Nokia boss says mobile-phone demand strong

The growth in global mobile-phone demand should continue into next year despite earlier expert predictions of a downturn, the head of Nokia predicted.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jorma Ollila said expectations that mobile sales would fall off over the next few years appeared to be misplaced and that demand would actually increase.

"The buzz that there is in the Middle East, the Gulf and Africa is the same we saw in China seven or eight years ago in the early part of the market cycle, the same we saw a couple of years ago in Latin America," Ollila said.

The Times said phone shipments this year have been slightly higher than in 2004 despite earlier predictions that they would cool considerably. Healthy demand for low-costs phones in developing nations have lifted world sales along with steady phone replacement rates in mature markets.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International

HTC Jetstream and Flyer take tablets to new heights

Enlarge

Despite the iPad's superstar popularity, a truckload of tablets demand your attention.

They're lean and powerful, with lovely bright screens and all the programs you'll need to keep entertained, informed and in touch.

It's uncanny how quickly a tablet wriggles its way into the daily routine after you have one, and I had the chance to spend some quality time with a couple of darlings: the HTC Jetstream from AT&T and the HTC Flyer from U.S. Cellular.

Both tablets run Android, Google's mobile operating system, and both offer mobile wireless connectivity, which means no Wi-Fi network is needed to get online.

But that's pretty much where the similarities end. Still, both tablets performed remarkably well, with features casting them as compelling alternatives to other tablets shouting out for potential owners.

But first, a few specs.

The Jetstream is a larger, more iPadesque tablet, with a 10.1-inch high-definition screen, 1.5?GHZ dual-core processor; front-and rear-facing cameras; and weighing in at 25 ounces. It also has about 12?GB of internal storage.

The Flyer is a smaller, more Kindle-sized tablet, shining out of a 7-inch screen. The tablet is powered with a 1.5?GHZ processor; includes front and rear cameras for snapping photos and video chats; and it keeps data on 32?GB of storage. The Flyer weighs nearly 15 ounces.

Both tablets have SD card slots for extra storage, Wi-Fi for surfing on nearby networks and Bluetooth for connecting peripherals.

And both tablets were fast and easy on the eyes, perfect for Web browsing, emailing, and streaming video from Netflix and music from Pandora and Spotify.

The Jetstream, with its bigger screen, was more satisfying for watching video. And as you might expect, the generous screen really shows off websites, making surfing simple and beautiful. The Jetstream also is a 4G tablet, by AT&T's definition. So when the carrier eventually launches 4G service here, the Jetstream will fly.

The Jetstream also has a nice brushed-metal back that feels satisfyingly sturdy. The only drawback I found in the design is that its oversize volume button was easily accidentally pressed while holding the tablet in landscape. Seriously: why is that volume button so big?

Enlarge

HTC Flyer from U.S. Cellular

Cost: $599.99 with a two-year contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate); $34.99 a month for 200MB of data. Or $499.99 with a two-year contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate); $74.99 a month for 5GB of data

Online: uscellular.com

EVERCOOL Attacks With Transformer 3 CPU Cooler

The following is a press release:
The shiny EVERCOOL Transformer 3 will attack the CPU cooler market in 2011
Taipei, Taiwan—2011—EVERCOOL Thermal Corp., Ltd. the professional and well-known cooler and fan brand. The leading brand of cooling aesthetics—EVERCOOL is going to launch Transformer 3 CPU cooler. After launching CPU coolers Transformer 4 and Transformer 6 in the last couple years, EVERCOOL, which always focuses on aesthetics of heat dispersion and comfortable use, is going to launch Transformer 3 in 2011. This cooler has the shining silver look that is the special feature of Transformer series. The design of the three 6mm heat pipes in V shape increases the airflow and improves the cooling performance.


Transformer 3 uses one 12 cm fan and aluminum fins that can rapidly take the heat away. Additionally, H.D.T Tech and the fan with PWM function that can automatically control and adjust the fan speed up to 2200RPM by detecting the CPU temperature in order to successfully dissipate the heat. Moreover, it remains noiseless at 15dBA. An additional fan can be added according to user’s needs.




Besides PWM function, the shock absorption rubber nail design of Transformer 3 reduces the shake and lowers the noise to provide extremely quiet cooling. Additionally, clips for Intel and AMD provide great compatibility.

FanSize

120x 120 x 25 mm

HeatSink Materials

AluminumFin + Heat-pipes

RatedVoltage

12VDC

RatedSpeed

800±25%RPM~2200±10% RPM

NoiseLevel(FAN)

<15~<35dBA

BearingType

ELBearing

Weigh

0.63kg

EVERCOOL Transformer 3 has a reasonable price and offers the excellent cooling performance of Transformer Series.

New Kindle Touch is an impressive e-reader

When it comes to reading digital books, tablets are all the rage. But there's a lot to like about simple e-readers, which over the past year have become both a lot cheaper and a lot less clunky.

