- 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
Social & RSS Feeds
Latest Videos
Latest News
Tech News
WiFi-Capable SD Card Removes Need For USB Cable
If you own a digital camera, and there is little doubt that you do, then you well realize how much of an arduous chore it is to find the USB cable in order to milk the pictures onto your computer. That’s where Eye-Fi’s SD card would come in handy.
Though it retains the same form-factor as a normal SD card, it features an embedded WiFi chip which will allow offloading of all the images to your PC… wirelessly, with the help of some proprietary software. At $100, it’s not cheap, but something like this has to catch on, so prices should not be so high for long.
 |
The “Eye-Fi” is a brilliantly simple device: a flash memory card with a Wi-Fi chip inside. As long as you remain in range of your computer’s network, the Eye-Fi will automatically transfer any image you snap to your computer, where it can then be uploaded to the web manually or with the Eye-Fi software. (And it would be simple to set up some automatic uploading for instant uploads as soon as you take a snapshot if you wanted a custom solution.)
Source: BoingBoing
40GB PS3 Model Uses Less Power, Runs Cooler
According to new reports, the 40GB PS3 model not only runs cooler and is quieter, but also uses 65W less overall power, for a total running wattage of 135W. Quite an impressive drop in power draw for just the processor swap to 65nm. This almost makes up for the blatant lack of backwards compatibility. Almost.
 |
A report from German site Computer Base reveals that consumers giving up backward compatibility on their 40GB PS3s are at least getting something in return. The new systems utilize the new 65nm version of the Cell processor, reducing the power usage from 200 watts to 135 and further limiting the heat and noise the system gives off.
Source: Joystiq
Apple Sells 2 Million Copies of Leopard in Three Days
Apple is a company that loves their huge numbers, so they wasted no time to let the world know that they sold 2,000,000 copies of their latest OS X, Leopard, over the weekend. No matter how you look at it, 666,000 copies per day (Fri – Sun) is an impressive feat and once again proves that Apple fans don’t sit around when a new product is released. I’d be interested to see numbers in the next week and see how fast (or slow) they dwindle.
 |
CUPERTINO, California-October 30, 2007-Apple(R) today announced that it sold (or delivered in the case of maintenance agreements) over two million copies of Mac OS(R) X Leopard since its release on Friday, far outpacing the first-weekend sales of Mac OS X Tiger, which was previously the most successful OS release in Apple’s history. Sales included copies sold at Apple’s retail stores, Apple Authorized Resellers, the online Apple Store(R), under maintenance agreements and bundled with new Mac(R) computers. Leopard is the sixth major release of Mac OS X and is packed with more than 300 new features.
Source: Apple Press Release
Could PlentyOfFish Be Worth $1 Billion?
I first learned about PlentyOfFish last year when a friend passed me a link. It was an impressive read. One man, one server, and $10,000 per day ($3.5m/y). It’s hard to not feel a bit envious. It turns out the site is still growing rapidly with over 500,000 unique logins per day, and Markus, the man behind the site, expects $10+ million per year earnings next year. Not bad for a site created and wholly run by a single man!
 |
I caught up with Markus today via email and asked how the business is doing now. He didn’t want to get specific about earnings, but he said that POF will earn $10 Million + next year (which puts it at around $30k per day). So just in earnings, POF has grown rapidly over the past year or so. As well as Adsense, income now comes from banner ads and affiliate marketing. A May Wall St Journal article has a good general profile of Markus and his company.
Source: Read/WriteWeb
$197 HD-DVD Player On Sale Now
Price drops on Toshiba’s HD-A2 HD-DVD player have been lingering around the web for the past week, but now it’s official. Circuit City is selling the player now for $197.99, which looks to be the actual SRP. Wal-Mart will be selling the player beginning this Saturday, for $198 as well. This is the same player that sold for $499 just last December, so this is quite a deal. As an added bonus, the five-free movies deal applies on this player as well.
 |
Toshiba’s HD-A2 was originally released in December 2006 with a $499 price tag. Over the past year, the price for the player has steadily dropped to $399 in April and to $299 in July. Toshiba’s long-running five free HD DVD movie offer [PDF] has also been available to give customers more bang for the buck. The Toshiba HD-A2 supports a 1080i resolution and comes equipped with an HDMI 1.2 port. The player features a SHARC DSP and supports Dolby Digital Plus 5.1, Dolby TrueHD 5.1, DTS 5.1 and DTS HD audio formats.
