Content and news by Rob Williams

Yesterday afternoon, we reported that AnandTech took a Wolfdale 2.33GHz Dual-Core for a spin. Well today, the boys at DailyTech have applied some initial benchmarks to a Yorkdale 2.33GHz Quad-Core. Next week, we will post initial reports of our Octal-Core 2.33GHz Liardale processor and one-up everyone. Like Anand’s article, this one tells us what we had already known… there are some improvements but nothing major. Once SSE4 optimized applications show up, the true differences might be seen.

Intel expects SSE4 optimizations to deliver performance improvements in video authoring, imaging, graphics, video search, off-chip accelerators, gaming and physics applications. Early benchmarks with an SSE4 optimized version of DivX 6.6 Alpha yielded a 116 percent performance improvement due to SSE4 optimizations.

Source: DailyTech

Just a quick note to all the Canucks that visit the site. NCIX’s weekly specials just began today and some of the deals are quite good, including a Logitech G7 mouse for $49.99 with no mail in rebate, and two OCZ kits. First is a 2GB PC2-6400 Reaper kit which is $79.99 after a mail-in-rebate as well as an OCZ 2GB Platinum kit of the same speed for $79.99 after mail-in-rebate.

• Logitech G7 – $49.99
• OCZ 2GB Platinum – $79.99
• OCZ 2GB Reaper – $89.99

It’s cheaper than ever to go the 4GB route!

Although Penryn is not slated to be released for a few more months, Anand has found himself with a Wolfdale Dual-Core 2.33GHz chip. Naturally, he compared it directly with a Conroe Dual-Core of the same frequency. Some of the results are actually quite impressive, even though this should be considered an early-look. DiVX for example had nice 10% gains, which is impressive for the fact that it’s not even optimized for the SSE4 instruction set. So when that happens, results should be even more impressive.

In addition to standard performance increase, the power consumption has noticeably improved as well. Overclocking also was as good as expected, with Anand hitting 3.22GHz without increasing the voltages at all. Although Penryn is not mind-blowing at the current time, once SSE4-optimized applications start leaking their way into games and other apps, it might very well be.

Now that we have a general idea of clock-for-clock performance differences between Conroe and Wolfdale, we’re not nearly as worried about recommending that you build systems today as we once were. There’s no doubt that Wolfdale is faster clock-for-clock, but keep in mind that you won’t see Wolfdale until Q1 of next year and the performance advantage simply isn’t great enough to justify delaying a purchase by 6+ months if you need a system now.

Source: AnandTech

If you are a novice photographer and also happen to be an Apple user, then this contest was made for you. American Photo magazine is holding a contest to find unsung talent, and it’s up to you to make yourself known. Apple released a Portfolio Review plugin for Aperture (which you can download a trial for) which allows you to easily upload your submissions to the American Photo offices. You can submit up to 10 different photos, which gives you a far better chance of being recognized. The winners, all twelve, will be featured in an upcoming issue.

To be considered as an Emerging Photographer in the November/December issue of American Photo, please submit your portfolio via the following American Photo/Aperture plug-in by August 30th. Please submit ten of your best images for review by our editors and esteemed panel of judges via this plug-in. If you do not currently work with Aperture, please download the 30-day trial version in the following link as well. Thanks for your time. We look forward to seeing your work!

Source: Pop Photo

Auzentech caught ears of audiophiles everywhere a few months ago when they announced that they would be releasing their Prelude sound card with Creative’s X-Fi CA20K audio processor. According to DailyTech, it will be available in retail channels next week, from NewEgg in the US and NCIX in Canada. The card will retail for $199 and probably kick some serious ass. If you dislike Creative but still want a superb audio card from Auzentech, you can read our review of their X-Meridian which we posted a review for earlier this year.

Auzentech’s X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is the first third-party sound card based on Creative Labs X-Fi CA20K audio processor. Auzentech one-ups Creative’s official offerings with AKM digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital convertors. The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 achieves a 120dB signal-to-noise ratio with 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling rates. Additionally, the X-Fi Prelude 7.1 features a user-replaceable OPAMP for the front-channel audio output.

Source: DailyTech

All of the rumors from past weeks have proven absolutely true. Nikon today announces their D200 replacement, the D300 and also the D2Xs replacement, the D3. Both cameras feature a live-view LCD screen, which was first made popular with Canon’s Mark III release this past March. The D300 is targeted towards the advanced shooter while the D3 designed for the professional who require a very high-performance unit.

