- Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
- AMD Launches Ryzen PRO 7000 Series Mobile & Desktop Platform
- Intel Launches Sleek Single-Slot Arc Pro A60 Workstation Graphics Card
- NVIDIA Announces Latest Ada Lovelace Additions: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti & RTX 4060
- Maxon Redshift With AMD Radeon GPU Rendering Support Now Available
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Intel Announces Skulltrail – Pricing Revealed
Earlier this month, we published a preview of Intel’s latest high-end enthusiast platform, Skulltrail, and it only took a few weeks before Intel made it officially official. For those unaware, Skulltrail is a platform that gives new meaning to what we know as high-end. Picture one huge motherboard, two extremely fast Quad-Core processors (for 8-cores) and even bragging rights to last for months. That’s Skulltrail.
At today’s GDC in San Francisco, Intel officially announced the platform and revealed pricing at the same time. As was expected, the Core 2 Extreme QX9775 3.2GHz processors are sold at a price of $1,499 to sellers, meaning the end price to you will be closer to $1,650 – $1,700. That’s one processor… Skulltrail takes two.
The motherboard was bound to be an expensive component as well, but it’s actually priced higher than I originally believed, at $649. Again, this will be slightly higher once it hits retail, so expect to pay around $700. Paired together, the base Skulltrail components will cost around $4,100. If you are contemplating such a purchase, be sure to read our preview from a few weeks ago and find out if it’s right for you.
Stay tuned as we will soon be unveiling a follow-up Skulltrail article that will benefit all you budget-focused folk that don’t want to be left out.
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GAME DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE, San Francisco, Feb. 19, 2008 – For those who crave more performance than what four processing cores and a single graphics card can deliver today, Intel Corporation has introduced the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform. Formerly codenamed “Skulltrail,” this is one of the first enthusiast desktop platforms to support two Intel quad core processors for a total of eight processing engines and a choice of multi-card graphics solutions from either ATI* or NVIDIA*.
Source: Intel Press Release
Toshiba Officially Backs Out of HD DVD Camp
It was a fun run, but Toshiba has just made it official that they will be backing out of the HD DVD camps and halting production of their players. Players will continue to be sold for the next few months, but will dwindle off as time passes. For those wondering if Toshiba will now begin making Blu-ray players, CEO Atsutoshi Nishida claims there are “no plans at all”.
Other manufacturers of HD DVD players have also stepped back and decided to cease production, and that includes Toshiba’s add-on for the Xbox 360. In addition, ardent HD DVD supporter, Universal Studios, has also announced their shift to the Blu-ray camps, not surprisingly. Like many, I am hoping they will re-release all of their HD DVD releases on Blu-ray, since there are numerous titles people are missing out on.
And though HD DVD has only just died, the rumors took no time at all to propagate. According to Aussie site Smarthouse, Microsoft might be including a Blu-ray player with the Xbox 360 in as early as May. This sounds like wild speculation, but like us, Microsoft could have seen the writing on the wall for some time now and were planning ahead. Since Blu-ray is the victor, it would make a lot of sense for them to add the support to their console. It’s only a rumor, but a good one.
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Those already sold on high-definition movies will either declare this as a great victory or a tragic loss, though keep in mind that even HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales combined are barely a drop in the bucket compared to regular DVD. Recent statistics from Zip.ca show that high-definition disc rentals account for 0.87 percent of total shipments.
Source: DailyTech
HD DVD to Die Before Week’s End
It should come as surprise to no one that HD DVD’s death is closer than ever, and according to various sources, it could come before the week is over. According to Ars Technica, sources have revealed that the likes of Netflix and Wal-Mart have known about the plans for Toshiba to withdrawal from the HD DVD camp for weeks now, which is the reason both of them made their announcements early.
The past month and a half have not been fun for Toshiba and HD DVD supporters. Since Warner’s announcement to cancel their support for HD DVD, things have gone downhill at an accelerated rate, with numerous other companies following suit – ultimately pushing Toshiba to make the rough, but obvious decision.
Once the announcement is finally made, it’s only a matter of time before movie production is halted and the remaining stores cease to offer them for sale. It’s a harsh way to go, but was inevitable.
