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Samsung SPH-P9200 UMPC Details Surface
2007-10-11 14:55:00
Samsung SPH-P9200 details surface boasting great connectivity options Information on Samsung?s latest Ultra Mobile PC is surfacing today: the SPH-P9200. This device uses a folding keyboard that gives the device what appears to be a nearly full-size QWERTY keyboard. Specifications for the SPH-P9200 reported by SlashGear show that it will feature a VIA C7-M processor, 512MB of RAM and a 30GB hard drive. The operating system is Windows XP Home, the standard battery is a 20Whr battery good for up to 2.5 hours of runtime and the extended battery will provide up to 5 hours of work time. A 1.3-megapixel camera is built-in as well. Perhaps the best feature of the device is the multiple connectivity options that include WiFi, WiBro and HSDPA. Samsung also included a SIM card slot, a 15-pin accessory port assumed by SlashGear to be for accessories like headsets or dongles and a port replicator. The screen is a 5-inch 800x480 display that reportedly can do higher resolution...
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Intel Finally Hits Launch Date for X38 Express Chipset
2007-10-11 14:52:00
Intel launches X38 Express chipset with ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte mainboards ready Intel today launched its X38 Express chipset, which DailyTech has been covering for a while now. The chipset was previously known by its codename, Bearlake, and first surfaced last year.In October 2006 DailyTech broke the news that Intel would release six versions of its Bearlake chipset and that one of those six versions, the Bearlake-X, would be the X38 Express.The story behind the Intel X38 Express has been one of numerous missed launch dates. At first, it seemed that X38 would launch in time for Computex Taipei in June. Intel then set an official launch date of September 23 for the chipset. That launch date, however, was pushed back yet again. Engineers at the time cited problems with vendor microcode support as major contributors to Intel's decision to slide the date back even further. The launch date for the X38 Express chipset was then changed to October 10th, and today Intel was fi...
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HDTVs and Laptops Most Desired Tech Gifts for Holiday 2007
2007-10-11 14:48:00
Men and women want high-definition televisions for their holiday gift Tech gadgets are increasingly becoming hot coveted items, as found by a Solutions Research Group. More than three-quarters of the 1,200 American men and women surveyed had at least one digital lifestyle products on their holiday season wish lists.By far the most popular item on everyone?s tech list is a flat-screen high-definition television, making up 35 percent of mentions in the subgroup. Interestingly enough, those very same that put HDTVs on their lists may not use the technology to its full potential. Only 6 percent listed Blu-ray Disc or HD DVD players and only 2 percent intended to get HD boxes from their cable or satellite company.Some of those HDTVs, however, maybe used for high-definition gaming. For men?s top 10 lists, the PlayStation 3 led all consoles at sixth spot, with both Xbox 360 and Wii taking ninth and tenth, respectively. When considering women?s wishlists, the Wii was the only gam...
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MSI Announces First AMD RD790 Board
2007-10-10 10:35:00
MSI announces its first RD790-based board MSI today announced its K9A2 Platinum Motherboard based on AMD?s RD790 chipset, officially dubbed the 790FX. The 790FX serves as AMD?s primary single and dual-processor platform and replaces AMD?s antiquated 580X chipset. The new MSI board comes with support for a host of new features, including support for AMD quad-core processors and Crossfire X.The K9A2 Platinum supports all AM2+ processors, which means it will work with AMD?s upcoming Phenom quad-core, tri-core and dual-core desktop processors. Existing AM2 processors are also supported by the newest board BIOS.The 790FX also brings 41 PCIe 2.0 lanes to AMD?s AM2+ platform, allowing manufacturers flexibility in the number of PCIe slots integrated on the board. The K9A2 comes with four PCIe 2.0 x16 slots and supports AMD?s Triple-Play Technology. In addition, MSI goes a step further by offering Quad Crossfire capability on the mainboard.As of right now, AMD has not officially launc...
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Clash of the Sub-titans: AMD and NVIDIA's Next GPU Offerings
2007-10-10 10:32:00
Next-generation GPUs are the fastest things on the planet -- if they were released a year ago Traditionally the Fall graphics refresh has been the battle of the titans -- ATI and NVIDIA both would debut behemoth video cards in an attempt to snag the headlines from one another.Much of that changed when AMD acquired ATI last year. Not only did ATI miss the Radeon HD 2900 launch window by almost six months, but NVIDIA's high-end GeForce 8800 became the undisputed ultra-high-end GPU as well.This Fall, we will not get an ultra-high-end replacement from AMD or NVIDIA. Instead, November will be a clash of the sub-titans. NVIDIA's mid-range G92 will go head-to-head with ATI's RV670.ATI's RV670 has been called many things in the past. It was originally a 65 nanometer die-shrink of the R600 class GPU; then a 55 nanometer shrink. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Asia's largest core-logic foundry, confirmed AMD would go with a 55nm R600 shrink in a memo forwarded to Dai...
