The Eee Pad Transformer is available for pre-order in Singapore today. The Eee Pad Transformer pre-order is limited to 100 sets only. Users may visit ASUS Singapore Official Fan page, http://www.facebook.com/asus.sg for more pre-order information.

Pre-order price: S$699 (incl GST) with free Docking station worth S$199. Pre-order begins from 18 Aprilto 26 April and is limited to the first 100 customers only.

Apple to unveil iOS and OS X updates at WWDC in June

Apple will hold its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in early June, where it will unveil details about the future of iOS and OS X.

The conference will be held in Moscone West, San Francisco from 11 June to 15 June, and will see Apple revealing its plans for its operating systems so that developers can build new apps.“We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, SVP of Worldwide Marketing at Apple.“The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers around the world.”The conference will involve more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers, 100 hands-on labs staffed by over 1,000 Apple engineers, an extensive meet and greet with fellow developers, and the Apple Design Awards for the best apps on the iPhone, iPad and Mac.As ever, Apple is being tight-lipped about its plans, but previous trends suggest we wont see a new hardware product, like the much-anticipated new iPhone, but rather a focus on a new version of iOS, which will need to compete with an equally new version of Android set to be revealed at Googles I/O event, which will also be held in June.It is not yet clear what new features iOS 6 will have, but some reports suggest it will include its recent acquisition of Chomp, software which makes it easier to find apps, to ensure iOS devices remain the most popular choice for app developers.

AT amp;T unveils Windows Mobile 6.5 powered Tilt 2 and Pure

AT&T today announced two new smartphones based on Microsoft Inc.'s new Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, HTC's Tilt 2 and Pure. AT&T said the HTC Pure is now available at AT&T stores for $150 after rebates, and the HTC Tilt 2 will cost $300 after rebates. Both require a smartphone data plan commitment and a $40 or higher voice plan in order to receive the rebates.

The HTC Pure is a touchscreen device, while the Tilt 2 combines a tilting touchscreen with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. Both offer a user interface that gives access to voice, text or e-mail by viewing a single contact.

AT&Tsaid it will support the Windows Marketplace for Mobile for users to access applications from the Pure and Tilt 2, and users can even add their purchases from Windows Marketplace to their monthly AT&T billing statements.

The Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade, announced on Feb. 16, is designed to enhance ease-of-use, with touch-friendly interfaces and a Internet Explorer Mobile browser that supports Adobe Inc.'s Flash multimedia technology.

AT&T said the Tilt 2 is targeted at business professionals with its high resolution 3.6-inch diagonal display and a larger QWERTY keyboard for heavy e-mail use. It also includes a 3.2 megapixel camera.

The Pure is designed for one-hand use, with a 3.2-inch diagonal touchscreen. It comes with a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with video capture. Details on exact size and weight of the devices were not available.

Source: ComputerWorld

Apple Previews iPhone OS 3.0

Apple® today previewed its iPhone™ OS 3.0 software and announced the immediate availability of a beta software release to registered developers.

The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,000 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including In-App Purchases; Peer-to-Peer connections; an app interface for accessories; access to the iPod® music library; a new Maps API and Push Notifications. Apple also announced over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer including cut, copy and paste; MMS;* landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes; stereo Bluetooth; syncing Notes to the Mac® and PC; shake to shuffle; parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release will also include a new Voice Memo app and expanded search capability for all key iPhone apps, as well as Spotlight™ search across the iPhone or iPod touch.

TheIn-App Purchases will allow developers to offer subscription content and provide the ability to sell new content and features in a simple and secure process. Developers can also more easily create peer-to-peer games for iPhone and iPod touch by using Bluetooth.

Another key developer feature in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta software is the ability for apps to interface with hardware accessories, creating a whole new element of control for iPhone and iPod touch accessory developers as well as a new ecosystem of solutions for customers. Developers will also be able to use Apple’s new Maps API to integrate Google Mobile Maps services within their apps which will offer Google Map tiles, current location, custom annotations and geocoding. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software includes the Apple Push Notification service which provides developers with a mechanism to alert users with sounds, text or a badge.