Tablets usually have full color screens, include

Instead of using buttons to turn pages, search the text or scroll up and down, you interact with the screen the same way that you would a

Each of the devices also incorporates some social networking features. You can share books with friends from your Kindle Touch, recommend books to friends on the Nook Simple Touch and use the Kobo Touch to alert your Facebook friends when you've completed a book or reached a certain chapter.

But one feature that the Kindle Touch offers that you can't get on either the Kobo Touch or the Nook is 3G connectivity. If you only plan to use an e-reader at your house, where you have a Wi-Fi hotspot, this may not matter to you. But if you want to take it to the beach or on the road, a 3G connection is a big advantage. Not only can you download books without having to find a Wi-Fi hotspot first, but the device will always be able to keep track of where you are in your books.

The 3G feature costs about $50 extra, but that includes free 3G data service for the life of the device; you don't have to pay anything extra to get online to download books.

Besides the 3G, one feature I loved about the Kindle Touch was how it handles library books. While libraries have been loaning out e-books for years, the Kindle until recently wasn't compatible with the e-book format used by most libraries. But Amazon launched a new service last year that gave Kindle users access to library-owned e-books.

To access a library e-book on other e-readers, you have to download the book to your computer first and then transfer it to your e-reader, usually by plugging the device into your PC with a cable and using a special program from Adobe. But with the Kindle Touch, you can transfer a library book directly to your device over the Internet. It's easy and works great.

Making digital reading easy is something of a mantra with Amazon. One great touch that the company has long done with its Kindles is to configure them so the devices are ready to use as soon as you turn them on.

For both the Wi-Fi only and 3G versions of the Kindle Touch, Amazon offers two flavors: a version with ads and a version without ads that costs $40 more. The Kindle Touch I tested had the ads, and I found them annoying. They show up at the bottom of your home screen when Kindle Touch is on and take up its entire display whenever you turn it off, making them hard to ignore.

Barnes & Noble, in contrast, offers the ad-free Simple Touch for the same price as the ad-filled version of the Kindle Touch.

I also didn't like the interface on the Kindle Touch as much as I did those of the other devices. Your collection of books is displayed as a list of text links. It would have been nice if you could instead display the book's covers or arrange them on a virtual bookshelf, as you can with the Kobo and Nook devices.

The rival devices also do a better job of giving you a sense of where you are in a book and of allowing you to speed ahead to other areas. Unlike the Kindle Touch, the Nook Simple Touch displays the page you're on and how many pages are in the book. And both the Nook and the Kobo Touch allow you to zoom ahead by swiping left or right on a slider, something you can't do on Amazon's device.

So I like the Kindle Touch, and the touch screen is a great addition. If you're willing to spend extra for the 3G version, it's the best e-reader around. But if a Wi-Fi reader is all you need, the Nook Simple Touch is a better deal.

---

AMAZON KINDLE TOUCH:

-Likes: Brighter, clearer display; touch-screen capability; optional 3G connectivity; library books sent directly to device; pre-configured for use.

-Dislikes: More expensive than rivals, unless you get version with annoying ads; ugly text-based home screen interface; lacks easy way to zoom through book; doesn't persistently display page numbers

-Price: $100 with ads, $140 without; $150 for 3G version with ads, $190 for 3G without ads

-Web: amazon.com

dmedia G400 WiMAX MID to Show Off at CES 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- The dmedia G400 offers a choice of 3.8 or 4.3-inch touchscreen with an 800 x 480 resolution. The device features integrated WiMAX, Bluetooth, HSPDA/WCDMA, GPS, and a microSD card slot. Robust feature-sets enable bandwidth-intensive mobile multimedia applications that include NextWave's MXtv, mobile broadcast service, streaming video, video conferencing and VoIP.

There's also an option for DVB-T/H, ISDB-T or T-DMB mobile TV tuners. Some of the other specs are still a mystery but it looks like the G400 uses a SiRFprima SoC with an ARM11 core, 3D graphics acceleration and video decoding; internal memory is unknown at this time.

Current information reveals that the G400 measures 5.4" x 2.8" x 0.5" and weighs 7.1 ounces and comes with a 1400mAh battery.

The G400 is expected to launch in the first half of next year, though in what markets is anyone´s guess. The good news is that availability won´t remain a question mark for much longer, as dmedia is expected to show off the WiMAX MID at CES 2009.

Developers flock to Hero Engine after Star Wars The Old Republic success

Idea Fabrik, the company behind the Hero Engine, has revealed a massive surge in developers expressing interest in using its platform after the success of Star Wars: The Old Republic and other massively multiplayer online (MMO) games that use the engine.