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What’s more, our source says that Netflix and Wal-Mart were aware of HD DVD’s impending official death, and rather than allow a long and drawn out withdrawal from the market that could burn customers, those companies chose to broadcast their intentions to the marketplace immediately. This puts pressure on Toshiba and its partners to exit the business without spending months trying to unload product that’s essentially already obsolete.
Source: Ars Technica
Firefox 3 Beta 3 Shows Major Improvement, Near-Ready for Release
I admit it. Whenever I see a new “Beta” for an application, I don’t pay much attention. This is especially true with Mozilla’s Firefox, since I now that even if I wanted to test it out, none of my extensions would work. But, my poor attitude aside, Beta 3 for Firefox has just been released, and reviews are fantastic so far, so it does deserve a little attention.
In fact, Ryan Paul at Ars Technica was so impressed with the latest beta that he went on to say, “I’m convinced that Firefox 3 is very close to being ready for widespread adoption.” After taking a look through the article, I am very tempted to go give it for a spin myself. The better Add-On and Bookmarks management is keen. Worth a look, but remember that if you give this a try, it might make reverting back to Firefox 2 somewhat of a chore, so it might be smart to use a secondary profile for testing.
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In nightly builds that have been released since the beta 3 code freeze, the bookmark process has been refined further. When the user bookmarks the page by clicking the star icon in the URL bar, the browser will inform the user that the page has been bookmarked, but will not provide access to any of the other bookmark information unless the user clicks the Edit button.
Source: Ars Technica
Walt Mossberg Fondles Lenovo’s ThinkPad X300
I am not normally interested in small notebooks, but Lenovo’s upcoming X300 has definitely caught my eye. Like the MacBook AIR, it includes a small frame – built for road warriors who don’t want to lug a heavy notebook around. Battery-life is also improved as a result, so overall it’s a big win. Except for the pricing of course, which falls right below the AIR with SSD at $2,500 – $2,800.
In the case of the X300 though, Lenovo made sure to include a few things left out on the AIR, such as more USB ports, built-in Ethernet and an ODD. To me, the omission of those on the AIR were my biggest gripes, and many others, so it’s nice to see them here. The X300 might not be sleek (and it’s far from sexy) like the AIR, but it still includes the classic ThinkPad styling that many have come to enjoy over the years.
I look forward to seeing Mossberg’s final review on this. Lenovo might just have a winner here.
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Mossberg goes on to note that the ThinkPad X300 weighs 3.12 pounds with a standard battery and optical drive. A comparison is made to the MacBook Air’s lighter 3 pound fighting weight, but Apple manages to leave out all the important stuff to get to that figure.
Source: DailyTech
Red Alert 3 Announced!
Whew, it seems that rumors of weeks past have been proven absolutely true. In the upcoming issue of PC Gamer (April), Red Alert 3 is announced and I suppose there will be a slew of screenshots as well. I for one, cannot wait. I was a huge fan of the first two and hope that this upcoming one lives up to all of its well-deserved hype. I also have to say that this is one of the coolest PC Gamer covers I’ve seen in a while.
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That tease from last week really was Red Alert 3! Just goes to show, dream long enough and hard enough and those dreams can actually come true. The game’s the feature of next month’s PC Gamer cover spread, and since said cover shows only some concept art, all we know about the game is that it’s a third Red Alert.
Source: Kotaku
Best Buy, Netflix Both Shun HD DVD
If you happened to have thought that things couldn’t have gotten worse for HD DVD, then think again. Yesterday, there were two rather sizable announcements, both favoring big Blu.
First is Best Buy, who’ve just made the decision to go pro-Blu-ray, but there’s a twist. While they don’t mention clearing out HD DVD (and they shouldn’t), they plan to begin telling customers that Blu-ray is the future, because as we all know, Blu-buy knows what is right for us, as consumers. We can all be sure that this has absolutely nothing with wanting to make things easier by dedicating floor-space to a single high-def format. That would be foolish thinking.
As if Toshiba needed more to worry about, Netflix also decided to jump the HD DVD ship and begin renting out Blu-ray format movies exclusively. These two companies pairing their decisions is yet another major blow to HD DVD, and if things didn’t look grim before, they are looking a whole lot worse now.
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“We believe our move to feature Blu-ray should help consumers feel confident in their hi-def content choices,” said Best Buy Home Solutions Senior VP Mike Vitelli. “We are excited about helping customers find the right mix of products and services to make the next generation of high definition entertainment technology come alive for them. We believe that Blu-ray is the right solution for consumers.”