Source: DailyTech
openSUSE On Your PS3
I can’t remember how I stumbled on this link, or when the page was even published, but if you are interested in installing a Linux distro other than Gentoo or Fedora on your PS3, you will be good to take a look at this guide for installing openSUSE.
 |
Personal experiences with Linux on the PS3 have been good. I’ve had Gentoo on mine for the past few months and dabble with it every once in a while. I have mine set up to run an NES emulator which I can control with the PS3 gamepad, although that took a fair amount of hacking and tweaking to make function properly. Regardless, it would be nice if Sony opened up more and offered full support of the CPU and on-board graphics as well, since the console itself is very slow with normal PC tasks, despite having a blazing-fast Cell processor.
Source: openSUSE PS3
Make Your Computer Cry – Crysis Demo Is Here
If you’ve been living under some virtual rock and somehow ignored the fact that a Crysis demo is now available, you should quit what you are doing and grab it! The demo weighs in at 1.77GB (!) and apparently is doing a great job of bringing huge machines to their knees. Even those with Quad-Core processors and 8800GTX cards need to use lowered settings in order to use high resolutions. Ahh, when’s the last time a game was released that truly pushed high-end hardware like this?
 |
This is a huge chunk-o-game, which if explored gleefully could take you well over an hour to play through. (I’m sure idiots could rush through it in minutes, but I care not for the antics of idiots). And finally, we can believe in the powers of the suit. But there are some problems.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun
The Mac’o’Lantern
The time has come in many cultures that All Hallow’s Eve is celebrated, often with the mutilation and humiliation of a pumpkin. Happily, there is a geek way to do this! Now when you read the title, I’m sure you groaned to yourself, but I was being serious.
That my friends, is a Mac’o’Lantern. ‘Nuff said.
Find out how (and why) by clicking on the Macmod pic on this site. Plus there is a bonus PC mod from 2005.
And if you’re a really big fan of gutting and carving your pumpkins each year, then perhaps you need to see this video, it will change how you see this particularly macabre ritual.
Edited: Please note, I was inspired by this article and wanted to share with you my creation: See this Geek Girl’s Hallowe’en Tribute.
OCZ Acquires Hypersonic PC
OCZ has gone and done it again. Earlier this year, they made the surprise announcement that they acquired PC Power & Cooling, and now they’ve acquired Hypersonic PC, a high-end system builder. We won’t be seeing any OCZ-themed laptops or desktops, but you can be sure all of their systems will utilize OCZ memory and PCP&C power supplies.
 |
Sunnyvale, Calif. -October 25, 2007-OCZ today announced immediate plans to bring Hypersonic PC into the OCZ Technology Group. Known primarily as the worldwide leader in innovative, high-performance computer memory and power supply units, OCZ acquired Hypersonic PC to employ their rich expertise in high-end system building and take the organization and mobile gaming to the next level. Hypersonic has been paving the way in maximum performance computing since 1996 and established themselves as a leader attributable to their diligent focus on technology, quality, craftsmanship, and world-class support. Under the OCZ Technology Group, the Hypersonic vision can be taken to new heights and grow in key areas of innovation, product development, and market reach.
Source: OCZ Technology Press Release
Intel Opens Arizona 45nm Fab
To prepare for their upcoming 45nm processor launch, Intel has opened up a brand new $3B fab in Arizona, named FAB 32. Production is underway now, with Penryn/Yorkfield availability still set for Nov. 12. Fab D1D in Oregon has been churning out 45nm samples for a few months now, so it’s likely that most of the launch product will have been produced there. You can read the full press release below.
 |
CHANDLER, Ariz., Oct. 25, 2007 – Production of a new generation of microprocessors for PCs, laptops, servers and other computing devices officially began today inside of Intel Corporation’s first high-volume 45 nanometer (nm) manufacturing factory in Chandler, Ariz.