The new iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer with over 100 new features including cut, copy and paste which can be done within or across applications; MMS to send and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the Messages app; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. Landscape view will be available for Mail, Text and Notes. Search capabilities will be expanded, allowing customers to search within Mail, iPod and Notes or search across all key apps by typing a key word or phrase into the new Spotlight search, conveniently accessed from the Home screen.

The updated Stock app will add the ability to display recent company news and current trading information like opening or average price, trading volume or Market Cap, and will offer a landscape view to see a full screen of any stock chart. Customers will also be able to view shared calendars right on their iPhone with CalDAV support and sync their calendars with iCal®, Yahoo, Google and Oracle.

Pricing & Availability
The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK will be available for registered developers to download starting today from developer.apple.com. iPhone customers will be able to download the new iPhone OS 3.0 software for free this summer and iPod touch customers will be able to purchase a software update for USD9.95.

Source: Apple

Analyst says Apple can sell as many as 10 million iPhone 5 in the first week

Apple is setting itself up for one of its best iPhone launch outings ever, and according to an analyst from Piper Jaffray, as many as 10 million iPhone 5s can fly off the shelves within the first week alone!

Recently, expectations for iPhone 5 first quarter sales were somewhere in the range of 22-23 million devices, but that number can bloom to around 30 million if what the analyst predicts hold true.

There will be an Apple press event on September 12 to announce something that’s “almost here.” So we will probably see soon enough whether or not the iPhone 5 will sell like grains during a famine.

If Apple’s track record means anything, then no one should really doubt that the iPhone 5 won’t have impressive sales within the first week. Last year, Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S in just the first three days!

Apple is already one of the world’s most valuable companies, and if everything goes well for the firm in the coming months (especially with the iPad mini looming in the background) then we may witness the birth of the first company ever to reach the trillion dollar market cap.

Apple Wins $1 Billion in Samsung Smartphone Case

Apple has won a jury verdict of more than $US1 billion against Samsung after a finding that Samsung infringed six of seven patents for mobile devices in the first lawsuit to go before a US jury in a fight for dominance of the global smartphone market.

The nine-member federal court jury rejected patent claims by Samsung and its request for damages and determined that all of Apple’s patents at stake in the trial were valid.Cupertino based Apple sued Samsung in April 2011, and Samsung countersued as part of a battle being waged on four continents over a smartphone market valued at $US219.1 billion according to Bloomberg Industries.The companies have also sued each other in the UK, Australia and South Korea.Questions over damages awards were among the more than 600 questions the jury was asked to address.Apple sought USD$2.5 billion to US$2.75 billion for its claims that Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung infringed four design patents and three software patents in copying the iPhone and iPad. Samsung’s demand for as much as US$421.8 million in royalties was based on claims that Apple infringed five patents.Apple had sought to make permanent a preliminary ban it won on US sales of a Samsung tablet computer and extend the ban to Samsung smartphones.Adam Yates, a US-based spokesman for Samsung, said the company would comment after it has fully reviewed the verdict.

Apple's iOS Subscription Policies Investigated

Apple announced its iOS App Store subscription service on the 15th of February. Almost immediately, there has been some violent criticisms from developers regarding the terms of the new service.

Under the terms, Apple will take a 30 percent share of the revenue. In addition, a "most favored nation" clause states that subscription rates offered to iOS app users will have to match rates offered through external channels.

This basically means that developers who want to tap on Apples dominance over the tablet market and iTunes global reach will have to pay a high price and are forbidden from passing this extra cost over to the consumers.

The Justice Department recently sued a Michigan health-insurance company, alleging that the company used similar clauses to block competitors. Apple is currently under preliminary investigations by the US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, the EU (European Union) is also "closely monitoring the situation".

The day after Apple announced the details of its in-app subscriptions, Google revealed a competing service called "One Pass" that will take just 10 percent of revenue. If this years Honeycomb lineup proves to be a hit, Apple might just live to regret offending its developers when they decide to offer their wares on Android instead.

