Hector Ruiz Steps Down as Globalfoundries' Chairman

Last week, the Wall Street Journal broke a story that a previous AMD executive had a case filed against them as a result of insider-trading. The executive was revealed as Hector Ruiz, who first joined AMD in 2000 as President and CEO and resigned last summer. When AMD's spin-off foundry company, Globalfoundries, came to be, Ruiz was named as the Chairman of the board of directors, and has held that position until today. Due to the timing, we have to assume that this decision is a result of the on-going investigation.

Although Ruiz is still technically an employee of Globalfoundries until January 4, 2010, his stepping down today was apparently voluntary, and approved by the board of directors. Interestingly, even though Ruiz is stepping down today, he had actually submitted his resignation in September, long before the inside-trading case came to light. The question of whether he saw the lawsuit coming is something only he could answer, but likely won't. It's important to note that as of right now, no charges are laid against Ruiz, and when or if they do, it wouldn't happen for a little while.

Replacing Ruiz in the interim is Alan E. Ross, best known as a former CEO of Broadcom, but has also had high-level positions with Fairchild Semiconductor and Worldwide Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, among others.

Ruiz's stepping-down shouldn't have much effect on Globalfoundries' business, and by some opinions, chances of the company's success should prove even greater with him gone. Whether that's true or not is up to you to decide, but one thing's for sure, Ruiz didn't exactly have the best reputation when he was the CEO at AMD, and few would disagree that some major mistakes were made along the way.

Hector Ruiz, chairman of the GLOBALFOUNDRIES board of directors, will take a voluntary leave of absence effective immediately before resigning from the company in January, the company’s board announced today. Dr. Ruiz had submitted his resignation in September with an effective date of January 4th, 2010. He will be replaced by Alan E. "Lanny" Ross, who will serve as interim chairman, effective immediately, until a permanent chairman has been appointed by the board.

Windows 7 Usages Reaches 3% of Web-Connected PCs

Long before Windows 7's launch, reaching the October 22 date seemed to take forever. This wasn't helped by the insane amount of advertising for the new OS, and constant updates flowing around the Web. But, it's been 10 days since that date was hit, and now we seem to be soaring past it fairly quickly. Windows 7 is here, it's popular, and according to a new report by Net Applications, it's already accounting for 3% of PCs which access the web.

This isn't a major feat, but it's definitely notable. When you consider that a vast number of Windows users are either non-techy or could care less what OS they're using, in turn lessening the chance of an upgrade, seeing such quick adoption is a good sign for Microsoft - especially after such a rough Vista launch. I was hoping that our stats software of choice, Google Analytics, would have been updated to single out Windows 7 in our aggregated statistics, but unfortunately, it hasn't been. Once it is updated, I'll give updates here to give an idea of how many of our users have moved on up.

One thing's for certain here... the Windows 7 launch has gone far smoother than Vista's. I've seen some relatively minor hitches, such as an issue with student upgrade copies, but aside from that, the news I've seen has been generally positive. Whereas you couldn't avoid news of Vista's launch regarding incompatibilities, I've seen nothing of the sort over the past two weeks. So all in all, it looks like the Windows 7 launch was a success, and we should be able to tell within the next month or two if adoption is going to continue growing at the same or faster rate.

Microsoft has the recent launch to be happy about, but also according to Net Applications, there's a potential reason for worry as well. During October, Mac OS X usage increased from 5.12% to 5.27%. While a minor bump, this is only a one-month change. At the rate of 0.15% per month, if it continued, Apple could potentially gain 1.8% or more within the next 12 months. 0.15% might be minor, but 1.8% certainly isn't. It's a little tough to judge things as they stand with initial Windows 7 data, so the next few months should be pretty interesting as we'll likely see more telling trends.

"The early adoption of Windows 7 looks very strong and I don't believe Vista enjoyed the same early success," Net Applications' Executive Vice President Vince Vizzaccaro. "Plus, we've seen surges the past two weekend days, and Windows has historically seen much higher usage market share on weekdays than on weekends." However, weekends tend to see stronger usage by consumers. And consumers are more likely to move quickly to a new version of Windows than businesses, which tend to do extensive testing before adopting a new operating system.