Source: Intel Press Release
Xbox 360 Built-In HD-DVD Rumor Debunked
In our newspost this past Monday, we linked to a rumor that Toshiba was working directly with Microsoft to create an Xbox 360 that would include a built-in HD-DVD drive. Toshiba has now stepped up and firmly stated, “It’s got nothing to do with us.” This doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s actually untrue, as it’s far from unusual for PR to deny something one day and admit to it the next, but chances are that this claim is true. Too bad… it actually sounded like a solid idea.
 |
As with every ‘Microsoft to add HD DVD to 360’ rumour – currently at about one a month – Microsoft is dismissing the claims. But so is Toshiba.A spokesperson for Tosh told us: ‘It’s got nothing to do with us. But we know Microsoft doesn’t want to include the HD DVD drive so as not to limit the user’s experience.
Source: Yahoo! News
Blu-ray Doubled HD-DVD Sales Between Q1 – Q3
We just posted about Toshiba’s latest HD-DVD feat, but according to Home Media Research, Blu-ray outpaced HD-DVD by a huge margin between January 1 – September 30 of this year. While Blu-ray sold 2.4 million titles, HD-DVD lagged behind selling only 60% as many, at 1.4 million. Still, as mentioned earlier, it’s still far too early to declare an actual winner, especially considering how good this month has been to Toshiba.
 |
This announcement, which indicates an almost 2 to 1 ratio of Blu-ray sales to HD-DVD, was a bit of a killjoy for the HD-DVD camp who were thrilled by the record setting success of Transformers on HD DVD, chronicled here at DailyTech. This announcement, which indicates an almost 2 to 1 ratio of Blu-ray sales to HD-DVD, was a bit of a killjoy for the HD-DVD camp who were thrilled by the record setting success of Transformers on HD DVD, chronicled here at DailyTech.
Source: DailyTech
PS3 1.94 Firmware To Add DualShock3 Support
An upcoming firmware upgrade for the PS3 will add DualShock3 support, according to Shacknews. The firmware will also be bundled with Rachet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, thanks to the fact that it’s the first title to support the upcoming gamepad. It’s good to see that DualShock is on it’s way, but the big question is, why in the heck did it take so long? Even at this point, no one is sure when our shores will see it, although Japan will be getting their vibration on next month.
 |
By pressing the middle PS button on a PS3 controller, the DualShock3’s rumble can be toggled on or off from the Controller Setting menu in-game. Listed as the “vibration function,” rumble will obviously only be felt with DualShock3 controllers and not the rumble-less Sixaxis.
Source: Shacknews
Transformers HD-DVD Sets Sales Record
Not too long ago, people were beginning to believe that HD-DVD’s days were numbered, but now that’s not even a remote thought. The format war is strong, but neither is close to becoming a clear winner at this point. HD-DVD seems to be pulling ahead though, as the format-exclusive Transformers movie hit a new sales record, selling 100K copies in the first week and 190K to date. It’s still way, way too early in the “next-gen” cycle to be that impressed, but Toshiba still has reason to celebrate.
 |
It’s actually a little sad that this movie didn’t get released on Blu-ray. I imagine that it would have done just as well on either format. However, Paramount received a hefty donation from the HD DVD camp to only release it on the one high-def format. When will this format war end?
Source: SlashGear
Top Gear Coming To.. PS3?
Sony will be launching a “Gran Turismo” channel on the PlayStation Network some time next year, and apparently 40+ episodes of Top Gear will be available for download and purchase. I’m a big Top Gear fan, so I look forward to being able to download “on demand” some of my favorite episodes. I do wonder what type of image quality and aspect ratio these episodes will have though. I don’t believe the show is available in HD anywhere, but it would be great to have that option.
 |
Gran Turismo 5 is not set to release until at least mid-2008, but this year will see the release of the appetite-whetting downloadable-or-retail Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, recently revealed as supporting up to 16 players online. A demo is currently available through the Japanese PSN. The game’s full release, set for December in Japan, will include a virtual version of Top Gear’s well known test track, Hammerhead turn and all (playable The Stig likely not included).
Source: Shacknews
RAID Card For Your CompactFlash
When adding a RAID card into your PC, chances are good that you care a lot about performance, or reliability. Well, I’m not sure how to take this one. Addonics Technologies has just released a $50 PCI RAID card… that allows you to plug in up to four CompactFlash cards. Of course this is not supposed to be a performance option, but it sounds more like a solution for those who have a lot of old CompactFlash cards lying around who just can’t bare to throw them away. With prices of CompactFlash, you might as well just purchase a second hard-drive if extra space is all you care about.
 |
The adapter here is the cheap part. If you want a solid amount of flash storage, the costs quickly go up. For example, an 8GB Lexar 300x UDMA card costs about $170. Multiply by four and you’re looking at $680 for 32GB raw capacity, and less if you configure the RAID to protect your data.