Source: AppleInsider

ASUS Eee PC Seashell 1008HA

Taipei, Taiwan, April 30, 2009 – ASUS has taken one of nature’s most beautiful designs and combined it with the best of today’s innovations to provide users with the most stylishly functional Eee PC™ yet. Equipped with a 10-inch display, ergonomically designed keyboard, intelligent energy management system and an intuitive multi-touch touch-pad, the Eee PC™ Seashell aims to provide users with the best mobile computing experience, wherever their journeys take them.

Elegantly Beautiful Seashell-inspired Design
With a design inspired by a seashell, the Eee PC™ Seashell is enveloped in an opalescent glossy exterior that also serves as a protective shell providing scratch resistance for day-to-day durability. Like the light sprinkling of fine sand on the exterior of a seashell, the lid is graced with tiny reflective specks which glisten in the light, adding the crowning touches to an already exquisite design. Likened to prying open an oyster to reveal its treasure within, the subtly curved lid reveals a 10-inch LED-backlit WSVGA glare-type display and an ergonomically designed keyboard makes typing on-the-move a breeze.

Designed for Mobility and Long Computing Hours
Boasting a profile measuring just 1-inch in depth and weighing 1.1kg, the svelte and lightweight Eee PC™ Seashell’s compact dimensions make it the perfect runabout Internet device anywhere. It also packs 6-hour of battery life with a single charge, making it a truly perfect all-day entertainment companion.

SpecificationsDisplay10-inch LED-backlit WSVGA Screen (1024x600 pixels) with Color-Shine (Glare-type) Operating SystemGenuine Windows® XP™ Home
GNU LinuxProcessorIntel® Atom™ N280Default Memory1GB DDR2 SO-DIMM Hybrid Storage160GB 2.5” SATA II 5400RPM HDD + 10GB Eee StorageWireless Data NetworkWLAN 802.11b/g/n @2.4GHz, Bluetooth2.1 + EDRBattery Slimmer and eco-friendly Li-polymer Battery,approx. 6 hrsMulti-mediaCamera1.3-megapixelAudio CodecHi-Definition Audio CODECSpeakersStereo SpeakersBuilt-in MicDigital Array MicInterface1 x Mini VGA Connector, 2 x USB 2.0, 1 x LAN RJ-45, 2 x Audio Jack (Head Phone / Mic-in), Card Reader: MMC/ SD(SDHC)PhysicalDimensions262mm (W) x 178mm (D) x 18~25.7mm (H)Weight1.1kgColorsWhite, Black, Blue, Pink, Sapphire Blue, Ruby Red

Source: ASUS

Apple iPhone 5 rumored to have a 4-inch display

According to various news sources, Apple was said to be unveiling a lower priced iPhone Nano and that the rumored iPhone 5 may sport a 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display and powered by Cortex-A9-based A5 dual-core processor.

In fact, rumor of the larger screen size has existed for a few months now, with the first version being a 3.7-inch as compared to the iPhone 4s 3.5-inch display. The rumored news source came from the same parts manufacturer who recently claims that the iPhone 5 is likely to be a 4-inch screen instead.

With various phone manufacturers putting dual-core processor on their devices, Apple is going with the next-generation Cortex A5 dual-core processor. From iTunes code, Apple will incorporate Qualcomm chip in the iPhone 5 . It is likely to be Qualcomms new dual-mode 3G chip which supports CDMA/GSM dual-mode 3G network, or that the dual mode means 3G/4G network support.

Source: imobile.com.cn

Apple to release a 15-inch ultra-thin notebook soon

Apple may have made the headlines when it first introduced its ultrathin Macbook Air notebook for sale all over the world, but it seems that the Cupertino giant is all set to repeat that feat once again some time in the near future. Apparently, word has it that Apple is currently working onwhat is reportedly another ultrathin Mac notebook thatwill sport a 15-inch display, andthe company is already well into the "late testing stages" in the developement of such an notebook.