The D300 features a 12.3-megapixel DX-Format CMOS sensor capable of spitting out 4288×2848 images in both JPEG and 14-bit RAW (.NEF). Interestingly, Nikon has been eyeing other D-SLRs on the market, because they’ve introduced a live-view LCD in addition to a self-cleaning sensor, both a first for the company. While the D200’s 11 focus-points was impressive back in 2005, it has been seriously out-shined by the D300’s staggering 51 focus-points… a number usually only seen in the ultra-high-end D-SLRs.

While the megapixels have been boosted so has the performance, which allows the D300 to shoot up to 6-frames-per-second, or 8-frames-per-second when using the new MB-D10 battery grip. The camera also includes a new Scene Recognition System, which improves intelligent light metering capabilities and smarter white-balance. Finally, it supports up to ISO 6400 with 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps, 100% view-finder frame-coverage, HDMI out (yes, seriously) and Compact Flash support for storage.

The D3 is pictured above, and I assume that the massive lens could only be the new 600mm f/4G. This camera features a brand-new FX-format sensor with Nikon’s exclusive “Exceed” image processing technologies. Simply put, it should help you create richer-looking images and greater handling speed, even when using high ISOs. Like the D300, this camera also has a self-cleaning sensor, but can shoot up to 9-frames-per-second. It also features a 51-focus-points system, HDMI out and the Scene Recognition System.

What makes this pro-shooter a little unique though, is it’s ability to use not one, but TWO Compact Flash cards at a time, to increase overall storage, or to make copies if you find the need. Both cameras feature a new 3.0″ LCD screen which display a staggering 920,000-dots resolution, almost tripling other cameras on the market.

Available November, the D300 will retail for $1,799 body-only and the D3 will retail for $4,999 body-only. In addition to these two new cameras, Nikon has unveiled three new lenses as well: 12-24mm f/2.8G, 24-70mm f/2.8G, 400mm f/2.8G, 500mm f/4G and also the 600mm f/6G. Now to go work on more news now that I am finished drooling.

Source: Nikon USA

Although Google develops some great mapping tools (or at least buys the developers who do), there are too many possible security risks to talk about in a single news post, especially with their Street View application. Since launched in May, many have complained about the lack of privacy, considering you could zoom up to an innocent civilian walking out of a strip club or stalk kittens sitting in windows.

Despite the fact that only “dozens” of requests were received by Google for removal of ones-self being found on the service, they changed their policy back in May without anyone realizing it. Now, if you find yourself in Street View and want to opt-out, you can contact them and they will remove you (or at least block your face) without questions.

I have a hard time believing that such a low amount of requests were submitted, but I’m glad to see the policy change has been implimented. Though it would require a good amount of resources, I’d still be more comfortable with faces and other identifying factors being blurred out automatically, instead of waiting around for a removal request.

Source: Mashable

If there is one company that has gone through a fair amount of rough patches, it’s AMD. The sad thing is that these rough patches are not exactly behind them. Things have just been shaken up a little more, as Executive VP / Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Henri Richard, has called it quits. The resignation takes effect on September 8th and as of now, AMD has not announced a replacement. The resignation comes just one month after AMD’s Dave Orton also left.

Things are not looking that great for AMD these days. Product launches never seem to hit their date, and if they do, they under-perform when compared to the competition. Not to mention the debts that are piling up, and now top execs are leaving? AMD is far from dead, but their Barcelona and Phenom need to ship as soon as possible.

AMD’s Henri Richard plans to step down from his position as executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, according to inside sources at AMD and confirmed by CNET. Richard’s resignation takes effect on September 8. AMD has yet to issue an official press release regarding the matter, nor has the company named a suitable replacement.

Source: DailyTech, Hard|OCP (Company E-mail)

The ultra-hyped first-person shooter, BioShock, was finally released this past Thursday to antsy fans. As with any launch nowadays, things didn’t go as smoothly as 2K Games had hoped. The biggest issue being the fact that the game wasn’t scaling properly when using a widescreen resolution. Instead of scaling, it would simply chop off the top and bottom of the gameplay area.

As Joystiq reports, it turns out to not be a bug at all. Developers used the widescreen setting on 90% of their testing stations, and after careful consideration, the “best” mode was what made it into the game. Luckily, if you are still unhappy, 2K is working on a patch that should please you. But, if you still want to be upset at the developers, you can focus on the inclusion of SecuROM with the game, if you like.

While that sounds like a “same difference” situation, 2K feels they made the right decision. If, however, you’re still not pleased, the developer is looking into ways of allowing users to manually adjust the field of view. Alternatively, you can have your memory erased and play the game blissfully unaware of issues you wouldn’t have noticed had someone not pointed them out to you.