Source: News.com
CoolIT Keeps Workstations Cool, Too
It’s no secret that were fans of CoolIT, as their products are great for those overclockers who want effective cooling without installing an insane setup, such as phase change. Apparently, workstation and server folks need the same kind of cooling ability, so CoolIT has released a special model for those, which will retail for a hefty $449. The system is designed to be quiet yet effective, and will co-exist with the MTEC Control Center for predictive cooling ability.
 |
CoolIT Systems announces the new Workstation Cooler, a CPU liquid cooling device utilizing CoolIT’s patented, award-winning MTEC technology. With this device, small/medium businesses, video production/pro audio studios, game developers, government offices, and churches can maximize the performance from their workstation PC. Because workstations and servers typically require power-intensive software applications, the CPU and other internal computing hardware are placed under a heavy load which can in some cases, cause the entire system to overheat or fail.
Source: CoolIT Systems
Another BitTorrent Tracking Site Bites the Dust
It is not a good time to be the admin of a BitTorrent tracker website. Just days ago, popular UK TV torrent tracking site, TV-Links.co.uk was shut down, with the owner arrested. Now, the same scenario has occurred with Oink.cd (previously Oink.me.uk), a site with over 180,000 members and what’s said to have been the leading source for pre-release albums.
In addition to servers being seized, the 24-year-old Middlesbrough owner was arrested. The past year in particular has been rough on BitTorrent websites, with some being forced to block visitors from specific Countries and others being shut down without warning. Somehow, though, the Pirate Bay folks continue to manage success.
 |
Pre-release piracy is regarded as particularly damaging because it leads to unauthorized mixes or unfinished versions of artists’ recordings appearing months before they are meant to. Often it is those in the industry, who get promotional or demonstration copies of albums before their release, who are involved in leaking them to file-sharing sites.
Source: Reuters
KDE 4.0 Beta 3 Pictorial
The next major KDE update is due in early December, and early looks are all over the place. This one in particular takes a look at many various aspects of the updated desktop environment, and I have to say, things are looking good. In fact, things are turning out a lot better than I had personally expected. I’m not one who loves “OS bling”, but KDE seems to be doing a good job of mastering a clean design and great usability. There are some areas that still need polish, but it doesn’t look like anything should effect the December 11th launch.
 |
The bottom shows the new panel, the new menu button and one type of the new clock. Plasma at work. The menu is a KDE 4 port of OpenSuse’s new KDE menu and therefore comes with several tabs: Favorites, Applications, My Computer, Recently Used and Leave. While I’m not if I will grow used to this it definitely can help new users. It also supports search for application names or search for meta names (like “Browser”).
Source: Liquidat Blog
Hitachi Rolls Out Energy-Efficient Hard-Drives
Hitachi has unveiled a replacement for their DeskStar series, which will be available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB densities. The eco-friendly P7K500s will use at most 4.8W on the higher-end models thanks to a few different methods, such as having a lower-powered mode and also switching regulators that prove more efficient for voltage conversion.
The reason we are not seeing 750GB or larger drives is due to the fact that it’s more difficult to have “efficient” drives at those speeds/densities. In order for it to be an efficient drive, it would need to use at least 50% less power, which might be a challenge. Still, such is the way of technology, it shouldn’t take that long before we see drives like this surface.
 |
Hitachi was mum about whether we’ll be seeing a terabyte model to match Western Digital’s Caviar GP anytime soon. As with any energy-efficient drive, the details are all in the benchmarks. We’ve found that the drives do indeed save a little bit of power — over the course of one year, you get about enough for a Taco Bell meal. However, energy-efficient drives also suffer from slower overall speeds than their similarly configured companions in the storage marketplace.
Source: Maximum PC
Pear Cable Withdraws from James Randi’s $1M Challenge
Earlier this month, we reported on a story where James Randi was putting audiophiles to the test with a $1 million dollar prize. This all began because of an audio editor who highly recommended a pair of $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables, noting they were far better than the Monster cable equivalents, which of course cost far, far less.