Source: DailyTech
eBay Releases Updated Rate Information
It’s no secret that people are displeased with eBay’s recently updated rate plan for sellers, but they are looking to help improve the situation with a few follow-up cuts. This will effect low-value items primarily, looking to completely overlook the people who would really notice the difference – those selling items ranging in the hundreds of dollars.
I’ve sold an item or two on eBay in the past, and I can attest that the final rates are ridiculous. If it’s not bad enough that eBay charges you a “final-value” fee on top of an insertion fee, it’s the double-whammy that sucks… when PayPal charges you for usage also. Selling a $500 item could result in fees of around $30, or more.
Google, where are you with an eBay killer? I wish I could properly convey through text how very serious I am about that question.
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Given the free market options that the web has granted classifieds users to partake in, the developed arena of self-promotion and social media have enabled others, eBay realizes its necessity for ongoing changes with its own service. It seems that eBay has been resisting major changes to its services, but these fee changes are something that will resonate with every user.
Source: Mashable
Yahoo! Rejects Microsoft, Contemplates Merger With… AOL?
Yahoo! has been receiving a lot of press lately, thanks to the fact that they are looking to be bought up by a great company, or merge with another. Like the weather in my city, the potential deals are changing far too fast.. it’s hard to keep up. Last week, we found out that Microsoft had interest in purchasing the company for a staggering $40+ billion, but as it turns out, Yahoo! wants absolutely nothing of the sort. Or, they at least want to play hard to get, in order to increase their worth.
So, Yahoo! doesn’t want Microsoft – what else could possibly happen? Why, a merger with AOL, of course. If you just muttered a silent “WTF” under your breath, don’t worry, you are not alone. Why Yahoo! would even contemplate a merger with a company whose history is scattered, I’m unsure, but these talks could yet be another way to drive up the companies price.
I think Michael Arrington summed it up rather well, “AOL’s great, and I appreciate the effort they are putting into creating quality, cutting edge web services. But AOL plugs none of Yahoo’s holes – no search marketing platform (Google handles that for them). No algorithmic search technology (ditto). And very few actual searches (they have 5% market share, or less).“
Who knew watching Yahoo! play this game would be so much fun?
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In short, while a merger between Yahoo and the content and advertising business of AOL has some synergies and may have made some sense pre-Microsoft bid, it seems impossible that Yahoo shareholders could possibly approve it in light of an existing offer that values Yahoo at a 60 percent premium to where it was trading only 10 days ago.
Source: Mashable
Benchmarking the Benchmarks?
Kyle Bennett is no stranger to stirring the proverbial pot in the tech industry. He’s a well-known gear-head who’s not afraid to speak his mind – which is one reason he rubs so many people the wrong way. And while I may not agree with everything he says, there is one area where we do agree, and that’s with video card benchmarking.
Over at Hard|OCP, he has just posted a new article explaining their testing methodology, and goes into some depth with regards to specifics. Although we’ve not had many GPU reviews in the past, all of our testing is done manually as well, with the exception for a few timedemos for use with our CPU reviews (since timedemos rely a lot on the CPU). For our GPU reviews, we play through all of the levels manually.
This article came at a coincidental time, because I just spent the past weekend benchmarking five GPUs for upcoming reviews, with three more left on the table. I admit, playing the same level over and over and over gets tedious, but a tall Guinness or short Heineken works wonders!
The article is worth a look if you want a another opinion on why timedemos are not the way to do things. But, it will all come down to personal preference, and there is no denying that most of the time, timedemos are somewhat accurate. One interesting finding, though, is that even though most reviews for the AMD HD 3870 X2 show the card to be faster than the 8800 GTX… it turns out that real-world, that’s not the case.
That comparison also couldn’t come at a better time, since that was an identical scenario I will be dealing with later today or tomorrow. I am interested to see if the numbers all scale with his. I’ll post in the news once I have some findings.
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That is not to say that synthetic and canned benchmarks do not have their places in testing, we just don’t usually find those metrics to be indicative of what the end user has in terms of actual experiences. Some website’s want to tell you the “relative performance of a graphics card” based on a timedemo that in no way represents playing the game. That is not what we want to focus on here at HardOCP.