Source: Joystiq

The Inquirer is reporting on an NVIDIA-driver-based bug that resides within the Gentoo Linux distribution. The bug is rather simple, and rather simple to fix. The driver resides under /dev as nvidia* (nvidia0, nvidia1, etc) and with some old versions of the driver, which were installed through Portage, incorrect permissions were set. Thanks to this, the driver could be exploited in a variety of ways, the harshest being changes to the GPU’s clock frequencies.

If you use Gentoo and the NVIDIA driver, it’s best to upgrade to the latest stable version in Portage with your emerge command. If you install the NVIDIA driver yourself (without Portage), it looks like you are safe, as it’s Portage at fault for setting incorrect permissions.

The file permissions mean that a hacker could alter the drivers and send arbitary code to the board itself, resulting in a software compromise or even damage to the actual Nvidia hardware, should a hacker choose to jack up your clock frequencies on the sly. Gentoo users are being urged to update to the latest version of the X11 Nvidia drivers, if they haven’t done so already, as the up to date version has the file permissions fixed.

Source: The Inquirer

Not much has come out of the AGEIA camp recently, but that doesn’t mean that their R&D is still not in full-force. Today at the Leipzig convention, they announced a new PhysX processor for notebook PCs, which you can see pictured below. It’s called the “AGEIA PhysX 100M Processor” and is currently the only physics-based accelerator card for notebooks. Dell has already jumped on the PhysX bandwagon and will be featuring the processor in their upcoming XPS line-up.

Also shown off over there today is Warmonger, Operation: Downtown Destruction, a game I have some interest in, since seeing the videos at this years CES. Also being shown is Unreal Tournament 3 being run with the PhysX processor. If the game does prove to use the PPU to it’s full extent, then this might be -the- reason to pick one up.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – August 22, 2007 – AGEIA (TM) Technologies, Inc. the pioneer in hardware-accelerated physics for PC games and a leader in console gaming physics, today announced that it will showcase a series of upcoming PhysX powered games and its new AGEIA PhysX Mobile Technology (TM) at the upcoming Games Convention 2007, Halle 4 G22, August 22-27 in Leipzig, Germany.

Source: AGEIA Press Release

A demo for EA’s upcoming skate sim finally hit Xbox Live, which leaves you enough time to experience it well before it’s release on Sept. 12. PS3 players are left in the dark for now, but should be able to experience the demo as well, before the end of the week, or next week at the latest.

Being a huge Tony Hawk Pro Skater fan, I was looking quite forward to skate. because THPS only comes out once a year and I want something else to hog my time. Well, I played through the demo and can’t say I am immediately impressed, though I admit I need to better get used to the controls.

While playing, I can’t help but think that the developers deliberately did everything different from the Tony Hawk series, but in some cases, I wish they -had- “borrowed” some features. I’d much rather tap the A button to jump than to flick the analog stick down and up in a fluid motion. Now, I realize that skate. is meant to be a sim, not a THPS clone, so I am willing to give it more time before sitting on a conclusion.

Source: skate. Website

Office 2007 arrived late last year to much fanfare. Compared to previous versions, it was a huge step forward, despite the fact that many found the new ribbons to be a true pain. One problem I have with the program is how clunky it can be. I use Excel 2007 quite often, and often it will reset a few of my options (color/graph), so that I have to go through the entire creation process again. Seems so needless, but by the looks of things, Apples latest iWork 08 is doing most things right.

Lifehacker has taken a look at the latest version of Numbers (spreadsheet) to see if it lives up to the hype, and overall they are impressed. Like any piece of software, there are a few issues, but those issues seem to be outweighed by the applications shining features.

We decided to give Numbers a test drive ourselves to see if it really deserves all the praise. In fact, while Numbers isn’t a revelation, it does for spreadsheets what the iPod did for MP3 players. Numbers adds polish, ease-of-use and some beautiful “duh, of COURSE it should work that way!” features to spreadsheets.

Source: Lifehacker

Remember the old Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad? I knew a lot of people who owned them, but couldn’t manage to enjoy them myself. It felt like I was holding a loaf of bread, which I guess is where the design for the original Xbox controller came from. Well, the folks from Redmond are bringing the brand back with a “hardcore gamers” mouse.

At first look, I have to say the mouse looks absolutely sick. I love the color scheme, button layout and the scroll wheel looks perfect. The “hardcore gamer” aspect comes from the fact that it’s tweakable, similar to Logitech’s latest G9 mouse. The feet are even interchangeable, with three different surfaces. Now just to wait until final copies hit retail.

I have to say that my first experience with this mouse in July was extremely positive. Every single person in the office who played with this mouse LOVED their experience with it. When the promised driver features are combined with the physical options on the mouse, the customization is nearly endless. This mouse was designed to be a crowd pleaser and I have no doubt in my mind that it will be. While these are my impressions from New York, I reserve full judgment until I have the final product in my hands for review.

