sexta-feira, 29 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Nvidia 55nm Parts Are Bad Too

URL:
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/378213360/article.pl
JagsLive sends in a story (in somewhat inflammatory prose) from The
Inquirer, which links to many others; they have been following
developments in the alleged NVidia quality "fiasco" for some time. "Hot
on the heels of its denials that anything is wrong with the G92 and
G94s comes another PCN [Product Change Notification] that shows the
G92s and G92b are being changed for no reason. Yup, the problems that
are plaguing G84 and G86 are the same that affect seemingly all 65nm
and now 55nm NVidia parts... It is hard to overstate how bad this is.
Basically every 65nm and 55nm NVidia part appears to be defective... We
are hearing of early failure rates in the teens percent for 8800GTs and
far higher for 9600GTs... To make matters worse, NVidia has a mound of
unsold defective parts that they are going to bleed out into the
channel along side of the (hopefully) fixed parts. As a buyer, you have
no way of knowing which one you are getting... Until NVidia comes fully
clean on this fiasco, lists all the defective parts, and orders boxes
clearly marked, you can't say anything other than just avoid them. Then
again, since doing the right thing would likely bankrupt them, we
wouldn't hold your breath for it to happen."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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quinta-feira, 28 de agosto de 2008

Fw: AMD to Start Transition to New Platform Form-Factor in March, 2009

URL:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20080828133738_AMD_to_Start_Transition_to_New_Platform_Form_Factor_in_March_2009.html
AMD to Ship First AM3 Processors in March, 2009

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Fw: Rumours About Abit's Exiting from Mainboard Business Resurrect

URL:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20080828081502_Rumours_About_Abit_s_Exiting_from_Mainboard_Business_Resurrect.html
Abit to Stop Making Mainboards by Year End - Rumours

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Fw: Philips' 8mm thin 32-inch LCD turns the screws on Sony

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/377150585/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

This morning you saw what a 9.9-mm thin LCD from Sony looks like. Now
it's Philips' turn to drop jaw. Albeit just a concept compared to
Sony's ZX1, this 8-mm thin, 32-inch LCD with LED backlighting is done
with the engineering and now waits for the suits to bring it to market.
Two thin strips of Philips' own LumiLEDs -- 30 on top and 30 on the
bottom -- are the secret sauce to this thin, Full HD mixture. According
to Philips' "Senior Scientist," Dr. Giovanni Cennini, this 8-mm design
will scale to panel sizes of 42-inches and probably higher. Better yet,
these are the same panels Philips already uses, no extra tweaking
required. So it's your move corporate, we're all waiting.

Gallery: Philips' 8mm thin LCD turns the screws on Sony
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Fw: AMD's First 45nm Desktop Microprocessors Set to Arrive on the 8th of January, 2009

URL:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20080828043213_AMD_s_First_45nm_Desktop_Microprocessors_Set_to_Arrive_on_the_8th_of_January_2009.html
AMD Phenom X4 45nm Expected to Hit Higher Clock-Speeds

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Fw: Sony unveils world's thinnest LCD HDTV - 9.9mm KDL-40ZX1

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/376842160/

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Sony's taken the crown in the race for thinnest LCD HDTV. At just 9.9mm
thick the KDL-40ZX1 nearly halves the depth of Hitachi's former champ
(likely throwing up in the bathroom right now) and comes within a
whisper of Pioneer's ultra thin concept. Featuring a LED backlighting,
a 3,000:1 contrast ratio, 120Hz MotionFlow tech, x.v.Color and BRAVIA
Engine 2 image processing this is about as close to a 40-inch window on
your wall as is likely to arrive soon. Only one HDMI in is directly on
the screen itself, all unnecessary HDMI / USB / component inputs are
relegated to a base station, with the option for wired or -- possibly
WHDI based? -- 5Ghz wireless (unfortunately limited to 1080i max
resolution for now). We'd mention the XMB GUI, AcTVila video on-demand
and DLNA support, but at some point it's just piling on. A mere 490,000
yen ($4,474 U.S.) puts the ZX1 on your wall, due at your local Japanese
retailer November 10. See you there?