Since the beginning of this year Idea Fabrik has seen a sharp increase in developer subscriptions to its HeroCloud managed service, which lets game studios build 3D online games in a variety of genres.There are now over 5,000 developers using the Hero Engine, “fuelled by the excitement about successful launches last year of MMO games from EA and from Trion Worlds,” according to Idea Fabriks COO, Neil Harris.The Trion Worlds title is Rift, which released in early 2011, and the EA title is, of course, Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWares first foray into the world of online games. This has paid off big time, as The Old Republic is now the fastest growing MMO in history, with over two million copies sold so far. Not bad for a game thats just over two months old.“We’ve been watching Hero Engine’s evolution over the last several years,” said Wanda Meloni, analyst at M2 Research. “The technology has really become quite mature. My guess is, you’re going to see Hero Engine not only continue to be a dominant platform for MMOs, but that the reference products the company is developing will illustrate that it is viable for other genres of games as well.”

Elgato announces the Game Capture HD

Slowly but surely more and more high definition video capture devices have started to appear, although most of them haven’t exactly been priced at a consumer price point if you wanted something besides a PCI Express card. Elgato’s new Game Capture HD is set to change things at least for those interesting in capturing HD gaming videos from a console.

The Game Capture HD connects to a PC or Mac over USB 2.0 and features a built in hardware video encoder that records the video in 1080i30, 720p60, 576p60 or 480p/i60 depending on the source/settings. It accepts HDMI - without HDCP copy protection - input as well as composite video plus audio and is as such compatible with both Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3. And HDMI throughput connector is also part of the package which allows you to play the game on your TV or display at the same time as you’re recording it. One neat trick is that it’s bus powered and as such doesn’t require an additional power adapter.

Elgato also supplies the Game Capture HD with some basic capture and editing software. This has a rather unusual feature which Elgato calls "Flashback Recording" which offers what most people would refer to as time shift record or pre-recording. However, in this case it’s only up to an hour worth of video, but at least it can come in handy for those times when you forget to hit record. The software also include direct uploading to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter for easy sharing of your videos.

The Game Capture HD will be available next month for US$199.99 (S$255) which might still be a bit too expensive for most of us, but it’s far cheaper than most professional grade video capture hardware and it doesn’t require a high-end computer to do the video encoding in real time. The only limitation is that Elgato only supplies drivers for Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.7 or later.

Source: Elgato

Fan drivers missing on the Mac port of Windows XP

For those of you who aspire to run Windows XP on your spanking new Intel based Mac, please take sometime and read this piece of news. Apparently, the people who managed to modify Mac's boot sequence to accept Windows, had some inherent bugs with the installation. One of the major (perhaps the most critical one), is the lack of any fan drivers on the XP installation. This would possibly cause permanent damage to the CPU if used over a prolonged period. However, a later update shows that fans would spin regardless of OS. The drawback would probably be the lack of any form of speed throttling on the fans, causing it to spin at max speed. Such would cause quite a bit of noise pollution nevertheless.

DFI LP JR X58-T3H6 MicroATX Board Details

DFI is preparing a microATX board based on Intel X58 chipset slated for release in January 2009. The PCB is black in colour and has6 layers measuring at 245x245mm size. With 6 phase digital PWM design, it supports the LGA1366 processors from 4.8 to 6.4GT/s QPI. There are 6 DIMM slots on the board to allow up to 24GB DDR3-800/1066/1333 memories and two PCIe x16 slots for 2-way SLI and Quad Crossfire.

Other features include 1 x PCIe x4, 1 PCI slot, 6 SATA ports configurable with RAID 0/1/0+1/5, one IDE port, 12 USB ports, Realtek ALC889 HD Audio, Marvell 8053 GbE LAN. There are 7 fan connectors onboard with EZ-On (Power) and EZ-Touch (Reset) switches and a Software Debug LED. The BIOS features CMOS Reloaded, Voltage Tuning for Vdimm, Vnb, Vcore, Vsb, VHT, 1MHz FSB frequency tuning and adjustable CPU multiplier, ABS technology system.

Update #1 : Should be 6 layers PCBinstead of 4

ASUS 6800LE To 6800GT

It seems like the current batch of ASUS V9999LE cards based on 6800LE can besoft modded to 6800GT. Using Rivatuner, 8 hidden pixel pipelines on V9999LE cardcan be unlocked unveiling a total of 16 pixel pipelines like the 6800GT/Ultra.The 2 hidden vertex pipelines can also be unlocked to unveil the full 6 vertexpipelines. The 3DMark2005 score jump from 6707 to 9063 as a result.

Arctic Announces First Products with Next-Gen AMD Trinity A8 and A10 APUs

New HTPC is the first one that is solely tailored for the role of a living room device. MC101 carries the tag line "Entertainment Always" and the company is following suit with a very sleek design. The interesting bit is that this compact HTPC is powered by the upcoming AMD Fusion "Trinity" processors carrying a familiar name "A8", and not so familiar "A10". Both processor lineups will be powered by the Trinity silicon, i.e. next-generation CPU core codenamed "Piledriver" with the GPU core codenamed "Northern Islands".

