DV Hardware

MSI prepping mATX Intel H57 motherboard

Expreview reports MSI is developing a new mATX motherboard based on the Intel H57 chipset.

The H57M-ED65 features an OC-Genie chip, and enables users to adjust BCLK conveniently. Besides, the board packs two PCI-e x16 slots, HDMI/DVI/D-Sub/DisplayPort connectivities, and supports MSI�s patented Super-Pipe technology. H57M-ED65 seems to be a nice offering, if it�s not too pricey.

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OCZ to unveil USB 3.0 external SSD at CES

PC Perspective received news from OCZ that the company will show off an external SSD with USB 3.0 interface at CES 2010.

While we don't have any other specifications at this time, this is exactly the kind of portable USB 3.0 device that we need to really push the speed limits of this new technology. It looks like CES 2010 will be as busy a year as any for CES - they typically have a LOT of new stuff to showcase.

OCZ to unveil USB 3.0 external SSD at CES - More news at DV Hardware

Hynix 40nm 2Gb DDR3 validated by Intel

Hynix announced Intel has validated its 40nm 2Gb DDR3 memory chips:

Hynix�s newly validated products are 2Gb DDR3 SDRAM component, 4GB (Gigabyte) DDR3 SODIMM (Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Module) and 2GB DDR3 UDIMM (Un-buffered Dual In-line Memory Module) at the operating speed of 1333MHz with 1.5V power supply.

The products can offer the maximum data transfer speed of 1867MHz with 16-bit I/O and 3.7GB/s (Gigabytes per second) bandwidth. The productivity of Hynix�s 40nm class 2Gb DDR3 is increased by more than 60% over 50nm class process technology.

In addition, Hynix responds to the industry demand for �Green� or �Eco-friendly� products with this new 40nm class 2Gb DDR3 that reduces power consumption by 40% over the preceding products using 50nm class. This is about twice as much as the industry average of reduction in terms of power consumption.

�The current mainstream density has been rapidly transferring from 1Gb to 2Gb for the higher performance servers market. We expect to secure the industry�s best features of both 1Gb and 2Gb DDR3 products�, said Mr. J.B. Kim, Chief Marketing Officer of Hynix.

Hynix has begun mass producing this new 2Gb DDR3 using 40nm class. The Company also expects that the validation of RDIMM (Registered Dual In-line Memory Module) will be also completed within this year.

Hynix 40nm 2Gb DDR3 validated by Intel - More news at DV Hardware

Elpida makes its first 1Gb GDDR5 memory chips

Elpida announced it has developed a 1Gb GDDR5 memory chip that operates at 6Gbps, this marks the company's entry into the graphics card memory market. The company acquired the technology in August from bankrupt German memory maker Qimonda.

Applications for GDDR memory devices used with GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) are found not only in such graphic processing equipment as game consoles and PC graphics cards but also in equipment that require high-performance computing for use in such areas as science and technology, physical simulation, digital image processing and video conversion.

In August Elpida announced plans to enter the graphics DRAM business based on its acquisition of GDDR design assets from the German company Qimonda AG. The successful development of the new GDDR product in only three months using these design assets was made possible by close cooperation between Elpida's new Munich Design Center in Germany, an Elpida Japan-based technology team and engineers at Taiwan-based Winbond Electronics Corporation.

After concluding an evaluation at the Munich Design Center, sample shipments will start in December and mass production is expected to begin in the second quarter (April-June) of CY 2010.

Elpida is now involved in all areas of the DRAM market � commodity DRAMs, GDDR for the graphics market, high-speed XDR� DRAM and Mobile RAM� for mobile equipment. By becoming one of the few full-range suppliers Elpida expects to play an increasingly important role in the DRAM market with its "total memory solutions" approach.

Elpida makes its first 1Gb GDDR5 memory chips - More news at DV Hardware

Intel Cedar Trail Atom to be 32nm

FUD Zilla heard Intel's "Cedar Trail" Atom processor will be made on a 32nm process. This chip is expected in 2011 and it will feature a DX10.1 graphics core with HD content support.