Source: HardOCP
Terrasoft Begins Selling Linux Pre-Loaded PS3s
Running Linux on a PS3 is nothing new, but seeing PS3s sold with Linux pre-loaded is. Creators have Yellow Dog Linux have begun selling such PS3s through their website for a $50 premium over normal retail. Included is the standard 80GB console and regular accessories, along with the pre-installed Yellow Dog Linux, ready for use once hooked up to the TV.
I have a few gripes with this deal. While Linux is a great OS to use, it’s usability factor on the PS3 is far lower than on even a lower-end machine. Few applications are optimized for the Cell architecture, which results in rather lackluster performance (try compiling something to find out what I mean). But, it’s still a very fun experiment, and one that inspires much hacking.
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The other gripe I has is that the resulting video will not look that great on all displays/televisions. On my television for example, it doesn’t look that great. In fact, it makes my eyes want to bleed after a while. On my computer monitor, however, it looks better, but still not perfect. For actual Linux use, a real computer would make a lot more sense. The PS3s on-board GPU was not made for PC use, that much is obvious.
Source: Terrasoft Solutions
Dell Removes Select AMD Models From Site, AMD Doesn’t Mind
Where their processors are concerned, AMD can’t catch a break lately. Late last week, news broke that Dell removed many AMD-based machines from their website, noting that they would still be available through regular retail outlets and also via the telephone. Why they would be available through the telephone and not online, where the process is made much easier, is way beyond me.
As it turns out though, this move doesn’t hit AMD like many think it would. An AMD spokesman is quoted as saying, “We feel very good about the relationship with Dell and the growth ramp we’ve experienced.”, and the fact that Dell is pushing for more sales outside of online/phone could in the end, help AMD a great deal. As with most things, time will tell.
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About 80 percent of Dell’s sales are made to business, government and education customers, and about 20 percent to consumers. The company is trying to bolster its consumer business by breaking from its strict reliance on Internet and phone orders to offer machines through a growing list of retailers.
Source: MSNBC
Microsoft Makes WGA in Vista SP1 More of a Nag
I’m sure it goes without saying that Microsoft’s WGA protection for Windows is nothing more than a pain in the rear, but they are working towards making it much easier to deal with along with the launch of Vista’s Service Pack 1. But at the same time, they are not making it easier at all, because it becomes much more of a nag – in the “eat your vegetables or no video games” kind of way.
Prior to this updated method, WGA used to disable certain features of Vista, such as Aero and ReadyBoost. It could even so as far as disallowing you to enter the OS until you activate… meaning you would have to go through Safe Mode in order to access any of your documents. With the upcoming update, WGA will add these caveats to a non-activated install:
- Add a 15-second nag to the login
- Change the desktop background to black each hour
- Pop up regular reminders in the systray
- Optional Windows Updates are not accessible
- Force people to reinstall Windows XP
My question to most people is, why not just go ahead and activate? It sure seems to be the easiest way around things. Of course, the people this effects most are those who fiddle with different hardware all the time (motherboards, mainly). Since I use Vista only on the benchmarking machine, re-installing is not much of a problem, but for those who actually use their machines for regular purposes, it would no doubt become annoying, fast. Microsoft needs to drop WGA and be done with it.
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Personally, as someone who tinkers with the hardware settings on a regular basis, these nag screens offer a welcome relief from being forced to activate when in the middle of something (this happens to me all the time when using virtual machines). Personally, I’d rather that Microsoft abandon WGA altogether, but this is a step in the right direction.
Source: ZDNet Blogs
OCZ Offers Up a Fast 4GB DDR2 Kit
Maxing out your machine with lots of RAM has never been easier, thanks in part to cheap DDR2 parts. Last year, 8GB of RAM would have set you back at least $600, but now, prices have dwindled to the extent of that being possible for as low as $200. It’s truly incredible, and a huge draw for all consumers to go overboard with their memory configuration.
Thanks to OCZ, that 8GB of installed RAM no longer has to be slow. Their new Reaper HPC DDR2-1066 improves upon the DDR2-800 kits last year that were considered “high-end”. Pricing is not mentioned in the press release, but it will no doubt hover around the $200 mark. One things for sure though, a high-end motherboard will be required if 8GB of RAM at stock speeds is planned. Low-end boards will be unlikely able to handle that type of stress.