According to the associated slide, AMD "Trinity A8" comes with Radeon HD 7640G, while "Trinity A10" comes with Radeon HD 7660G, implying this will be a higher performance part (current Fusion APUs top out with X500 series). According to Arctic, the products will be released when AMD decides to launch Trinity-based Fusion APUs, which could be CeBIT 2012 in March, or Computex Taipei 2012. Given the timing when Llano was introduced to market, we would assume the second option is a more realistic one.

Do note that Arctic is deliberately not mentioning AMDs "Fusion" brand in any part of the press release. This comes from an interesting legal case taking place: few days ago, a report came out that Arctic actually plans to sue AMD over the Fusion brand, claiming it has filed for a trademark before AMD. The problem with that could be that AMD was saying Fusion for their future products before that power supply trademark was filed - both came out in 2006. However, that is a legal matter and knowing Arctics previous love for threatening individuals or companies with litigation, it might be that MC101 line of products is a way of making a peace offer.

Then again, the calling of not growing, but exploding market of advanced set-top boxes. For example, Intel is currently shipping over 30,000 set-top-boxes per day... in EMEA region alone alone! Yes, thats 900,000 devices per month, all powered by a variant of a 45nm Core processor, named Pentium for the sake of argument.

ASUS New Laptops Are Equipped With Nvidia Optimus

[Singapore, 9 February 2010] ASUS and NVIDIA have introduced the new range of notebooks powered by NVIDIA Optimus technology in the coming months. These include the powerful multimedia N Series, slim and light U/UL series models and versatile mainstream K series notebooks.

NVIDIA Optimus: Great Battery Life and Great Performance for Optimized Multimedia Enjoyment
The ASUS N Series notebooks are equipped with the cutting-edge NVIDIA Optimus technology which harnesses the power of both discrete and integrated graphics to deliver the necessary performance for thetask at hand — thus extending battery life. Together with ASUS SonicMaster technology for enhanced audio clarity, Video Magic Technology for true-to-life videos through GPU computing and USB 3.0 for high speed multimedia data transfers, the ASUS N Series is the best choice for entertainment indulgence anytime, anywhere.

ASUS notebooks currently equipped with Optimus technology:
Ultra Slim and Light U/UL Series:
- UL50Vf (Not available in Singapore)
- U30Jc (Availability: Mid-March RRP: TBA)

Multimedia N Series:
- N61Jv (Not available in Singapore)
- N71Jv (Not available in Singapore)
- N82Jv (Availability: Mid-March RRP: TBA)

Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit http://www.asus.com/ for more information.

Sony a aussi sa WiiU

Une manette a écran, voilà l'avancée technologique que proposera Nintendo avec sa WiiU. Pour concurrencer BigN et ne pas se laisser distancer sur ce domaine, Sony et Microsoft ont aussi leurs petits gadgets en réserve. Du côté de la marque de Bill Gates, nous avons découvert pendant l'E3, le Xbox SmartGlass qui permet de connecter divers périphériques comme une tablette ou un smartphone, pour interagir avec la console. Quant à Sony, c'est sa console portable qui fera office de manette.

La PS Vita deviendra donc un périphérique pour jouer directement sur sa console. La quasi-totalité des boutons d'une manette PS3 restent présents sur PS Vita, ce à quoi s'ajoute un écran et des fonctionnalités tactiles. Le premier jeu à en bénéficier sera l'excellent LittleBigPlanet 2. Ce dernier recevra en novembre prochain, une mise à jour pour accueillir jusqu'à quatre PS Vita comme manettes de jeu. Mais le cross-control va plus loin, car l'écran pourra servir de radar pour détecter des items cachés, et le tactile permettra de déplacer des objets voire même les personnages sur certains niveaux.

Cela n'atteint peut être pas encore la profondeur de gameplay qu'apportera la WiiU, cependant il ne s'agit pas d'un jeu pensé initialement pour. Nintendo a donc de quoi se faire du soucis si sa WiiU n'apporte pas de réelles innovations alors qu'elle est à peine plus puissante que la PlayStation 3.

· Forum LittleBigPlanet 2

Apple could have display issues with iPad 3

Apple could have some display issues with its new third-generation iPad, such as supply shortages and a huge battery drain, according to analysts at DisplaySearch.