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Apple Acknowledges iMac Freeze Issue
2007-10-10 10:30:00
Apple admits a problem is causing some iMac computers to freeze and require hard reboot Apple launched updated iMac computers in August to lots of praise and fanfare. Recently some iMac owners tell Apple that their iMacs are freezing and require a hard reboot to resume normal operation. AppleInsider reports that its iMac review unit from Apple operated as expected until the 1.1 update, and then began to experience the lockup issues reported by forum users. The problem appears to be related to the ATI Radeon HD graphics card and its required driver. Apple has made no official statement on the cause of the freeze issue and has only stated that a repair for the issue is coming. AppleInsider also reports that some users of the new iMac have been able to fix the freeze issue by simply uninstalling the graphics drivers and reinstalling drivers of a previous version. The report states that fix did not work as expected, and many users on Apple's offi...
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Ceramic White PlayStation 3 With DualShock 3 Set For Japan
2007-10-10 10:28:00
PlayStation 3 dreaming of a Ceramic White Christmas Sony Computer Entertainment Europe ended weeks of speculation with its announcement of the 40GB PlayStation 3, landing in the region starting October 10. While the new model has yet to be confirmed for North America, Japan will receive the 40GB PlayStation 3 on November 11 with what appears to be an exclusive color. The Japanese market will see the new 40GB PlayStation 3 in both ?Clear Black? and ?Ceramic White? colors next month for 39,980 yen ($341). The white PlayStation 3 marks the first official color variation of the console, though professionally painted have appeared in the custom market in white, silver and red. In another bit of good news for Japan, the new 40GB PS3 units will come packaged with a matching DualShock 3 controller instead of the SIXAXIS. The European 40GB PS3 will ship with the SIXAXIS controller, as the DualShock 3 isn?t expected outside of Japan until spring 2008. Confirming another piece...
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Microsoft Confirms Free Games for Xbox 360 "Holiday" Consoles
2007-10-10 10:21:00
Microsoft to include Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance with the Xbox 360 Premium, Elite Microsoft today confirmed what has been rumored on the Internet for a few weeks with regards to its Xbox 360 console. The Redmond giant will include Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance with its Xbox 360 Premium and Xbox 360 Elite consoles. News of the two bundled games first leaked to the web via Best Buy's online website -- the store later took the product pages down (likely after being contacted by Microsoft). Bundled games are nothing new and retailers often bundle free games with new consoles during special promotions. When the Xbox 360 price cuts went into effect over the summer, Circuit City offered Rockstar Table Tennis for free with the Xbox 360 Premium. This move, however, marks the first time that Microsoft itself has officially included two high profile games with its console. The holiday season should prove to be quite fulfilling for poten...
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Verizon Hopes to "Kill the iPhone" With Voyager
2007-10-09 15:24:00
Verizon's murderous thoughts toward the iPhone are manifest in its shiny, faster Voyager phone Verizon's new LG made Voyager, unveiled on Wednesday, is just in time for the holiday season. The new phone is going up against Apple?s popular iPhone and carries with plenty of ammunition for a full-on assault of Cupertino?s best.This "iPhone killer" features a strikingly similar design to the iPhone, but it has something that the iPhone doesn't: a faster network. The LG Voyager also hinges open to feature a full keypad and a smaller screen, for users who dislike the iPhone's tactile keypad. Other features include full Internet browsing, V CAST Video and Music access, 2MP digital camera and support for .mp3, .wma and unprotected .aac files."We think it'll be the best phone ... this year. It will kill the iPhone," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer Mike Lanman said in an interview.Analyst Avi Greengart thinks this homicidal claim is a bit outlandish. He thinks ...