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“In order to maximize the system performance, especially in the latest games, 4GB of memory are more and more becoming a must have…but it is also necessary to maintain the throughput regardless of the increase in density. The new PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB kits combine the best of two worlds by delivering extreme bandwidth at 1066 MHz data frequency at 5-5-5 latencies, in combination with advanced heatpipe-based thermal management to again raise the bar for high system memory densities.”
Source: OCZ Press Release
Donate Games to the Troops in Iraq
Don’t sell your games to GameStop, send them overseas! If anyone needs to relax with some blood and guts that aren’t real, it’s the troops currently serving overseas. And don’t forget that Hello Kitty DS game!
CAG neushane, who is a member of the US Navy and is currently deployed in Fallujah, is spearheading the effort to collect your used (or new) games, and distribute them amongst his fellow troops.
Please send your game donations to:
SK1 Shane Neuhaus
30 NCR DET 1
FPO AP 09381-1702
Current generation games are preferred. Postage should be similar to shipping to most other USA destinations. Once your games arrive in Iraq, they will be photographed along with their recipient.
Cheap Ass Games is setting up a Flikr gallery to showcase all the photos.
Source: Cheap Ass Games
Farewell Myst
Much to my dismay, but not to my surprise, Myst Online: Uru Live is going offline, due once again to financial issues and most likely, lack of subscriptions.
GameTap has decided to discontinue the operation of Myst Online: Uru Live. Although Myst Online: Uru Live will be completely shut down in the near future, the game servers will remain live for the next 60 days. During that time, both newcomers and existing players can continue to experience the amazing world of Myst Online, explore the game’s many Ages, and interact with other players in the game and on the MystOnline.com website and forums. After 60 days, the title will be removed from the GameTap service, though MystOnline.com will remain live and active for fans to continue to share their passion for this important game franchise.
Source: GameTap Forums
Intel’s Skulltrail Dual Quad-Core Platform Preview
Ever since Intel first released their Core 2 Duo processors, AMD has been struggling to keep up. Though their Phenom launch went fine overall, it failed to retake the throne from the big blue, and Intel is taking every advantage to keep things that way. Their next move? Skulltrail.
In case you happened to have missed it, we posted a preview today of Intel’s upcoming platform, which consists of a D5400XS (Desktop 5400 Extreme Series) and two Quad-Core processors. The ones used in the review are the same models that will be marketed alongside the platform, the Core 2 Extreme QX9775, clocked at 3.2GHz. In laymens terms, it’s OMG! powerful.
The platform utilizes FB-DIMM memory, which seems like an odd choice given the target audience, but the entire platform overall is extremely stable, which is Intel’s highest concern. Or at least it would seem that way – just ignore the 1.9Vcore possibility in the BIOS. Other features include support for NVIDIA’s SLI and AMD’s Crossfire, resulting in quite a bit of flexibility.
We were unable to cover a few points that we wanted to in time of publishing, so we will be following up with a few other pieces of related content prior to launch. Stay tuned.
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Where Skulltrail is concerned, great possibilities arise. Up until now, such a platform has been unavailable for the regular enthusiast, whether it be an overclocking or gaming enthsusiast, but Skulltrail promises to feed the insatiable need of those who thrive on having more power. Does it deliver on its promises? It does, as long as you have the means to feed it.
Source: Intel Skulltrail Preview
ASUS Xonar and Ultrasone PRO 750’s Under Linux
Two weeks ago, I posted about using CMI8788-based sound cards under Linux, with a status report of my personal experiences. Not much has changed since then, although the developer, Clemens Ladisch has released a few subsequent beta drivers, the most current being from Jan 30. Though still considered a beta, it’s noted that the driver is “almost 100%”.
In the last post, I mentioned that I didn’t have an abundance of mixers available, as I’ve seen others have, but I believe it’s due to the fact I am using the PCI-e version of the card. I could be wrong, but I am out of other ideas.
That said, I’ve since picked up a pair of Ultrasone PRO 750s, the company’s recent upgrade to the PROline 750. I’m no audiophile, but I can already recommend picking up a good pair of headphones for use with the Xonar under Linux… the quality is truly incredible. These headphones haven’t gone through a proper break-in period, so I will be able to comment more next week.