The retina display is without doubt the main feature of the iPad 3, or “new iPad” as it is officially called, but the enhanced clarity and higher resolution do not come without a price.DisplaySearch said that doubling the pixel density means a significantly smaller aperture ratio, which requires a brighter backlight. To compensate for this the iPad 3 features at least twice as many LEDs at the 36 employed in the iPad 2.The problem with this is that it uses a lot more power. While Apple has added a larger and more powerful battery, and promised that it can run for up to 10 hours, the same time as an iPad 2, DisplaySearch analysts believe that this battery was employed to address the higher power usage of the A5X chip, not the additional LEDs. This could mean that, despite Apples promises, the iPad 3 will have lower battery life than previous models.DisplaySearch also highlighted the fact that the iPad 3s 264ppi display is significantly less than the iPhone 4s 326ppi, a fact which might disappoint some users.Another problem, which will undoubtedly be a big issue given the popularity of Apple devices, is the potential that that the Cupertino, California-based company might find it difficult to get enough supply. DisplaySearch found that Sharp, Samsung and LG Display, all of which make the panels, have had some difficulty achieving the 264ppi density on an a-Si TFT display. Whether or not these can be pumped out in the quantity that Apple will want or need remains to be seen.The iPad 3 goes on sale on 16 March.

Apple To Migrate To Light Peak For Single Port Solution

You might have heard of Intel's Light Peak technology, a new high-speedoptical cable technology designed to connect your electronic devices toeach other.

A quick look at Light Peak

Light Peak also has the ability to run multiple protocols simultaneouslyover a single cable, starting at 10Gb/s with the potential ability to scale to 100Gb/s over the next decade, according to Intel.

Light Peak will have a controller chip and an optical module thatwould be included in platforms supporting this technology. The opticalmodule will be performing the conversion from electricity to light and vice versa.

What about Apple ?
According to source, Apple will introduce the new standard for its systems around Fall 2010, introducing Light Peak to all its products (from an iPhone to a Mac). In short, Apple products could come equipped with only a Light Peak port (or just ports?) tohandle your networking, display driving, and general connectivity.

There are plans to roll out a low-power variation in 2011, suggesting that handhelds like iPod/iPhone will have the capability to perform high data transfers and a broad connectivity to other devices.

Are you supporting this all-in-one single port solution or are you against it ? We would love to hear your opinions

Athlon 64 CPUs w 512KB L2 Cache

Desktop

MobileAthlon 64 2800+: 1.8Ghz, 512KB L2
Athlon 64 3000+: 2.0Ghz, 512KB L2
Athlon 64 3200+: 2.2Ghz, 512KB L2
Athlon 64 3400+: 2.4Ghz, 512KB L2Athlon 64 2700+: 1.6Ghz, 512KBL2

ASUS EAX1800XT TOP Version

ASUS has unveiled EAX1800XT Top version touted to be the firstto breach 10,000 in 3DMark05. It features an higher clocked X1800 XT running at650MHz core and 1550MHz memory where the reference card runs at 625MHz / 1500MHzclock speed. The card sports a new cooling design with a black coolingdesign which is said to improve the heat dissipation from the pure copperheatsink.

Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) is now available for Nexus One

Google may have announced its intentions to stop selling their Nexus One online, but that does not mean that the Google-branded phone is not receiving any more love from the search giant. On the contrary, Google has just released a little surprise for Nexus One owners, and that is a firmware upgrade to the latest version of Android, which is currently at 2.2.

According to a blog post by the Android team, the Android 2.2 update, also known as Froyo, brings with it some new features such as the ability to turn the Nexus One into an impromptu hot spot and browser support for the Adobe Flash plugin, both of which have their respective draws: road warriors would relish the idea of having a portable hotspot for their laptops and other mobile phones to connect to the internet. On the other hand, the average Joe could make use of Flash support to play Flash games or watch some flash movies while on the move without having to deal with staring at a lego block with an annoying '?' icon found in competing, non-Flash supported platforms.

The firmware update will be rolled out to phones this week, and Google has stated in the blog that they expect most users to receive the upgrade notification by the end of this week.

Source: Google Nexus One Blog

Asus launches USB 3.0 speed booster, UASP support for ASMedia

So far weve only seen performance boosting software for USB 3.0 data transfer from ASRock, but now Asus has launched its own take, alongside a set of new drivers for ASMedias USB 3.0 host controllers which adds UASP support. We did a quick and dirty speed test with the new drivers to see if there was any improvement, although we didnt have a compatible Asus motherboard at hand to test the speed boosting software.

UASP or USB Attached SCSI Protocol not only brings with it a performance boost as long as youre using a storage device with UASP support, but it also offers support for command queuing and removes several software overheads. But most significantly for most consumers, UASP adds support for out-of-order completion of file copies. What does this mean in practical terms? Well, you can now copy files simultaneously by drag and drop and theyll finish based on the file size rather than on the order you copied them as in generally the case with the Bulk Only Transfer protocol. Sadly UASP wont be a standard until Windows 8 comes out and its quite tricky to know which devices are supported and which arent.