Source: Gotfrag

I have a few SDHC cards laying around here, capacity of 4GB. With those, I have a hard time even coming close to filling it up in a single session, while shooting 10MP RAW+JPEG. For professionals, I could understand 8GB, but Toshiba blows the doors straight off what we thought was high-end with the announcement of their 16GB and 32GB SDHC card. Prices should be $350 and $700… not bad considering 8GB cards just earlier this year retailed for over $400.

Yeah, Toshiba just announced an 8GB microSDHC card and even a massive 16GB full-size SDHC card (launching in October for ¥40,000, about $350), but it’s the friggin 32GB card we’re eyeballing. Due out January of next year for ¥80,000, soon enough you’ll be plunking down seven bills for what’s surely the last memory card you’ll need for, what, six months?

Source: Engadget

It’s hard to feel “sorry” for the movie-industry, regarding piracy, when reading news like this. For whatever reason, 19-year-old Jhannet Sejas thought it would be a good idea to record 20-seconds worth of the Transformers movie to show her 13-year-old brother later on. Bad move, and one she was arrested for. Yes, arrested… for taping twenty seconds of a movie.

She pleaded guilty and got off rather easy, with a $71 fine. Now, while I agree that she shouldn’t have recorded -anything-, given the fact that MPAA and others are on a power-trip, I find it utterly ridiculous to bring someone to court for a 20-second recording. How could the movie industry possibly chalk that up as an impact to their business? If anything, news like this will only make people pirate movies even more, just to spite these empty-headed corporate idiots.

When arrested on her birthday last month, the Annandale, Virginia, resident said she was taking the short clip with a Canon PowerShot to show her 13-year-old brother. Neither Sejas nor her attorney were immediately available for comment. If Sejas stays out of trouble for a year, the misdemeanor will be expunged from her record.

Source: Wired

DDR3 might be lurking out there, but DDR2 is still the most popular option for most people, and for good reason. It’s fast, and currently, very inexpensive. Although there are many PC2-6400 kits available, Kingston puts a twist on their’s by offering it with tight 3-3-3 timings.

Guild Wars, the popular subscription-free MMO from NCsoft, has hit 4 million units sold. That number includes sales from the original game and both the Factions and Nightfall expansion packs. Anyone who owns the original version can hop on and play, so technically they have many “subscribers”, but I would be interested in knowing the number of active accounts at the present time. I am sure that information won’t just slide out of either ArenaNet or NCsoft, though.

“Four million units sold is an impressive number and demonstrates that Guild Wars is a proven franchise,” said Bob McKenzie, Senior Vice President of Merchandising, GameStop Corporation. “The Guild Wars franchise delivers an outstanding gaming experience and is clearly an important part of our PC games offerings.”

Source: NCsoft Press Release

YouTube is now implementing advertising directly into hosted videos, although I have been unable to spot one so far, which might be due to the fact that I am based in Canada. However, according to Cnet, the ads are actually quite non-intrusive and shouldn’t be a bother to anyone. During a video, an ad might appear at the bottom and can be clicked to load a new window. It will automatically pause and resume once you are finished watching the ad.

Google announced that it has begun testing a new advertising format for YouTube, the video-sharing giant, with a small number of advertisers. Google, a company that made its fortune on Web advertising, is ignoring the long-held belief by marketing gurus that a video-sharing site had only two choices when deciding where to place ads: before or after the video.

Source: News.com

Although I am not a huge fan of notebook computing to begin with, one of the biggest reasons has to do with the hardware. I cringe when having to game on a notebook, when I know that my desktop would be so much more painless. Storage is one area in particular where things seem to be lagging, as 250GB is the biggest you can go for right now, while 750GB on the desktop is commonplace now. 250GB is indeed a lot of space but it can fill up very quickly in this digital media age.

That’s about to change, come November. Toshiba announced yesterday that they will be releasing a brand new high-end 320GB 2.5″ drive, with spindle speeds of 5400RPM. In addition, lower-density drives are also getting a boost. At around the same time, you will be able to pick up a 200GB model with 7200RPM spindle speeds… ideal for your gaming notebook. As you might expect, pricing is currently not disclosed.

Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of nine new 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDD) that employ the company’s latest advances in HDD technology. The new drives include the MK3252GSX, which achieves an industry-leading*1 capacity of 320GB, and the MK2049GSY, which improves performance with a 7,200rpm rotational speed. Toshiba will mass produce the drives in turn, starting from November.

Source: Toshiba Japan