Details about the aforementioned ultra-thin 15-inch Mac notebook are scarce, but a report published by MacRumors has suggested that Apple may be planning to integrate the Macbook Airs design elements into the Macbook Pro lineup. This suggestion makes sense, considering how Apple has traditionally limitted the sale of laptops sporting displays equal to or larger than 15-inches to that of its professional notebook lineup. In addition, MacRumours is also claiming that the ultrathin 15-inch Mac notebook is most likely to lose the optical drive, while its storage capabilities are said to be provided by the mSATA SSDs which are currently used in the companys Macbook Air notebooks. Lastly, the new ultra-thin 15-inch Mac notebook has been speculated to be made available for sale "in time for Christmas" this year.

Source: MacRumors

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro Cooler

Swiss CPU cooler manufacturer ARCTIC COOLING launches the Freezer 64 Pro newwith PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) fan control. This new CPU cooler is compatibleto AM2 socket of AMD, which supports e.g. the dual core processors such asAthlon™ 64 FX-62 and Athlon™ 64 X2 5000+.

The Freezer 64 Pro with PWM fan control has beside a long lasting fluiddynamic bearing also 6 active heatpipes. Thanks to smart design and the highernumber of heatpipes this new model reach higher levels of cooling performanceand surpasses the stock cooler by far. Further the fan is suspended onto avibration dampened frame, allowing for a virtually silent fan. The copper madeheatpipes secure a swift heat absorption, which can be transferred optimallythrough the cooling fins. In addition high performance thermal compound had beenpreapplied to the copper base, so that the cooler is instantly ready for easyinstallation.

This cooler is both RoHS and WEEE conform. As all ARCTIC COOLING productsthis cooler assures a long lifetime and has a 6 year warranty. This model willbe available at official ARCTIC COOLING distributors by October 2006. The MSRPis USD 34.

AMD's next-gen GPU family codenamed Sea Islands

While Southern Islands is only just beginning to roll out, a recently ex-AMD ASIC designers Linkedin profile reveals the possible codename for AMDs next-gen GPU family - Sea Islands.

During his tenure as MTS Design Engineer at AMD, Alexander Shternshain worked on Evergreen and Northern Islands - branded HD 5000 and HD 6000 families, Fusion APUs - Ontario (C/E Series), Llano (A-Series) as well as Krishna, whose fate is unknown. The final two GPU families mentioned are Southern Islands - which we already have come to know as Radeon HD 7000 family - and the future family, Sea Islands.

Unlike the rather vague codenames of Northern Islands and Southern Islands, Sea Islands directly refers to the chain of islands on the USAs Atlantic coast. We can thus expect the individual chips from the family codenamed along the lines of the prominent islands in the region.

Sea Islands, if that is indeed the final codename, is still a long way away - possibly late 2012/early 2013 at the earliest - while the rumour mill is still digesting Southern Islands. We can expect AMD to build on the GCN architecture with Sea Islands as TSMCs 28nm process matures.

Source: Linkedin

ASRock UEFI BIOS Gets Web-Update Feature

AMI UEFI and its setup program SDK has thrown open a wave of innovation from motherboard vendors, trying to cram in every feature they can think of, into the system BIOS setup program. Some of the wackier ones are web-browsers and media-players, but perhaps a more sensible new one is a web-based BIOS update utility within the setup program, courtesy ASRock.

ASRocks newest UEFI BIOS setup program can update itself by downloading the latest BIOS ROM image from the web, if you can point it to a working Internet connection. Basic network/IP configuration, including PPPoE authentication can be made within the setup program. Once configured, the utility, called Internet Flash, looks up the latest version of the BIOS for your motherboard on the web, downloads it, and updates itself.

The new BIOS update method from ASRock beats every other solution in terms of ease of use. You no longer need to find the right BIOS ROM image from the Internet and copy it onto a USB flash drive, or need an OS installation (to use Windows-based utilities that perform web-update of system BIOS), or even use ancient command-line based update methods, in which one wrong command-line argument can brick your motherboard.

ASRocks new Internet Flash feature will come standard with upcoming products. Some currently-launched motherboards could get the feature with a BIOS update. Only this one time, youd have to update the "old" way (using a USB flash drive).