Renesas was the first to support UASP for its host controllers and has so far been the only USB 3.0 host controller manufacturer to support the standard. That said, ASMedia has support UASP on the device side for quite some time and its ASM1051E, ASM1051U and ASM1054 SATA to USB 3.0 bridges all support UASP. According to Asus, the LucidPort USB300 SATA to USB 3.0 bridge also offers UASP support and this is also what the manufacturers website is stating. Beyond SATA bridges several USB 3.0 flash drives also support UASP and Asus is providing a list of devices that the company has tested on its website (see link at the end of the article).

Even if you dont have an Asus motherboard, but an ASMedia host controller we suggest you head over to Asus and hit the download button, as included in its USB 3.0 Boost package are new ASMedia drivers as well as a new firmware and both are needed for UASP support and will work on all ASMedia USB 3.0 host controllers. We did a really quick Crystal DiskMark test using the same ASM1051E bridge and Patriot Wildfire SSD and although we used a different system for the test than the one we used during our exhaustive USB 3.0 host controller roundup, we saw improved read speeds of about 12MB/s although the read speed was only up by about 1MB/s. Thats still a decent improvement considering that all we did was flash the host controller firmware and install a new driver.

Asus is making some wild claims of a 170 percent performance increase in UASP mode which might be possible in some scenarios and considering that their test setup was slightly different and consisted of actual file copying, we cant say its wrong. Whats more surprising is that its Turbo software only offers a 127 percent improvement in the same scenario, although that was in BOT (Bulk Only Transfer) mode, as apparently Asus USB 3.0 Boost software isnt compatible with UASP. Still, if you have a device that doesnt support UASP, its still a decent way of getting some additional performance out of your USB 3.0 devices. For some reason theres also a "normal" mode in the USB 3.0 Boost software in case you have a device that doesnt like UASP or the boost mode.

So the takeaway here is that even if you dont have an Asus motherboard on the list, as long as you have an ASMedia USB 3.0 host controller its well worth upgrading the firmware and drivers. Asus is currently listing 17 motherboard models that it says are compatible with the USB 3.0 Boost software and the new UASP drivers. We tested with a standard ASM1042 based PCI Express cards and didnt run into any issues with the new UASP drivers and several devices that we tested it with. All were hoping for now is that all the other USB 3.0 host controller makers will follow suit and launch UASP drivers for their host controllers.

Update:We ran another quick test in HD Tune Pro 4.61 and got an average read speed of 261.6MB/s, thats nearly 37MB/s faster than without UASP. In terms of write performance we saw a huge increase in performance here too with an increase in the average sequential write speed of 33MB/s, although the maximum write speed peaked at 293.3MB/s a few times, with the average write speed hitting 242.6MB/s. Pretty impressive stuff, especially as its a free upgrade.

Source: Asus

ATi FireGL V7350 - a graphics card with 1GB of graphics memory!

ATi had just launched a version of FireGL that comes with a whopping 1GB ofgraphics memory. The ATi FireGL V7350 is ATi's latest shot at the workstation(Linux / Windows) market - a segment that's dominated by NVIDIA's line of Quadroline products. This new FireGL cards feature an R520 core, that's also used inX1800 family of gaming cards from ATi. The R520 core on this FireGL card isclocked at 600MHz, and Memory clocked at 650MHz. Offering 3 times the processingpower of a 3GHz Pentium 4 CPU, these new cards can pump about 84Gflops infloating point performance. Sadly, this FireGL card doesn't support CrossFireMultiGPU technology - a set back for ATi, since NVIDIA's flagship Quadro FX 4500offers SLi capability. The FireGL V7350 is being sold at an eye popping pricetag of USD$ 2000.

Arstechnica takes a look at the Macbook Pro

Arstechnica had a chance to do a thorough analysis of the MacBook Pro shipped with the Core Duo T2500 processor. Read more about the exciting features contained within this mobile wonder right here!

ASRock's X79 Extreme11 has a very fitting name

Weve seen a fair few motherboards during CeBIT, but none of them were as insane as ASRocks new X79 Extreme11, as the company appears to have gone out of its way to create the most feature packed motherboard you could imagine and then some.

Unlike Gigabyte that went with Intels C606 chipset for its X79S-UD5, ASRock has stuck it out with the X79 chipset for the X79 Extreme11, but the company has still managed to add SAS support thanks to the inclusion of an LSI SAS2308 controller. The upside of this move means that youre looking at real hardware RAID support, something the Intel C606 doesnt offer. On top of that the LSI controller support SAS/SATA 6Gbps and it has its own memory for caching, something you only see on higher-end RAID cards these days. The downside is of course the extra cost, as LSI RAID cards with eight SAS ports are anything but cheap.

Just above the LSI controller and the chipset youll see a pair of PLX PEX 8747 PCI Express 3.0 bridge chips which enables the board to offer full quad x16 PCI Express 3.0 support. The downside is that it makes for a really complex board design and there might be some potential issues with this kind of layout, least not by the fact that the PEX 8747 chips run quite hot. As such ASRock is working on a very large heatsink for the X79 Extreme 11 and this is also why the two x8 PCI Express slots are missing retention clips for add-in cards. The smaller chip between the PLX bridges appears to be some kind of power regulation IC.