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Update: Microsoft Releases New Reliability Update for Windows Vista, XP SP3
2007-10-09 15:16:00
Microsoft releases KB941649 hotfix which "improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista " When people talk about Windows Vista these days, two things often come to mind: the perceived inferiority to the six-year-old Windows XP operating system (which also just happened to get a new lease on life) and what Service Pack 1 (SP1) will bring to the table as far as improvements are concerned. In the mean time, Microsoft is proceeding with continual improvements to Windows Vista ahead of the official release of SP1. Microsoft yesterday released a new hotfix, KB941649, which "improves the compatibility, reliability, and stability of Windows Vista." KB941649 address the following issues: It extends the battery life for mobile devices.It improves the stability of portable computers and of desktop computers that use an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).It improves the reliability of Windows Vista when you open the menu of a startup application.It impr...
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Hitachi Develops 100GB Blu-ray Disc Compatible With Existing Drives
2007-10-09 15:15:00
100GB on a single Blu-ray Disc that will work with today's machines, promises Hitachi Throughout the life of the format, DVD has been primarily limited to at most two layers, keeping the format at a maximum storage space of under 9GB. The new high-definition formats, however, appear to have taken a page from hard disk drives when it comes at adding additional storage. Just as how adding additional platters inside a hard disk drive provides more storage, optical media makers are finding ways to stack layers of readable surface inside a polymer disc to increase capacity. Hitachi revealed this week at CEATEC JAPAN 2007 that it has successfully developed a quad-layer Blu-ray Disc that is capable of storing 100GB of data. The concept multi-layer discs is practiced by many other media labs, but Hitachi claims that its quad-layer technology would be compatible with existing Blu-ray Disc drives after a firmware update. Prior developments of greater than dual layer discs have...
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Bungie Studios Officially Splits From Microsoft
2007-10-09 15:13:00
Maker of Halo feverishly scratches the seven-year itch after being with Microsoft since 2000 Earlier this week, reports from around the web stated that Bungie Studios , developers of top Xbox franchise Halo, would be splitting off from its owner Microsoft. Today, the news was officially confirmed as Microsoft issued a press release announcing a plan for Bungie Studios to embark on a path to become an independent company. As expected, Microsoft confirmed its ownership of Halo intellectual property, ensuring multiple new chapters in the series, with or without Bungie?s involvement. Microsoft has already started farming out new Halo games to other developers. The appropriately themed real-time strategy game Halo Wars is currently in development by Ensemble Studios, the creators of the Age of Empires series and also a Microsoft-owned developer. "Our collaboration with Bungie has resulted in 'Halo' becoming an enduring mainstream hit," said Shane Kim, corporate vice presi...
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Kim Jong-il: Internet Expert
2007-10-09 15:11:00
Kim Jong-il claims to be the world's Internet expert; Al Gore jealous North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun this week in the North Korean city of Kaesong. This meeting is only the second ever meeting between North and South Korean leaders. One topic of conversation during the meeting put forth by Roh was a request that South Korean companies operating in an industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong be allowed the use of the Internet. The response from the Dear Leader, according to Yahoo! News, was, ?I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired.? Kim went on to say, ?If that problem is addressed, there is no reason not to open [web access].? Kim did not elaborate on the "many problems" caused by opening Internet access to all of North Korea, though clearly the intention of Roh's suggestion is to increase North Korean...
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40GB PlayStation 3 Officially Announced by SCEE
2007-10-09 15:05:00
The 40GB will be the cheapest PS3 yet, but no PS2 backwards compatibility will be the price to pay Putting an end to one of the worst-kept secrets of the year, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe today confirmed the existence of a lower-priced 40GB PlayStation 3 model by announcing its availability across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Australasia starting October 10. The new model will retail for ?399, or about 20 percent less than the 60GB bundle. To help keep costs down, the new 40GB model does with only two USB ports, instead of four on all previous PS3 consoles, and no memory card reader. This falls in line with Sony?s filings with the FCC, saw only two USB ports tested with no mention of a memory card reader examination. The now-extinct 20GB PlayStation 3 also was without a memory card reader ? which on the 60GB and 80GB models read Compact Flash, Secure Digital and Memory Stick media ? in the interest of cost savings. Unlike the entry-level 20GB, however, the 4...
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Google's Phone Project Aims at Microsoft
2007-10-09 15:01:00
Is Google about to produce the next iPhone ? Find out here! Google, the internet media giant, has had a large group of engineers working on a secret project for nearly two years now. Rumors had leaked that Google was planning to manufacture a next generation of cell phones, which some observers creatively dubbed the "GPhone." Now as a new report indicates Google's true intentions, it appears that the company has not only done a good job keeping the wraps on its secret project, but that the project is much more complex than expected.Google has been working on developing a software platform for cell phones, which it hopes will create a new business sector. It begins with the phone operating system (OS). The OS that Google has been working on is a modified version of Linux, the open source OS. Atop the OS, Google is modifying its Office suite, organization tools, maps, messenger, and email, along with the rest of its programs to run in cell phone environments. The fin...