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Regardless of that though, the headphones sound incredible, and the Xonar works well, despite the lack of overall mixers. I performed quick tests between Windows and Linux, and neither had an obvious advantage. What will lack is the inability to use special Dolby effects like the Windows drivers include, but I personally found a more enjoyable sound without any sort of software manipulation.
Even with only a few weeks worth of experience, I can already recommend picking up an CMI8788-based card to anyone running Linux and who are looking for a richer audio experience. Hit up the link below to read Rory’s review of the card from September.
Source: ASUS Xonar D2 Review
NY Giants Win Superbowl, End Patriots Winning Streak
To the chagrin of Patriot fans all over (and the euphoria for anyone in Indiana state), the New York Giants have taken home the Lombardi Trophy, and a well-deserved one at that. It could be argued that most of the game was rather laid-back, but the last ten minutes were anything but. The Patriots looked to have the game locked down, but thanks to a perfect pass from Manning to Burress, the game officially belonged to the Giants.
Peyton Manning may be considered one of the best Quarterbacks of all time, but Eli is certainly headed down the same path, proven by last nights game. As a follow-up to the match, ESPN has a write-up of ten things learned from the game, with my personal favorite being “Tom Brady is human”. Indeed, the way he took what seemed like twenty hits during the game noticeably shook him up and didn’t bode well for the Patriots outcome.
Congrats to the Giants for an excellent victory.
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He was hit on more than half of his first 17 pass attempts in the first half alone — the Giants sacked him three times and knocked him down six other times — and Brady actually looked rattled at times. He couldn’t stand in the pocket long enough to throw deep to Moss, and he even seemed confused at times. The bottom line: Brady faced his toughest challenge of the season at the worst possible time (he was sacked five times).
Source: ESPN
Valve Releases Free Steamworks Platform for Game Developers
Valve announced something the other day that was actually quite interesting. Called Steamworks, the platform is designed to help game developers out and let them focus on what’s important… the game. Steamworks takes out the hassle of all the boring stuff that surrounds game publishing, including copy protection, installation methods, auto-updaters, news alerts and the like, by offering an all-in-one platform that’s entirely customizable. So, if a developer chooses to use it, the end-user won’t even know that it’s built on the Steamworks platform.
This is a fantastic idea and one that’s going to be appreciated by many. I don’t necessarily agree with all of how Steam handles things, but a -free- platform like this is going to save developers many hours of anguish, and instead put that time to good use… by creating a great game. It’s a smart move for Valve as well, since many of these developers will be encouraged to sell their game through Steam. It seems like a win/win.
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Developers are going to be able to skin this stuff so that it’s basically invisible to the user. If they used Steamworks on their disc and didn’t use Steam to distribute you’d install, then have a box come up and say “hey, you have to create this account and unlock the game†and they’d launch and go into the game. The only time you’d see Steam was in creating an account, everything else can be reskinned, auto-updating will be transparent to the user already.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
eBay Sellers Upset at New Rates
I received an e-mail from eBay the other day, noting lower rates. After I picked up my jaw and scratched my head due to confusion, I simply accepted the fact that “feebay” decided to begin pleasing their sellers, instead of making them irate. But it looks like I spoke too soon, as it appears the fees are speculated to do a lot more harm than good.
Bloggers all around the web are gathering together and speaking against the new rates. According to Ina Steiner, of Auction Bytes, the new rates could increase some sellers fees by as much as 33%, despite eBay claiming that 60% of sellers should enjoy lower rates.
It might take a few weeks before the real effects are seen, but so far, things are not looking too good.
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“Every seller’s going to have to go back and review their business practices and see what this means for them individually,” said eBay spokesman Usher Lieberman. It isn’t just the fee structure that has sellers out of sorts: eBay also changed its feedback system so that sellers cannot give a negative or neutral rating to buyers.
Source: Epicenter Blog
Autoblog Drives the Tesla Roadster
If there is one car that has been getting a lot of publicity over the past year, it would be the electric-powered Tesla Roadster. It’s all for good reason, too. Easy on gas, better for the environment… and best of all, it’s gorgeous. Until now, not many from the press have been able to take the car for a spin, but Damon at Autoblog managed to get behind the seat for a good 100 miles.