At bottom left hand side corner youll find another PLX bridge chip, this time a PCI Express 2.0 chip which handles the peripheral chipsets, as the LSI SAS controller is most likely using up a good four lanes of PCI Express bandwidth from the chipset. This means that peripheral chipsets like USB 3.0 etc. will be going through the PLX bridge which could potentially lead to lower performance, but its something that wed have to test to be sure about.

Next to the PLX bridge is a Creative Sound Core3D which should be covered by a similar ”fake” heatsink as Creative uses on its latest sound cards. We also got some clarification from ASRock as to why its sound cards are limited to only certain motherboards and slots. If you had a look at the pictures of the Creative cards we posted some time back, youll have noticed that Creative uses a pair of chips on its cards, whereas ASRock – as well as Gigabyte on its G1 series of boards – uses a single chip. The reason for this is that the Sound Core3D uses the same audio interface as the Intel HD audio codecs which isnt PCI Express and as such Creative is fitting a bridge chip on its cards that allow the Sound Core3D to work as a PCI Express device.

To keep with the theme of an all-out board ASRock has also kitted out the X79 Extreme11 with eight DIMM slots, a 16+2 PWM design, a pair of 8-pin 12V power connectors as well as a pair of Molex connectors for extra power to the PCI Express slots. You also get a pair of four port USB 3.0 host controllers from TI for a total of four rear ports and four ports via pin headers. The board also sports two eSATA ports and a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports.

What were really wondering though is how much this board is going to cost and if theres anyone thatll be willing to pay for it. Theres no doubt that ASRock has created an interesting conversation piece, but somehow we feel that theyve gone too far with this board, as its likely going to cost more than any sane person is going to be willing to pay for an X79 motherboard. Weve got a lot more motherboards from CeBIT coming, so just bare with us for a little bit for some more previews of what to expect in the comming months.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer available in Singapore next week

Bernard Wen, business operation manager, ASUS, said that the company has hit their historical high in Singapore for the revenue and number of shipment for notebooks and netbooks in Q1 this year.

"It was quite sudden that tablet PC has become popular among end users. We are coming with this new product, with the aim to give more choices for consumers when they are out to buy a tablet PC with more functionalities. We dont try to develop a tablet PC with one model to sell throughout the year. We shorten the product life cycle but provide more range for the consumers to choose from."

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer that will be selling next week is a Wi-Fi only model, but according to Wen, the company will bring in the 3G model in the coming months. The 16GB model will retail at S$699, while the 32GB model (coming in third week of May) will sell at S$799. The 16GB Eee Pad Transformer with docking station will be selling at S$799 during this promotional period (U.P. S$898).

Serene Chiew, country manager of ASUS Singapore, gave a demonstration on the various features of the Eee Pad Transformer.

The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer comes with an optionaldocking station which offers the keyboard for convenience of typing messages and touchpad for moving the onscreen cursor. The docking station also charges the tablet when it is docked.

On the right of the docking station holds the memory card reader and a USB port. The opposite side holds the power and USB connectors.

The Eee Pad Transformer feels extremely solid, unlike some of the tablets on the market which gave a plasticky feel. It is powered by Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, features a 10.1-inch (1280x800) display, 5-megapixel rear and 1.2-megapixel front cameras, and runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

The power and volume control buttons are located at the top. The tabletalso comes with mini HDMI, audio jack and docking connector port.

AMD shows off embedded APU performance, pulls the presentation pronto

It would appear that were very close to AMDs Brazos 2.0 unveiling as the company had posted a performance preview of its upcoming R-series of embedded APUs on its website, although it has since then been taken down. The benchmark graph contained in the PDF is showing the upcoming R-464L APU as being more than twice as fast as Intels Core i7-2710QE in terms of graphics performance.

AMD is planning a range of embedded APUs, although the only two included in the graph is the R-464L and the R-272F. Sadly AMD didnt provide any specifications for the CPU or GPU part beyond the 35W TDP, but were most likely looking at an adaptation of a mobile chip here, especially as AMD is making comparisons with various 35W mobile CPUs from Intel, including the 45W Core i7-2710QE which is an embedded version of a mobile quad core CPU.

Admittedly, AMD is comparing its GPU performance to that of Intels older HD 3000 graphics which isnt an entirely fair comparison, but until Intel actually announces its embedded Ivy Bridge chips AMD is at least comparing apples to apples so to speak. As you can see from the graph above, AMD has a 45 percent and a 106 percent lead in terms of average performance across 3DMark 06 and 3DMark Vantage compared to the Core i7-2710QE.