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It Takes Two, Me And You
2007-07-11 15:56:00
No one can deny the power of 2. Two heads are supposed to be better than one. The number 2 is the smallest prime number and the only even one. It?s also the most divisible number. If that weren?t enough evidence, 2 is the number of DNA strands that make up the double helix structure. The common denominator here is the number 2 denotes cooperation and that?s where the Duofone concept begins. The Duofone looks like any other slick concept but this time, it?s not about megapixels, or screen resolution, or even smartphone abilities. It?s about putting two of them together to combine their screen real estate. It?s about sharing each other?s battery power if one is low. It?s about increasing its abilities when paired with its partner. It even looks like a couple in bed when docked to its charging cradle. Designer: Daewoo Kim
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AMD Prepares Quad CrossFire
2007-07-11 15:53:00
RD790 to gain triple and quad CrossFire capabilities AMD is preparing to update its aging 580X chipset later this year with the upcoming RD790. The upcoming RD790 serves double duty as the single and dual processor platform of choice for AMD desktop products. RD790 introduces 41 PCIe 2.0 lanes to AMD?s Socket AM2+ platform for Stars-family processors.Motherboard manufacturers can distribute the PCIe lanes in many configurations, including four PCIe 2.0 x16 slots with eight-lane signaling. With all 41 PCIe 2.0 lanes, the RD790 chipset has a TDP up to 10-watts. AMD roadmaps reveal the multiple PCIe 2.0 slots are used for an improved CrossFire multi-GPU technology. The improved CrossFire multi-GPU technology supports up to four ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics cards in Quad CrossFire configurations.Unlike NVIDIA?s SLI, which supports dual or quad graphics cards in SLI, the improved CrossFire solution can take on three cards for improved performance. AMD claims CrossFire scaling w...
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HDMI-Enabled Halo Special Edition Xbox 360 a Sign of Things to Come
2007-07-11 15:51:00
Halo-themed Xbox 360 hints at Microsoft making HDMI output standard-issue When Peter Moore lifted up the Halo Special Edition Xbox 360 console at its reveal at the Microsoft E3 press conference on Tuesday night, most onlookers were likely disappointed by the lack of any truly new hardware, such as a built-in HD DVD drive, or price drop. But easily overlooked is the fact that the Halo-themed console could offer a glimpse into the future hardware versions of the Xbox 360. Although central to the announcement of the green and gold Xbox 360 is its Master Chief motif, a closer look at the specifications of this special edition box reveal that it is equipped with an HDMI port. This in itself is not groundbreaking for the console, as the Xbox 360 Elite as it is currently carries the HDMI port. What is interesting to note is, that aside from the HDMI output, the rest of the console inclusions mirror that of the $399 Premium box ? including the 20GB hard disk drive. Microsoft ...
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Xbox 360 Elite Launching in Europe August 24, Video Marketplace to Follow
2007-07-11 15:49:00
Europe, Canada to get Xbox Live Video Marketplace late 2007 At its E3 press conference, Microsoft was proud to say that its Xbox Live subscribership is nearing the seven million mark. What it wasn?t able to boast yet was that all of its members had full access to one of Xbox Live?s most compelling features ? the Video Marketplace. On the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, users have access to purchase or rent standard definition and high definition TV shows and movies onto their hard disk drives. So far, the service is only available to subscribers in the U.S., though Microsoft said at its conference that it plans to introduce the service in Europe and Canada ?by the end of this year.? With access to movie and TV show downloads, the 20GB hard disk drive that is a part of many Xbox 360 consoles suddenly seem to be grossly inadequate. Part of Microsoft?s answer to this is the 120GB hard drive, which is also standard on the Xbox 360 Elite. Although Canadian gamers already ha...
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Microsoft Readying Vista SP1 Beta for mid-July
2007-07-11 15:46:00
Microsoft plans numerous fixes including an update to ReadyBoost Microsoft officially launched Windows Vista for volume licensing on November 30. The company also simultaneously launched Office 2007 giving Microsoft a 1-2 punch in the realm of operating systems and productivity suites. "These are game-changing products," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the launch. "It?s an incredible step forward for business computing in a year of unprecedented innovation from Microsoft. We expect that more than 200 million people will be using at least one of these products by the end of 2007." Microsoft followed up with the retail launch of both products two months later on January 30. Both software products were made available in over 70 countries and over 40,000 retail locations. Windows Vista is not even a year old, but Microsoft is already orchestrating the launch of Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta 1 for the week of July 16. Many companies will not even touch a new Microsoft op...