Source: Expreview

Atari game sells for $33,000

A few weeks back, Harv Bennet noticed a photo of an Atari blog of one of the rarest games for the console, Air Raid. Air Raid, the only game released by developer Men-A-Vision, had a very limited distribution, and thus often sells at auction for thousands of dollars. The photo Bennet saw was of the only known copy of the game to have both the cartridge and box intact. The game had sold for $30,000 dollars, and Bennet recalled that hed once owned a copy of the game.

This might as well have been made of solid gold

Bennet dug around in his attic, and then found his old copy; this one with box and cartridge, as well as instruction manual intact. This made his copy the only truly complete packaging of the game known in existence, and so, he put it up for auction. The price reached $17,000 dollars, but in the final moments of bidding, it skyrocketed. When bidding was over, Harv Bennet was $33,433 richer.

Bennet has stated that hell be using the cash to help fix up his daughters house. One cant help but wonder what games will be worth a similar fortune in the future.

Asus set to revamp its router line-up

With the mostly disappointing AMD news today, we figured wed post some more positive news, well, that is if you care at all about routers. Asus is getting ready to revamp its entire router product range and it seems like the company got really fond of its "Black Diamond" series design as were looking at no less than five new models based on the same overall design. The best news of it all is that Asus is finally ready to launch the RT-N66U dual band router, but the design has changed quite a bit since it was first shown way back at CES in January.

Asus first router in the Black Diamond series was the RT-N56U, although it has very recently been joined by the RT-N53 which is Asus second dual band router, although its a much more basic model with only 2x2 MIMO, no simultaneous dual band and no USB connectivity, although its about half the price of the RT-N56U and it keeps the Gigabit switch.

Starting at the bottom of the new models we have the RT-N10 LX which is a basic 802.11n single antenna 150Mbps router with a standard 10/100Mbps switch and a mere 4MB of flash and 16MB of RAM. Moving up a step we have the RT-N12 LX which gains 2x2 MIMO support which offers 300Mbps connectivity speeds, but is otherwise near identical in terms of functionality to the RT-N10 LX. Both of these models sit flat and have fixed external antennas unlike the other Black Diamond series routers.

Next up we have the RT-N15U and this model has a pair of PCB antennas and support for 300Mbps MIMO connectivity. It also has a Gigabit switch, a Gigabit WAN port and a single USB port (although some specs weve seen is suggesting it might have two) that supports storage devices and printers. It also sports a built in FTP server and supports UPnP AV. The RT-N15U will likely replace the current RT-N16 over time.

Finally the top of the line model is the highly anticipated RT-N66U which initially was thought to be an Asus R.O.G. branded router, but now thats expected to be the rumoured RT-N76U. The RT-N66U is a simultaneous dual band router with Gigabit speed for the WAN and LAN ports, three detachable antennas that are used for both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and Wi-Fi speeds of up to 450Mbps on both bands. It also sports two USB 2.0 ports which can be used with storage devices and printers. The router sports a new UI which we sadly dont have a high enough resolution picture of to post, but the general layout and design is similar to that of Asus UEFI. Theres of course support for FTP server, UPnP AV and various other features. The RT-N66U should be based on a 600MHz SoC paired up with 32MB of Flash and 1GB of DDR2 memory if initial specs prove to be correct.

In addition to the new routers, Asus is also launching the USB-N53, a dual band USB dongle with 2x2 MIMO antennas for speeds of up to 300Mbps and its been designed to go with the Black Diamond series of routers. Asus has started to make some pretty impressive network kit and our only reservation about Asus Wi-Fi products is the comparatively high price of some of its products, such as the RT-N56U which is still one of the more expensive consumer routers out there. Sadly we dont know what the new models will cost, but were expecting that the RT-N66U will be even pricier than the RT-N56U.

Update: Do note that the specs of the RT-N66U were based on what was said back in January when the unit was demoed at CES, its likely that itll come with 256MB of RAM, but we dont know the actual specifications, so well just have to wait and see when it launches.

ATi Push For Stream Computing

Today ATI (TSX:ATY)(NASDAQ:ATYT) announced that it is pioneering a newtechnology known as Stream Computing, that has the potential to dramaticallyimpact almost every sector of the market. Along with leading companies andacademic institutions worldwide, ATI is working to build a stream computingecosystem, one that delivers the performance, applications, software and toolsnecessary to turn ATI's vision into reality.