Only a week later, Pear offered to take the challenge by offering up the same audiophile who wrote the review. Well, in a move that’s not surprising, Pear has since withdrawn from the contest and now notes that they will not provide the cables for the test. Yeah… that’s not a sign of defeat at all. However, if this audiophile believes so strongly that he can tell the difference between $80 cables and $7,250 cables, then it’s a small price to pay when there’s $1 million right around the corner.
 |
At the request of Michael Fremer, with whom we have been communicating regarding his challenging of your assertions regarding high-end audio cables, we would like to inform you directly of Pear Cable’s decision to not participate in your claimed challenge. While we support Mr. Fremer’s efforts, and believe firmly in the performance of our products, we prefer that he simply use his own reference cables in his proposed test.
Source: Gizmodo
Nigerian Man Builds Homemade Helicopter
I’ve built little in my time, and I blame the reason on my not planning things through. Apparently that’s not the case for a Nigerian man, who built a HOMEMADE HELICOPTER. Being a physics undergraduate, Mubarak wanted to build some vehicle and actually found it cheaper to build a helicopter than a car. Being a keen junk salvager, he scored some parts from a crashed plane and other vehicles. The helicopter is unable to go higher than 7ft, but it sure beats the desk (which came with instructions) I’ve managed to build in the past!
 |
It is powered by a second-hand 133 horsepower Honda Civic car engine and kitted out with seats from an old Toyota saloon car. Its other parts come from the carcass of a Boeing 747 which crashed near Kano some years ago. For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.
Source: Yahoo! News
Is the PS2 Finally On Its Way Out?
Considering the fact that the PS2 is still selling well in the marketplace, it’s hard to imagine that the console is actually dying. But according to reports, software sales fell 47% in September over last year, whereas August was 33%. For one month, that’s quite a leap.
Despite lingering software sales, it’s unlikely it will effect the console that much immediately. The PS2 is an outstanding offering for those who like to game on a budget. You can score a brand new machine for less than $100 and get games for under $10. What’s not to love about that? Of course, being a “budget” console is the reason the developers are starting to pull the plug on their titles.
 |
Electronic Arts’ sell-through decreased 6%Y/Y (after a 16%Y/Y increase last year), and its market share declined to 16.9% (vs. 26.4% in Sept-06). More importantly, both Madden 2008 and NCAA 2008 football franchises underperformed considerably in the month, putting into question whether EA will need to reduce pricing to drive sales in coming months.
Source: Game Daily
Apple Fires 800 People Due To Rebate Fraud
A recent Apple hiring spree is now making more sense, as reports are that over 800 employees have been sacked. The cause? When Apple released those $100 iPhone rebates, it turns out that all of these employees partook in them as well. The only problem is, they got their iPhones for free. That’s a huge problem as far as Apple’s concerned, and who’s to blame them? I’m actually quite surprised that so many were actually foolish enough to risk their jobs over the sake of $100! Don’t bite the hand that iFeeds.
 |
We’ve been told that as many as 800 Apple Store retail associates who received free iPhones have also cashed in on the $100 iPhone credit that Apple issued for early buyers. Apple understandably wasn’t too happy about shelling out an extra ~$80,000 to employees who already scored free iPhones, so pink iSlips have apparently been issued to the bunch.
Source: Ars Technica
Canada To Tax Legal Music Downloads
Oh Canada, what the hell? If a new measure goes through, it means that those who purchase legal music online (iTunes, Puretracks, etc) will be taxed. The requested charges would be $0.021 per individual song or $0.015 per song if a full album is purchased. Users of streaming music services would be charged 5.7% – 6.8% of their total monthly fee.
These prices might not seem like much, but the fact is, Canadians would be charged extra on their legal music to compensate for piracy. How does this make any sense? The surcharge on blank media was ridiculous enough, but this is something I will never be able to wrap my head around. The only thing this will accomplish is making piracy look that much more attractive.
 |
The tax may have a significant impact for online stores such as iTunes and Canada-based Puretracks, which will have to factor the amount both into future and past sales. The new tax would be retroactive to January 1st, 1996 and would effectively cover all sales and subscriptions from such services since their beginnings, which typically followed shortly after those in the US. Free services are not currently subject to the added cost.
Source: MacNN