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iPhone Review Part 1 - It?s Good
2007-07-06 07:21:00
Here at Yanko Design, it?s not often we get to paw our grubby little hands on real products. Much of what we feature here are concepts - envisages of the future. These products exemplify cutting edge industrial design so when one of those makes it to production you can be sure we?re first in line. The new Apple iPhone is one of those exemplary products. But how does it rate? Where does it stand in the sea of smartphones and the upcoming onslaught of ?me too? copies? Hop on over to my own blog to read part 1 of a very extensive review on the Apple iPhone. Review : Electro^Plankton
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Report: O2 Scores iPhone Deal in UK
2007-07-06 07:19:00
O2 gets exclusive rights to the iPhone in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom will soon have access to Apple's new iPhone. According to the Times Online, the iPhone will be tied exclusively to O2. Vodafone, Europe's largest mobile phone carrier, had been the early favorite for an iPhone contract. Although the exact details of the deal haven't been disclosed, it is thought that O2 will share a portion of revenues generated from each iPhone customer with Apple. Thousands of customers ditched their mobile phone providers in the United States to hop on the iPhone/AT&T bandwagon. O2 expects to see the same fortunes when the iPhone is released in the UK. However, what?s good for O2 likely won?t be good for potential buyers currently on competing networks. Early disconnect fees are likely to add even more to the initial purchase cost of the iPhone (just as they do across the pond). While O2 is tipped as being the sole provider of iPhone service in the UK, T-Mobile is ...
More About: Cell Phones , Gadgets , Iphone , Report , Deal

Apple Announces $85.95 iPhone Battery Replacement Program
2007-07-06 07:17:00
Replacing your battery will cost $79 plus $6.95 shipping When the Apple iPhone was first announced, one of the major criticisms of the device was its lack of a user-replaceable battery. With the complaints levied against the batteries used in Apple's iPod music players, the thought of not being able to replace the battery in a cell phone weighed heavily on many minds. Apple looks to put some of those worries to rest with its announcement of a battery replacement program for the iPhone. Should your iPhone's battery ever need replacement, Apple will do the deed for $79 plus $6.95 shipping. Apple says that the repair will take three business days not counting shipping to and from the repair center.All data on your iPhone will be erased when you send it off, so Apple suggests that you backup all of your important information with iTunes before sending it off.Considering that an iPhone sent in for servicing could be out of the owners hand for as much as a week or more (includi...
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Apple Sells 525,000 iPhones in Three Days
2007-07-06 07:05:00
Apple and AT&T score big with iPhone launch Everyone knew that the iPhone was going to be big from the moment it was announced in early January. Apple CEO Steve Jobs hailed the device as the ultimate in mobile communications given that it could function as a phone, a mobile Internet device and as an iPod. As the months progressed, the hype mushroomed even though the iPhone lacked a user-replaceable battery, physical keyboard, expansion slot, voice dialing, A2DP, MMS, iChat, flash support, copy and paste ability and video recording -- not to mention that the iPhone was tied solely to AT&T. It appears that all of the minuses stacked against the iPhone weren't enough to phase buyers who lined up days in advance to purchase the latest "it device" from Cupertino. Not even the $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB) price tags were enough to keep Apple from selling around 525,000 iPhones from 6:00 PM Friday evening through close of business on Sunday. Nearly all of AT&T's stores ...
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The Credit Card Of The Future
2007-07-02 17:38:00
I prefer using my bank card over physical cash and here?s why. With a card, I can?t view real-time data on my account usage. In a way I feel I can keep shopping all willy nilly without a care in the world and not feel guilty since I can?t see what it?s doing to my checking account - no doubt bleeding from my frivolous shopping trips. Designer Jacob Palmborg?s solve for shopaholics like me is an RFID card linked to every account you have. A small interface indicates your own economic situation and forecasts what effects your purchases might have on your future economic status. The whole thing works wirelessly so no actual date is stored on the card. The card also has biometric security so only you can access it. This opens up the possibility of it being your driver?s license, student ID, passport, etc. Now if it only had customizable wallpapers, I?m sold! Designer: Jacob Palmborg
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First Fully Assembled Boeing 787 Dreamliner Rolls Out
2007-07-02 17:34:00
An eager photographer catches the 787 Dreamliner in the buff It has been a long time coming, but the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner has rolled off the assembly line. Charles Conklin -- an avid aviation enthusiast -- managed to snap some pictures of a fully assembled Dreamliner sans paint. According to Flightblogger, the official roll-out ceremony for the Dreamliner is on July 8 with the first delivered scheduled to take place in May of next year. The production run of aircraft is completely booked until 2013 at the earliest. The Dreamliner is the next generation of airliners for Boeing and makes use of composite materials in 50 percent of its body and wings. The use of composite materials has helped Boeing keep the weight down which allows the Dreamliner to be 20 percent more fuel efficient than its closest rivals. Top speed for the aircraft is Mach 0.85. Business travelers will appreciate the integrated networking capabilities on the Dreamliner. Boeing had initially p...