Stream computing allows ATI graphics processors (GPUs) to work in concert withtoday's high-performance, low-latency computer processors (CPUs) to solvecomplex computational problems. Using stream computing, in simulations todayprocessing of risk assessment models similar to those used by financialinstitutions' were completed 16 times faster than traditional methods(1), oiland gas companies are seeing seismic model processing increased by more than 20times(1), and Stanford University is seeing disease research accelerated by asmuch as 40 times, giving them the ability to process three years worth ofresearch data in just one month(2).

Stream computing makes use of ATI's sophisticated graphics processors (GPUs)that have until now, been used solely to calculate and render millions of pixelsonto computer monitors, hundreds of times each second. Stream computingharnesses that tremendous processing power for a wide range of scientific,business and consumer computing applications, providing organizations theability to process incredible amounts of information in significantly less time.

"ATI processors are some of the most technologically advanced computingarchitectures on the planet," said Dave Orton, president and CEO, ATITechnologies Inc. "They were designed with more than just graphics in mind, andtoday we're seeing the initial fruits of those labors with the introduction ofour stream computing initiatives. Fortune 1000 companies, leading softwaredevelopers, and academic institutions are demonstrating today that streamcomputing is they key to tremendous performance in a number of applications.Today's announcement is part of our vision of becoming a processing powerhousein the months and years to come - we're beginning to build the stream computingplatform today."

"Stream computing is a great representation of the vision of AMD's Torrenzaplatform strategy - bringing the unique capabilities of two heterogeneousprocessing solutions together to solve complex problem sets and change thegame," said Marty Seyer, senior vice president, Commercial Segment, AMD."Combining AMD64 with stream computing from ATI to address specific applicationworkloads will open up new innovation possibilities in markets such ashigh-performance computing environments. Torrenza-based technologies have thepotential to enable information to flow seamlessly between them in order tosolve problems in the most cost-effective and timely manner. We see thepotential over time for these two processing elements to become even moretightly coupled."

"The raw computational power of these DirectX-based processors is incredible andharnessing those capabilities for general purpose applications makes a lot ofsense," said Dean Lester, general manager of the Graphics Platforms Unit,Microsoft Corp. "Stream computing has the potential to positively impact howorganizations analyze data by improving the accuracy and efficiency with whichcritical business decisions are made, as well as enhancing the overall consumerexperience by enabling compelling, high-fidelity environments to gamers today.Microsoft is working closely with ATI towards a future where all of ourcustomers can experience the benefits that stream computing has to offer."

"The combined power of ATI processors and Havok FX enables physical realism onlydreamed of by today's game designers," said Jeff Yates, vice president, productmanagement, Havok. "Realistic physics is the future of videogames and togetherwe're making it possible. Just as real-time lighting and shadows are standard intoday's games, there will come a time when no game is without this level ofimmersive, true-to-life physics."

ATI's high-end processor today makes use of 48 compute cores that results in anorder of magnitude processing speed-up. In certain applications(3), ATIprocessors perform up to 40 times faster than competing processors. Theaccelerated processing associated with stream computing has implications for anumber of fields now and in the future, as the ecosystem around stream computingmatures:

Scientific research - Today ATI's stream computing efforts are helping to savelives by driving life sciences to produce results faster in areas such asdisease research, giving organizations the option to do more granular studies inthe same amount of time as in the past(4). ATI announced today that StanfordUniversity will make available a new distributed computing application thattakes advantage of ATI processors for disease research. In the future, climateresearch may also benefit from stream computing as analysis of large data setsfor storm and hurricane forecasting can be done faster or in more detail,potentially resulting in the issuing of warnings longer in advance of severeweather, and ultimately a better understanding of the world's climate.

Homeland security - Communications analysis and facial recognition can bedrastically improved using stream computing, with implications for airportsecurity, as well as photograph and video analysis.