[Via AV Watch]
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domingo, 24 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Nvidia Claims Intel's Larrabee Is "a GPU From 2006"

URL:
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/373422266/article.pl
Barence sends this excerpt from PC Pro: "Nvidia has delivered a
scathing criticism of Intel's Larrabee, dismissing the multi-core
CPU/GPU as wishful thinking — while admitting it needs to catch up with
AMD's current Radeon graphics cards. 'Intel is not a stupid company,'
conceded John Mottram, chief architect for the company's GT200 core.
'They've put a lot of people behind this, so clearly they believe it's
viable. But the products on our roadmap are competitive to this thing
as they've painted it. And the reality is going to fall short of the
optimistic way they've painted it. As [blogger and CPU architect] Peter
Glaskowsky said, the "large" Larrabee in 2010 will have roughly the
same performance as a 2006 GPU from Nvidia or ATI.' Speaking ahead of
the opening of the annual NVISION expo on Monday, he also admitted
Nvidia 'underestimated ATI with respect to their product.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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quarta-feira, 20 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Intel Nehalem processor gets "turbo mode," blinking red lights

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/370159968/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops
Well, one of the two at least. As Extreme Tech reports, Intel let out
word of the hereto "turbo mode" for its Nehalem Core i7 processors at
its big Intel Developer Forum this week, with it describing it as an
"entirely new process technology for power." More specifically, the
mode, or so-called "power gate," turns off cores that would otherwise
be left idle when they're not in use, and reroutes the power budget
that normally would be applied to those cores to the active cores,
which promises to further boost their performance without wasting
power. According to Intel, that'll be a standard feature across the
entire Nehalem family, including the first mobile versions of the
processor that'll be at the center of the Calpella platform, which is
on track for a launch sometime next year.

[Via PC Magazine]
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Fw: NVIDIA to announce an x86-compatible chip next week?

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/370193648/

Filed under: Misc. GadgetsNVIDIA might be on a big GPUs-as-CPUs kick
right now, but rumors of the company developing a straight-up
x86-compatible CPU are as old as the hills, and it looks like they're
back for another round. This time it's the Inquirer doing the
mongering, with whispers of a release at Nvision next week -- we've got
to say that we doubt it, especially given how much trash NVIDIA's
talked about Intel and Intel CPUs recently, but we'll certainly be
watching this one. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Fw: Intel Unveils Desktop Motherboard for Nettops

URL:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20080819193707_Intel_Unveils_Desktop_Motherboard_for_Nettops.html
Dual-Core Intel Atom 330 Arrived

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Fw: SATA Revision 3.0 specification to double transfer speeds to 6Gbps

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/368976994/

Filed under: PeripheralsWhile not the most mesmerizing news to flow
from 2008's Intel Developer Forum, this is a welcome piece for anyone
who appreciates hasty transfers. The Serial ATA International
Organization (SATA-IO) has announced that the partially complete SATA
Revision 3.0 specification will eventually double data transfer rates
to 6Gbps. This week's release gives the green light to developers to
begin designing products based on said tech, though the finalized
paperwork won't be ready until later this year. On a related note, the
same consortium has announced the formal launch of its certified logo
program, which will enable consumers to easily recognize when a product
has passed SATA-IO interoperability testing and is a bona fide SATA
6Gb/sec-enabled device. Enough chatter -- wares, please?

[Via SmallNetBuilder]

Read - SATA 3.0 specification
Read - SATA-IO certification logo
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domingo, 17 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Western Digital Working On a 20,000 RPM Drive

URL:
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/366988874/article.pl
MrKaos writes "Western Digital seems to be preparing for the onslaught
of solid-state drives set to impact its market by developing a 20,000
rpm hard drive. Similar to the VelociRaptor line of drives, the new
drives are speculated to be offering lower capacity as a tradeoff for
faster seek and write times." This report out of Taipei is the only
word on the rumored WD 20K drive. It's said to be a 2.5" drive in a
3.5" enclosure, for efficiency of cooling — the arrangement the
Register enjoyed poking fun at when the 10K drive was upgraded last
month.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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terça-feira, 12 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Mouse sujo representa mais perigo à saúde que corrimão de ônibus

URL:
http://redir.folha.com.br/redir/online/folha/informatica/rss091/*http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/informatica/ult124u432160.shtml
Se você é daqueles que não vêem a hora de sair do ônibus para lavar as
mãos com medo de ser contaminado, perfeito, sua saúde agradece. Agora,
se você não faz o mesmo após passar o dia inteiro usando um mouse,
talvez seja hora de ver este periférico com outros olhos. É o que diz o
biomédico Roberto Martins Figueiredo, mais conhecido como o Dr.
Bactéria, protagonista de um quadro homônimo no "Fantástico" (Globo),
onde revela os utensílios e hábitos comuns no nosso dia-a-dia que podem
trazer riscos à saúde. Numa lista dos itens mais perigosos apontados
pelo doutor, o mouse está à frente do corrimão de ônibus e do próprio
teclado de computador. Lideram o ranking carrinho de supermercado e
celular. Catherine Benson/Reuters Mouse completa 40 anos; confira
página especial sobre a data na Folha Online

Leia mais (12/08/2008 - 10h32)

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Fw: NVIDIA G92 and G94 GPUs failing too?