The car, being electric, responds to the road far different than what seems normal. The Roadster can accelerate while going uphill without skipping a beat – no need to shift. On top of that, it’s fun to drive, just like the Lotus Elise, on which it’s based. The comfort level is not mentioned, but it must be better than the Elise, which is like driving a box.
The review is good, and so are the included videos. If only I had $98,000 hanging around…
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First reaction: My God, I’m in a Lotus. No surprise considering that the Tesla is built along side the Elise at the Hethel production facility. The MOMO steering wheel, seats and dash are all carryovers from the donor car, but the carbon fiber transmission tunnel, carpeting and gauge cluster are all specific to the Tesla. And about that gauge cluster… A 13,500 rpm redline causes a grin reminiscent of Jack Nicholson, post-chemical plant explosion.
Source: Autoblog
Nikon Announces D60 D-SLR
Whenever Nikon sends a release along the wire, I tend to get excited. The inner Nikonian comes out and I eat every word. This time was a little different though. The D60, at first glance, doesn’t look like much more than a D40 or D40x, but looking closer, there is luckily more to the picture.
The D60 shares the same body as the D40 and D40x, and also includes the same 10.2MP sensor of the latter. The EXPEED image processor found on the D3/D300 is included here though, but that’s all that seems to be shared. There is no live-view screen and no additional focus-points (still three). What it does have though, is a dust-reduction feature… and about time too.
Perhaps one of the nicest features is the new kit lens. It’s almost identical to the D40/D40x kit lens, except it has Vibration Reduction built-in, a technology that’s becoming ever more popular and is resulting in lower prices – a huge win for the consumer. Sadly, pricing of the D60 is not known, and won’t be until PMA, probably, but it will no doubt hover around the same price-point as the D40x. Overall, a solid launch, but the competition seem to be the winner here. If not for any other reason… the lack of the live view is a huge hit.
You can read all of today’s Nikon press releases on their site here, and if you want to just see more of the D60, the gallery is here.
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Such clarity is reinforced by Nikon’s dust reduction countermeasures. To avoid picture-degrading dust particles accumulating near the imaging sensor, the D60 comes equipped with the innovative Image Sensor Cleaning function and Nikon’s exclusive Airflow Control System. These functions both reduce dust accumulation to give you even better picture quality.
Source: Nikon Imaging
Fresh 9800GX2 Pictures Leaked
There have been a few websites to leak G92 pictures in the past month, but Chinese site ChipHell has those all beat with a few shots of their own. These images come at a perfect time, since AMD’s HD 3870 X2 launch was just yesterday. The first fact most people were posing was this… NVIDIA’s dual-GPU solution would no doubt beat AMD’s offering. From a technical standpoint, that might be true, but it sure isn’t true where looks are concerned.
The 9800GX2, unlike the HD 3870 X2, will consist of two PCB boards, a la 7950GX2. This seems reasonable, since it worked the first time. However, if AMD managed to create an elegant solution such as the single-PCB 3870 X2, why did NVIDIA stick to dual-PCBs? It might all work the same, but the finished result is certainly unrefined.
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In all fairness though, these images are not exactly representative of the final product. In fact, they are plain disgusting, with gobs of thermal paste all over the place. Hopefully the retail product will change my mind. In the end though, looks don’t matter. It’s the performance that does, and we should know more about that in the coming weeks.
Source: VR-Zone
Windows 7 Could be Launched in 2011
Last week, I linked to a rumor that Windows 7, the next version of our beloved OS, would potentially be released in late 2009 – only three years after Vista. But, as is becoming far too common lately, it turns out the rumor was fully unsubstantiated and has been debunked by the fellows at Redmond:
“We are currently in the planning stages for Windows 7 and expect it will take approximately 3 years to develop. The specific release date will be determined once the company meets its quality bar for release.”
Three years, for the uninitiated, would bring us to 2011. I don’t know about you, but I am certainly not in a hurry for Vista’s follow-up, and I believe Microsoft needs all the time they can get to make sure it’s not as disappointing as Vista’s launch was.
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Contrary to all that is being said on the net, it clearly looks like Microsoft is NOT planning to release Windows 7 in 2009. Microsoft’s official response, by an Email dated 26th January, 2008, to WinVistaClub states that Windows 7 is still in the planning stage and will take approximately 3 years to develop. The following is the extract of the mail:
Source: WinVistaClub