In as much as GPU performance matters in some embedded applications, were fairly certain that any potential customers are also looking for good CPU performance and here AMD hasnt provided any details. As for the rest of the test setup AMD was using its own development motherboard codenamed Pumori which is based on the A75 chipset as well as 4GB DDR3 1600MHz memory and a 160GB hard drive, hardly mind blowing hardware. In saying that, only the R-464L supports DDR3 1600MHz memory, as the R-272F is apparently limited to DDR3 1333MHz. As for the rest of the specifications and more interestingly the consumer version of Brazos 2.0 were going to have to hold out a little longer.

Source: CPU World

ATi FireGL X2-256t Card

ATI is extending its line of workstation graphics acceleratorstoday with the introduction of the high-end FireGL™ X2-256t. Based on ATI’saward-winning scalable workstation graphics architecture, this turbo-chargedgraphics board delivers the industry’s fastest 3D performance for products under$ 1000 (1).

The FireGL X2-256t is capable of handling users’ most demanding projects whenrunning high-end 3D applications based on OpenGL and DirectX 9. Featuringincreased engine and memory speeds, plus a redesigned board with aperformance-enhancing copper fan, the FireGL X2-256t delivers up to 25% moreprocessing power than its predecessor. Four geometry engines and eight parallelrendering pipelines power the board which comes with 256MB of graphics memoryand dual DVI-I connectors. The FireGL X2-256t delivers fast 3D performance,superior quality imaging and ISV certification for professional applicationssuch as 3dsmax, SolidWorks, MicroStation, Maya, and Softimage XSI.

“With performance that rivals competitive products costing twice as much, theFireGL X2-256t features advanced pixel shader support and the ability to rendercomplex models, scenes and effects in real-time,” said Dinesh Sharma, Director,Workstation Products, ATI Technologies. “This turbo-charged accelerator enables3D professionals to speed up their production pipeline, delivering high-endperformance and ISV certification for sophisticated CAD (computer aided design),solid modeling, DCC (digital content creation) and visual simulationapplications.”

The FireGL X2-256t has an MSRP of US $ 899 and will be available later this monththrough workstation OEMs, system integrators and value added resellers. TheFireGL X2-256t joins the existing products in the FireGL family including theentry-level FireGL™ T2-128, the mid-range FireGL™ Z1-128, the FireGL™ X1-128 andthe MOBILITY™ FireGL™ T2 processor for mobile workstations.

Apple releases iOS 4.3.4

Apples iOS 4.3.4 is simply a minor security update which fixes a vulnerability associated with softwares PDF viewing. The vulnerability is reported to allow hackers to gain full control of Apples device hence users are encouraged to download the new iOS 4.3.4, unless of course, you are using applications such as Jailbreakme.

Sources: PCgameshardware, CNet, Securitynewsdaily

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound For Enthusiast

The Swiss cooling solution provider – ARCTIC COOLING has launched a new highperformance thermal compound MX-2 for the enthusiast. MX-2 is a high conductiveand low resistance compound for components that require the best thermaldissipation. MX-2 is ideally suited for use in CPU, GPU cooling and otherapplications between power semiconductor components and heat sinks where highthermal conductivity is critical.

Since the MX-2 compound does not contain any metal particles, there are noproblems regarding electrical conductivity and capacitance. In contrast tosilver and copper compounds, contact with electrical traces, pins, and leadscannot result in any damage. Curing and bleeding of the compound is notpossible. In contrast to metal or silicon pastes, this compound does not showdecreasing performance over time, does not need to be reapplied and has adurability of at least 8 years.

“We’re highly impressed for its outstanding performance,” said Patrick Chung,marketing manager of ARCTIC COOLING. “MX-2 outperforms in almost all tests. It’sdefinitely one of the best non-electric conductive thermal compounds availablefor all DIY enthusiasts.”

MX-2 will be available by the end of July 2007. The MSRP is USD 7.95 and Euro5.95 (excl VAT).

Apple's three more advertisements on why Mac is better than PC

Last month, Appleintroduced four "Get a Mac" advertisements to show why Mac is superior than a PC. And the maker has done it again with three new advertisements - "PC Choice Chat", "Elimination" and "Customer Care".

You can check out the videos from Apple website.

Here's the Apple "Elimination" advertisement for your viewing...

via Engadget

ATi Power Express Technology Info

ATi has some cool innovations on the mobile front that might pose some challenges to NVIDIA. We heard that ATi is going to implement Power Express Technology into their future Catalyst drivers or thru a separate software that enables hot switching between IGP and discrete graphics. This will allow the notebooks featuring ATi discrete graphics onboard to switch over to IGP instantly when battery mode is on or when not running 3D applications to conserve precious battery power. Right now, Intel Napa platform and NVIDIA C51 chipsets have the ability to shutdown PCI Express lanes to conserve power so ATi's Power Express Technology is really a step in front. By shutting down the discrete graphics on a notebook featuring mobility X700, it will reduce the power consumption by a third.