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/363114851/

Filed under: Desktops, LaptopsAs if the whole defective NVIDIA GPU
situation couldn't get any more confusing, The Inquirer is now
reporting that the previous batch of bad GPUs may be far from the end
of NVIDIA's problems. Apparently, four unspecified board partners are
now saying that they're seeing G92 and G94 chips going bad at "high
rates" as well, and in both desktop and laptop cards no less. That
includes 8800GT, 8800GTS, 8800GS graphics cards, "several mobile
flavors" of the 8800, "most" of the 9800 suffixes, and a few 9600
variants, all of which are based on the G92. As for the G94, it seems
the only card affected is the 9600GT. Of course, none of this is nearly
as set in stone as the previous lot of problems, but we have a sneaking
suspicion this won't be last we hear about it. Read | Permalink | Email
this | Comments

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segunda-feira, 11 de agosto de 2008

Fw: LG's planet-saving W2252TE LCD tested

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/362353941/

Filed under: Displays

Here's the fact: LG's claims of significant power savings with the
W2252TE 22-inch LCD are no lie. As it turns out, the monitor sips even
less juice than LG claimed, a mere 19.4 watts -- less than half of its
Dell and Acer counterparts. The folks at SmartPlanet also found the
display to perform "above average," and pack all the relevant features
you'd expect on a modern LCD. LG doesn't win any green points for its
completely traditional plastic and non-recycled cardboard packaging,
and since there's no word on price yet, we're just going to have to
assume the W2252TE will carry a price premium relative to its power
saving prowess, but maybe that's just us being pessimistic. It should
be hitting shelves next month. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Fw: VIA Quits Motherboard Chipset Business

URL:
http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/361942698/article.pl
arcticstoat writes "Following the media hit that was VIA's Nano
processor, VIA says that it's now quitting the motherboard chipset
business that used to be its bread and butter product for years. VIA's
vice president of corporate marketing in Taiwan, Richard Brown,
explained that: 'Intel provides the vast majority of chipsets for its
processors and, following its purchase of ATI, AMD is also moving very
quickly in the same direction.' VIA will still be developing chipsets
for integrated motherboards featuring the Nano CPU, but will no longer
produce chipsets for Intel and AMD CPUs. Was this the right decision,
and where does this leave other third-party chipset manufacturers such
as SiS?" Seems like this is a tough business to stick around in.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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quinta-feira, 7 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Western Digital VelociRaptor

URL:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/behardware/com/articles/~3/358579975/western-digital-velociraptor.html
With the VelociRaptor, Western is offering its 4th generation of 10.000
rpm SATA drives. How does it fare compared to its predecessors as well
as the 640 GB Samsung and Western?


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Fw: OCZ Proposes to Install 8GB, 16GB Memory into Desktop PC

URL:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory/display/20080806231422_OCZ_Proposes_to_Install_8GB_16GB_Memory_into_Desktop_PC.html
OCZ Unveils 8GB and 16GB Memory Kits for Intel P45-Based Desktops

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Fw: ASUS launches Eee Storage, takes your Eee PC to the cloud... kind of

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/358407439/

Filed under: Laptops, Storage

Apparently Jerry Shen and the homegirls / boys at ASUS want to get a
slice of that sweet cloud pie. According to a report, the
computer-maker has launched a service called Eee Storage, which
provides 20GB of online storage for Eee PC users, as well as access to
downloads of around 3,000 pieces of free software and games. The
company hopes to expand the service -- which uses a drag and drop
interface for file management -- into a full blown "store" where users
can download music and "various other content." In the picture above
you can see Jerry demonstrating the service to a group of bemused high
school reporters. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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Fw: ASUS Eee PC "Ultimate" S101 revealed, and it's brown