We have managed to confirm Cedarview is a 32nm CPU and that is has quite a few changes including a new memory controller that will be able to accommodate DDR3 memory. We are talking about DDR3 1066 support, something that matches Intel's Core i7 - Bloomfield memory support.

Intel will still stick with single channel memory but two DIMM support, at least for the desktop version, although we are pretty confident that netbook version should be the same.

Intel Cedar Trail Atom to be 32nm - More news at DV Hardware

Ballmer: Windows 7 off to a fantastic start

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told investors at the company's shareholder meeting that Windows 7 was off to a fantastic start. Ballmer revealed the new operating system already sold twice as many units as any OS in a comparable time frame.

"We've already sold twice as many units as any OS in a comparable time frame," Ballmer said. "Windows 7 is simply the best PC operating system that we or anyone else has ever built."

By last week, Windows 7 accounted for 4 percent of Web-accessing devices, according to Net Applications; it took Vista more than seven months to reach that level.

Addressing the overall economy, Ballmer reiterated that things seem to have stabilized.

"The economy has, at least for now, leveled off," he said.

Source: CNET

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Google Chrome OS VMware image surfaces on BitTorrent

TechCrunch reports a Google Chrome OS image for VMware has been published on BitTorrent. Instructions on where to download it and how to run it with VirtualBox can be found over here.

First, a few caveats: we didn�t create the Chrome OS build ourselves � it was downloaded from BitTorrent. In theory it could possibly have been tweaked by some malicious hacker to steal your Google account information (this is unlikely, but who knows). There�s an easy fix if you�re worried though: just go make a throwaway Gmail account, and use that to play around with the OS. Also note that because this is running in a virtual machine, you�re probably not going to be seeing great performance (like that 7 second boot time). But it�s more than good enough to get a feel for the OS for yourself.

Google Chrome OS VMware image surfaces on BitTorrent - More news at DV Hardware

Google Chrome OS demonstrated (11m video)

Here's an eleven minutes long video that shows off some of the features of Google Chrome OS:

Google Chrome OS demonstrated (11m video) - More news at DV Hardware

Intel: Brain waves to control PCs by 2020

OCZ's NIA already offers a crude form of controlling some actions in games with your brain waves, and it seems Intel scientists at the chip giant's research lab in Pittsburgh are developing a more advanced technology that will require sensors implanted in your brains. The researchers claim this technology will enable users to open documents and surf the Web, dial phones and change TV channels with nothing more than their brain waves. The technology is expected to be ready for commercialization by 2020.

The scientists say the plan is not a scene from a sci-fi movie -- Big Brother won't be planting chips in your brain against your will. Researchers expect that consumers will want the freedom they will gain by using the implant.

"I think human beings are remarkable adaptive," said Andrew Chien, vice president of research and director of future technologies research at Intel Labs. "If you told people 20 years ago that they would be carrying computers all the time, they would have said, 'I don't want that. I don't need that.' Now you can't get them to stop [carrying devices]. There are a lot of things that have to be done first but I think [implanting chips into human brains] is well within the scope of possibility."

More info ComputerWorld

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Microsoft denies existence of NSA backdoor in Windows 7

Earlier this week a statement from a senior National Security Agency sparked rumors that there might be a NSA backdoor in Windows 7, but these concerns were quickly addressed by Microsoft. A Microsoft spokesperson responded that Microsoft has not and will not put backdoors into Windows.

Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center, raised a red flag about the NSA's involvement in Windows 7. "When NSA offers to help the private sector on computer security, the obvious concern is that it will also build in backdoors that enables tracking users and intercepting user communications," Rotenberg told ComputerWorld, "And private sector firms are reluctant to oppose these 'suggestions' since the US government is also their biggest customer and opposition to the NSA could mean to loss of sales."

Microsoft responded to Rotenberg's concerns, categorically denying it would build a backdoor into Windows 7 at the NSA's request. "Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a Microsoft spokesperson told ComputerWorld in a statement.