Unigine Releases DirectX 11 Benchmark

When thinking of a quality game engine, names that come to mind usually include Source, iD Tech, Unreal Engine, CryEngine and others, but rarely do you hear the name "Unigine". The company started in 2005, and since then, have brought on well over twenty licensees who have either used the engine in a released product, or are currently using it in their development. By looking at how the company's clients are using it, it's easy to see that Unigine has huge potential, and might just become a big name in the near-future.

I've dabbled with Unigine's benchmarks in the past, including the gorgeous "Tropics" which supports both DirectX, OpenGL and numerous other graphics features, and I've been impressed. But, a release the company made just over a week ago is even more impressive. Titled "Heaven", it's the world's first benchmark that supports DirectX 11. This means it shows off the advanced tessellation technology, which seems to be a focal-point for any DX 11 argument. There's also support for DirectCompute and Shader Model 5.0.

Also included are some key features from DirectX 10.1, such as SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion), which has the potential to greatly enhance shadow quality for improved realism. Combined all together, the benchmark shows just what DX10.1 - 11 are capable of, and let me tell you... the results are outstanding. The company has posted a before and after video at YouTube that shows the improvements tessellation can make, and I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say, "Whoa!".

One of the best features might be that this isn't a benchmark that simply flies through a scene and lets you watch. Rather, it's interactive, so you can see the before/after differences yourself, in real-time. "Heaven" is also completely free, and you can download it off the official site. I've yet to test it, but I plan to later today. Just be aware that if you want to take advantage of the DX11 features, you'll need a capable card (ATI's Radeon HD 5000 series are currently the only cards to support it), and also either Windows Vista or 7.

New benchmark grants the power to unleash the DirectX 11 potential in the gift wrapping of impressively towering graphics capabilities. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is ensured within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming.

Asheron's Call Turns 10

I don't post much MMO-related news on the site, unless of course World of Warcraft sets yet another record, but today is special for a good reason, and I can't go without saying anything. On November 2, 1999, Turbine Entertainment Software (now Turbine, Inc.) released its very first MMORPG called Asheron's Call (Asheron Realaidain being the focused character), and ten years later, it's still going strong. Where MMO's are concerned, that's a huge accomplishment.

When AC was first launched, the competition was slim. It was 1999, and MMO's as a whole were barely beginning to catch on. Of the competition, Everquest, which was released six months earlier, was there and popular, and for the most part, most gamers considered EQ and AC to be the two main choices. So, it came down to a decision of the two. Given that MMO's inherently act as time-sinks, you can't very well play two at the same time and be successful in both. Back then, it wasn't uncommon for players of either game to go to the opposite game's forums and debate over which was better.

Today, AC has a much smaller community of players, but it's still rich with activity. Without skipping much of a beat, the developers have continued to release monthly updates to the game which introduce new quests, items to collect, monsters to fight and once in a while, even a brand-new mechanic. Given the sheer number of updates since the game's launch (over 100), I'd be hard-pressed to believe that another MMORPG could match AC in terms of raw content. Even as an eight-year player, I still stumble on content I haven't touched before, and there's a lot more out there that I haven't partook in as well.

With current MMO's such as Aion and Darkfall, it's easy to look at AC and scoff. The game was released in 1999, and only had one graphics update, and even that wasn't too major. But, the age-old saying that "Gameplay is more important than graphics" couldn't be more true here. Even as players have moved onto other MMORPG's over the years, the vast majority tend to agree that no game could match AC in terms of gameplay, storyline and overall depth. I'm of the same opinion.