Financial forecasting - Major institutions have been using server farms to dorisk assessment using Monte Carlo simulations, and for derivatives pricing usingmodels like Black-Scholes. Simulations conducted by PeakStream, Inc. using ATIhardware shows that stream computing can provide these companies with moredetailed answers in significantly less time, letting them make the businessdecisions they need to faster, and giving them a leg up on their competition.

Oil and gas - Companies are using stream computing to analyze more data inshorter periods of time to more quickly and reliably discover where resourceslie, speeding discoveries of crude oil deposits. ATI graphic processors inconcert with PeakStream's software platform are allowing oil and gas companiesto achieve significantly faster seismic data modeling.

Database searching - For search companies with incredibly large databases toorganize and sort through, stream computing may offer a compelling business caseproviding increased processing power in less space.

Consumer applications - Software used by millions of people around the world,such as operating systems, office applications, and graphics applications, canbenefit from stream computing. Any graphics-laden software that requires heavyprocessing can be accelerated.

Videogames - An area where ATI processors are already heavily used for graphicspurposes, working with Havok, premier provider of software and services tointeractive digital media creators, stream computing is resulting in life-likemodeling of hair, cloth, smoke, liquid, and the physics behind them, givinggamers the most immersive experience possible.

Other areas that stream computing has the potential to impact in the futureinclude enterprise software, product design and manufacturing, and digital mediaencoding among others.

With this new opportunity, ATI is also announcing a specific focus on enterprisestream computing in an effort to drive commercial adoption of stream computingwith the help of its partners. For more information on ATI's stream computinginitiatives, please see related company announcements made today on the topicsof enterprise stream computing, and Stanford University's Folding@home program.

Company of Heroes 2 en vidéo

THQ et Relic continuent sur leur lancée dans la campagne de communication de Company of Heroes 2.

Aujourd'hui, c'est une vidéo dédiée au multijoueur du jeu que l'on découvre. Les séquences de bataille ne manquent pas et l'on assiste à des combats dantesques au cours desquels Allemands et Russes s'écharpent sans pitié. C'est l'occasion de zoomer sur plusieurs unités, aussi bien d'infanterie que blindées, ainsi que sur leur rôle dans les échauffourées.

Company of Heroes 2 devrait sortir en mars 2013, exclusivement sur PC.



· Forum Company of Heroes 2

2012-12-21-515

Adult industry seeks profit in 3D printing

I have been a proponent of 3D printing since its first mention in tech blogs and have said on more than one occasion that the popularization of 3D printing will bring about a fundamental change in our society, but when I said that I definitely wasnt thinking in the same direction as Tom Nardoneof MakerLove.

The engineer turned sex toy salesman is just about making any old type of sex toys either. For him his 3D printed sex toys is a combination art and science along with technology and pleasure.

As anyone who has been involved with technology for a long time will tell you, sex has been a major influence in the popularization of technology most notably with the popularity of VCRs (and online porn), so it should come as no surprise that someone would see what a 3D printer can do and immediately start thing about things like sex toys.

However Nardonewill be the first to tell you that it is still early days with things like 3D printed sex toys, mostly due to the materials currently used in the process of printing something out as well as the difficulty in getting a smooth finished product.

There are technical hurdles, too. Right, now most 3D printers print objects at resolutions far too rough to be used comfortably in intimate areas. “There’s a bit of a texture to them,” MakerLove’s Nardone confesses.

Also, sex toys printed from material known as polyvinyl alcohol are water-soluble, which automatically rules them out for use with any water-basedlubricant. While the solution to that is simply to print othermaterials that still doesn’t solve the whole texture issue.

Nardone, however, is largely unconcerned. “The resolution will improve with time. 3D printing is just like any other technology,” he said.

Some of the more popular and affordable 3D printers are the MakerBot line of 3D printers. In its second revision, the MakerBot Replicator 2 boasts not only a default layer height of 100 microns, but also ease of use. The Replicator 2 is driven by a desktop application called MakerWare, and third party extensions such as CAD files may also be used as an input. Affordable as it may be, the Replicator 2 runs for a cool $2,199.00.

via VentureBeat