More info at OS News

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Eyefinity Challenge report at HardOCP

HardOCP brings some coverage of their Eyefinity Challenge which was hosted in cooperation with AMD in Dallax, TX. There were five Eyefinity systems with Call of Duty 4 and also a massive 7.5m wide screen with Modern Warfare 2.

One demo that stole the show was the 24 foot/7.5 meter wide screen that was built on the spot that morning for less than $50. Vibrating Brain made that happen and it was simply something that had to be experienced. We will have HD quality video coming soon of the screen in use.

Eyefinity Challenge report at HardOCP - More news at DV Hardware

AOL to put ICQ up for sale

AllThingD claims AOL has hired Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co. investment bankers to sell ICQ. The company is reportedly trying to get $300 million from the sale of the instant messaging client, which it bought for $287 million in 1998, with another $125 million in earnouts of the team then. One source said ICQ has about 100 employees and is moderately profitable.

ICQ has lost most of the glory it had a decade ago, but it's still used by 40-50 million unique users per month and is the number one message service in Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and some other small countries.

Sources familiar with the situation said interest in buying the asset from two major non-U.S. companies prompted execs at the online service to put a process in place for a deal that will likely occur after AOL becomes an independent company in December.

AOL is set to spin itself off in less than a month from corporate owner Time Warner (TWX), and sources said selling off peripheral properties likes ICQ is part of becoming a smaller, more focused company. Sources added that AOL now wants about $300 million for the property.

AOL to put ICQ up for sale - More news at DV Hardware

Microsoft shows off Pivot visual search project

NeoWin reports Microsoft's Live Labs division demonstrated Pivot at PDC 2009, this is a new visual search project. You can check it out in the video below.

Microsoft Technical Fellow Gary Flake revealed Pivot as a standalone application based on Microsoft's established Seadragon and Deep Zoom technologies . The application highlights a new way of searching using a series of linked data. In the session Flake demonstrated Pivot several times and explained that the architecture is simple and based on existing web technologies. The application is a .NET client which uses Seadragon and Deep Zoom collections. Microsoft's trident layout engine (MSHTML) or better known as Internet Explorer is also used in the application.

Microsoft shows off Pivot visual search project - More news at DV Hardware

Mac OS X 10.6.2 vs. Ubuntu 9.10 Benchmarks

Back in August upon the launch of Apple's Snow Leopard we delivered benchmarks comparing Mac OS X 10.5 and Mac OS X 10.6 along with initial benchmarks of how Ubuntu 9.10 was running against Mac OS X 10.6. Since that time though Ubuntu 9.10 has been officially released with various changes since last August and Apple has issued two point releases for Snow Leopard, now putting it at version 10.6.2. As we await the release of FreeBSD 8.0 to deliver a larger operating system comparison, we have carried out a fresh round of tests comparing Mac OS X 10.6.2 and Ubuntu 9.10 (both x86 and x86_64 editions) under a variety of tests.

Check it out at Phoronix.

Mac OS X 10.6.2 vs. Ubuntu 9.10 Benchmarks - More news at DV Hardware

NVIDIA Pushes 3D Vision Outside the Gaming Box

As of this week NVIDIA has brought their 3D Vision to the mobile world. They have announced, in conjunction with ASUS, the world�s first mobile 3D Vision capable laptop. This is based off of the G51 line up and will be dubbed the G51J-3D. To do this ASUS has packed a 120Hz 15.6-inch LCD screen that is capable of handling the 3D Vision. But that is not all this new laptop brings to the table, it also has a Core i7 720QM (1.6GHz) processor under the hood along with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a GTX 260 (1GB DDR3).

But just adding 3D Vision to a mobile platform is not enough. We talked with NVIDIA and found out a few things that are interesting to say the least. Traditionally, NV has offered 3D Vision with a single set of glasses; this had made it appear to be a single user product only. Now we find that not only is NV aware that this has greater potential (3D movies at home anyone?) for multiple viewers, but they are working on bundles that include more than one pair of glasses with the RF transmitter. They are also working on a new pricing structure for this (although no details were given at this time). Read more at TweakTown.

NVIDIA Pushes 3D Vision Outside the Gaming Box - More news at DV Hardware