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Dell Says Goodbye to Dimension Desktops
2007-07-02 17:32:00
Dell drops Dimension line after nearly 15 years of service When Dell announced new Inspiron desktops yesterday, many people were puzzled by the naming. Dell's Inspiron nomenclature had traditionally been reserved for mainstream notebooks while the Dimension line has consisted of mainstream desktops. But alas; the Dimension brand is no more and it has been fully supplanted by Inspiron desktops. Dell made no formal announcement of its decision to drop the Dimension line even though it has been the backbone of its desktop sales for the past 15 years. Dell's current consumer desktop lineup will now consist of Inspiron, XPS and XPS Gaming desktops. The systems feature base prices of $349, $899 and $1,699 respectively. The new Inspiron desktops can be equipped with either AMD or Intel processors and feature new case designs that are 40% smaller than the previous Dimensions. In addition, selected Inspiron desktop models come pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux.Reference:Brandon...
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IBM Announces PetaFLOP Blue Gene Supercomputer
2007-07-02 17:30:00
IBM's Blue Gene /P triples the performance of its previous supercomputer IBM has announced Blue Gene /P, the second generation of the world's most powerful supercomputer. Blue Gene/P nearly triples the performance of its predecessor, Blue Gene/L ? which also held the title of being the world's fastest computer. The Blue Gene/P scales to operate continuously at speeds exceeding one petaFLOP ? or one-quadrillion operations per second ? and can be configured to reach speeds in excess of three petaflops. The performance jump from Blue Gene/L and Blue Gene/P is due to several factors. In hardware, the Blue Gene/P supercomputer doubles the number of processors per chip, with each processor operating at a higher clock speed. More memory is added along with an SMP mode to support multi-threaded applications. This new SMP mode moves the Blue Gene/P system to a programming environment similar to that found in commercial clusters. The system?s software is also upgraded for Blu...
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Researcher Displays Parallel Processing Prototype
2007-07-02 17:25:00
A promise of a parallel processing system that is simple to program forResearchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering claim to have developed a computer system that is 100 times faster than today?s desktops. The research group, lead by Uzi Vishkin, developed a system based on parallel processing technology. The team built a prototype with 64 parallel processors and a special algorithm that facilitates the chips to work together and make programming for them simple. "Suppose you hire one person to clean your home, and it takes five hours, or 300 minutes, for the person to perform each task, one after the other," Vishkin said. "That's analogous to the current serial processing method. Now imagine that you have 100 cleaning people who can work on your home at the same time! That's the parallel processing method." "The 'software' challenge is: Can you manage all the different tasks and workers so that the job is completed in 3 minutes instead...
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Dell Launches 13.3" XPS M1330, Inspiron Notebooks
2007-07-01 11:57:00
Customization is king with Dell 's new line of Santa Rosa notebooks Although Dell's XPS M1330 was leaked to the press earlier this month, today marks the official launch of the new 13.3" Santa Rosa-based notebook. Dell's follow-up to the XPS M1210 measures 12.5" x 9.4" x 1.43" and weighs in at under four pounds. The XPS M1330 is powered by Core 2 Duo processors and backs its 13.3" TrueLife display (LED backlighting is optional) with a 1280x800 screen resolution. The standard graphics solution on the notebook is Intel's X3100 integrated GPU. Paying extra will get you an NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS dedicated graphics card. When it comes to connectivity, Dell provides a wealth of options. There are no less than three WiFi solutions offered (802.11b/g, 802.11a/b/g and 802.11n). Dell also offers an optional broadband modem for Sprint/Verizon (EVDO Rev A) or AT&T (HSDPA). Hardwire connections include two USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port and HDMI-out. Other niceties inc...
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