As bizarre as it may sound, it was my playing Asheron's Call that lead me to the events for me to start up Techgage, so in some regards, I feel I'm indebted to the game for those string of events and allowing me to today do what I love to do for a living. Here's to another ten years, AC! *raises glass of Wah Chon's Winter Lager*

Old-School Shot of Pre-Release AC

Asheron's Call develops a heroic fantasy setting familiar enough to draw you in yet mysterious enough to draw you onward. A varied host of monsters populate the benighted, medieval terrain; mysterious artifacts of great power embellish vast treasure hoards; and sorcerers, fighters, and rogues plot both heroic alliances and base villainy. However, Asheron's Call retains a strong flavor all its own, with an original backstory and creatures, and unparalleled flexibility in character creation and development.

ScamVille: Social Networking Games Rich with Scams

Are you alive and breathing? Good. Chances are that you're also a member of a site like Facebook or MySpace, and don't feel bad... it seems like the vast majority is as well. My grandmother never uses her PC, and she finds most things about it complicated, but she's on Facebook. Despite the fact that both MySpace and Facebook are relatively young in real-life terms, it certainly took no time at all for them to become such integral parts of our lives.

Some people use Facebook more than others. Myself, I check things out a couple of times a day, while others never close the tab in their browser. In fact, that's how many people are, it seems, and one good reason might not be for the friend updates, but for the games. Who knew there would be such demand in these? Well, all of us probably, but not quite to such an extent. Some people are so addicted to these games, that I've actually had to block friends or associates because they spam their update feed with game-related speak. If you don't play, it's boring.

But I digress. With such a popular hobby taking over so many people's lives, the chance for scamming is there, and as far as TechCrunch is concerned, it's alive and well within gaming on various social networking sites. Michael Arrington goes into great detail about how the scams work, but to recap one example, imagine filling out a simple quiz to earn in-game cash for FarmVille, and without almost no notice whatsoever (it's extremely hidden), you realize on your next phone bill that you've opted into a useless $9.99/month service.

Mike also exposes another related scam... Video Professor. I've seen commercials for this on TV for what seems like the past ten or fifteen years, but I didn't realize how scammy it was, either. Even though the host of the commercial (and apparently the creator of the product) stresses that the sample is free ("only pay shipping"), what they try to hide is that you receive a disc that's not free, and if you don't contact them within ten days to state that you're sending it back, you can expect a charge of near $200 to come to your door.

Scams like these seem simple to spot, but in fact, they're not. The only way you'll spot the scam is usually after you've already opted-into it, and by that time, it's either too late, or you have some work to do to revert what's happened. If you have a friend who either plays these games or are extremely addicted, help them out and warn them about such shadiness. I shudder to imagine how much money these companies are coining by ripping innocent gamers off.

Zynga may be spending $50 million a year on Facebook advertising alone, fueled partially by lead gen scams. Wonder how Facebook got to profitability way ahead of schedule? It was a surge in this kind of advertising. The money looks clean - it's from Zynga, Playfish, Playdom and others. But a large portion of it is coming from users who’ve been tricked into one scam or another.

Tech Roundup - November 2, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Athlon II X3 425 & 435 - iXBTlabs
• ASUS Maximus II Gene - HotHardware

Displays & Video Cards
• 2009 Linux Graphics Survey - Phoronix
• Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 Monitor - PureOverclock
• Samsung UN55B8000 55-inch LED TV - Tweaknews
• Spyder3Express Monitor Color Calibration Device - TestFreaks

Memory & Storage
• Kingston SSDNow V+ 64GB - ocaholic
• Seagate Cheetah NS.2 and Cheetah 15K.7 - LanOC

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Steelseries Siberia v2 Headphones - XSReviews
• VidaBox Wireless HTPC Media Keyboard - Legit Reviews

Cooling
• Xigmatek Balder SD1283 HDT CPU Cooler - TweakTown

Chassis & Power Supplies
• be quiet! SFX-350W Power Supply - Technic3D
• Enermax Staray Chassis - Overclock3D
• Enermax Staray Chassis - PureOverclock
• Lian Li PC-V351R Chassis - techPowerUp
• NZXT Beta Chassis - TweakPC
• NZXT Lexa S Chassis - Overclockers Club

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• ASUS Eee 1101HA Netbook - i4u