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/358185476/

Filed under: Laptops

We've already seen the S101 Ultimate Eee PC at the top of ASUS' Eee PC
pyramid of implosion. ASUS' prez, Jerry Shen, told us earlier to expect
the Atom-based netbooks to ship with a 32GB SSD, 10.2-inch, 16:9 aspect
LED backlit display and battery life of about 4-5 hours. Today in
Taiwan, he personally revealed the S101 prototype (pictured above next
to the Eee PC 901), and it's brown (at least for now) and it's sporting
the Eee logo as you'd expect. Interestingly, ASUS has apparently
decided to ditch the Eee branding on the S101 when it goes production
in mid-September to keep it distinct from the low-cost ultra-portable
branding that the Eee PC name is (or at least was) synonymous with -- a
move we wholeheartedly support. The S101 will measure in at a tapering
16 ~ 21-mm and weigh less than 1KG. Seems Jerry re-enacted the ol'
MacBook Air (4 ~ 19.4-mm thick) trick and pulled the S101 from an
envelop to demonstrate its thinness. Played carny tricks aside, the
S101 features the same 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor and 945GME chipset
found in current gen Eees with prices to range from $699 for the 32GB
SSD model on up to $899 for a 40GB SSD (and possibly more).
Interesting, to say the least.

Update: We're hearing that the $899 model actually carries a 64GB SSD
-- could be if it's that $313 cheap-o from Buffalo.

[Via iTechNews]
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terça-feira, 5 de agosto de 2008

Fw: Pioneer finds 20-layer 500GB Blu-ray Disc "feasible"

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/356561844/

Filed under: HDTV, StorageNow here's a rate of progress we could get
used to. Nary a month after Pioneer trumpeted a 400GB Blu-ray Disc, out
pops another press release from the firm boasting about a 500 gigger
with a score of layers. Based on research at its Tokyo headquarters,
specifications have been drafted for an incredibly capacious 500GB BD.
Granted, this very company already had plans for a 500GB optical disc
nearly four years ago, but there's no time like the present to make
this stuff a reality, right?

[Via TrustedReviews, thanks xdragon]
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segunda-feira, 4 de agosto de 2008

Fw: VIA Nano whoops Intel's Atom (again) on video

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/355203149/

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

Do you cheer for the underdog? Would you love to see VIA unseat Intel
in the battle for the hearts and minds of netbook market share just
because Intel's, well, Intel? Good, then you'll love this highly
emotive video produced by VIA showing its meager 1.3GHz Nano processor
kicking Intel's 1.6GHz Atom to the curb in a 1080p HD video test. We'd
be more suspect of the results had we not already seen VIA clean
Intel's house in the head-to-head benchmarks. Now pull up a seat
ringside and get ready to sputter along with the Atom-based netbook --
video after the break.

[Via UMPC Portal]

Continue reading VIA Nano whoops Intel's Atom (again) on video
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Fw: ASUS Eee PC 900A specs leak out, reason for existence still a mystery

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/355113691/

Filed under: Laptops

We're not even going to pretend to know what's going on with whoever's
in charge of approving Eee models at ASUS, but maybe they just like
rubber-stamping things, because that's really the only thing that
explains the Eee 900A. The newest member of the overflowing Eee family,
the 900A continues the mix-and-match product development trend -- it's
basically a 901 in the case of 900, but with a crappier webcam (.3
megapixels) and no Bluetooth. Yep, same 1.6GHz Atom proc, 1GB of RAM
and 8 or 16GB SSD as the 901, just in the case of the 900. Why would
anyone want to spend €299 ($465) on this? Totally unclear -- just like
the entire Eee PC lineup.

[Via jkkmobile]
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sexta-feira, 1 de agosto de 2008

Fw: NVIDIA dropping 790i mobo, quitting chipset business?

URL: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/352801798/

Filed under: Misc. GadgetsWe don't take much stock in Digitimes rumors,
but the negative chatter about NVIDIA just keeps getting louder -- in
addition to that nasty defective GPU situation, word is that problems
with the nForce line might lead the company to exit the chipset
business entirely. According the Inquirer, mobos based on the high-end
790i line have already been pulled by several manufacturers, including
Foxconn and Gigabyte, and apparently NVIDIA is asking motherboard
makers if it should stay in the chipset game at all and getting
lukewarm reactions. Of course, NVIDIA was talking about taking Intel
head-on just a few short months ago, so it would be backing down pretty
hard if it went back to just making GPUs -- not to mention that SLI
would essentially die without mobo support and platform initiatives
like Tegra would lose tons of momentum. We seriously doubt that the
situation is that dire, but right now NVIDIA needs to come out and take
control of this mess -- where are all the trash-talking execs now?

Update: NVIDIA says the rumors are groundless and that its chipset
business is as "strong as it ever has been," and that the 790i chipset
is still being made. That's that, we suppose -- but until NVIDIA comes
right out and explains what's going on, these types of rumors aren't
going away.

Read - Inquirer report on 790i chips being discontinued
Read - Digitimes report on chipset rumors
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