DV Hardware

BioShock 2 video review

Game Trailers made a video review of BioShock 2:

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Samsung signs up ARM Mali core

EE Times reports 27 companies have licensed ARM's Mali graphics core:

ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England) signed up two licenses for its Mali graphics cores in its fourth quarter bringing the total number of Mali licenses signed to 27, and giving the company enough encouragement to boast of signings that include Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

"We're starting to talk about the fact that one of those Mali licenses was with Samsung who's obviously a leader in the industry and an opinion former in the industry as well. So that's very encouraging for our graphics licensing," Warren East, president and CEO, told an analysts conference convened to discuss the company's fourth quarter financial results.

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Adobe promises Mac users better Flash performance

Adobe announced it's working on delivering better Flash performance on Mac systems:

"Given identical hardware, Flash Player on Windows has historically been faster than the Mac, and it is for the most part the same code running in Flash for each operating system," said Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch in a follow-up comment to his own blog post. But Adobe and Apple have been cooperating to make things better, he said. "In Flash Player 10.1 we are moving to Core Animation, which will further reduce CPU usage and, we believe, will get us to the point where Mac will be faster than Windows for graphics rendering."

More info at CNET.

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Samsung and Hynix working on sub-30nm NAND

EE Times reports both Samsung and Hynix are working on sub-30nm flash memory technology:

Competition is hotting up in NAND flash memory as South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor Inc. has claimed it has used a 26-nm manufacturing process technology to produce a device with a capacity of 64-Gbits, according to reports. And local rival Samsung has said it is aiming to have a 27-nm NAND flash memory in production in the second quarter of 2010, according to another report.

With its announcement Hynix is following hard on the heels of Intel and Micron who, with their manufacturing joint venture, rolled out a 25-nm, 64-Gbit device earlier this month, thereby recapturing the technology lead in NAND flash memory.

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TI reveals single chip with WiFi, GPS, FM and Bluetooth

Texas Instruments has introduced WiLink 7.0, first quad-radio single chip solution that offers 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, GPS, FM transmit/receive and Bluetooth 3.0. Products with this chip are expected to hit the market by late 2010.

Demonstrating its leadership in the wireless connectivity market, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today unveiled its WiLink� 7.0 single-chip solution, the industry�s first offering to integrate WLAN 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit/receive and Bluetooth� technologies. Integrating these capabilities on a true single chip, the 65-nanometer WiLink 7.0 solution reduces costs by 30 percent, reduces size by 50 percent and delivers superior coexistence performance as compared to today�s existing solutions. Built on seven generations of proven technologies and legacy software, this single-chip solution further extends TI�s heritage of bringing technologies previously seen in high-end devices to the broad mobile market. The WiLink 7.0 solution will be showcased during Mobile World Congress 2010 in the TI booth (8A84, Hall 8). For more information, visit www.ti.com/wilink7pr.

�TI's announcement that its Bluetooth/FM/GPS/WLAN combination IC is sampling to major OEMs marks the first of its kind, demonstrating the strong future for combination ICs that enable device manufacturers to offer multiple radios without sacrificing performance, space requirements or profit margins,� said Lisa Arrowsmith, analyst, IMS Research. �IMS Research forecasts that by 2013, more than 4.5 billion combination ICs featuring a variety of radios will have been shipped.�

Full specifications can be viewed at PRNewsWire.

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Future EA games will all get multiplayer and DLC

EA chief operating officer John Schappert revealed all of EA's new release sin fiscal 2011 will have an online component, both downloadable content and online play.

Electronic Arts chief operating officer John Schappert announced during the company's fiscal third quarter investor call this afternoon that every title released during its fiscal 2011 year (April 2010 through March 2011) will have additional online components.

"In fiscal 2011, every one of EA's releases will have an online component, both downloadable content and online play."

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Intel Core i7 660UM expected in Q3 2010

FUD Zilla heard Intel is working on another new ultra-low voltage Arrandale processor named Core i7 660UM, this chip is expected to be released in Q3 2010. It has a 18W TDP and a 1.3GHz clockspeed with 2.4GHz Turbo mode.

Intel plans yet another reinforcement to its Ultra low voltage generation of Arrandale CPUs. We still have to see Core i5 520UM, Core i5 540UM as well as Core i7 620UM and Core i7 640UM, all supposed to stay under 18W TDP, and Intel plans to introduce one, a bit faster version simply called Core i7 660UM.

This new CPU is based on the 32nm Arrandale dual-core that is capable of supporting four threads and it is clocked at a quite modest 1.33GHz. This is not bad for a CPU that has graphics and most of the chipset on the same socket. The best part, however, is that it will be able to overclock all the way to 2.4GHz.

Intel Core i7 660UM expected in Q3 2010 - More news at DV Hardware

Google maps the Winter Olympics with Street View snowmobile

We've already seen Street View bicycles from Google, but now they've also equipped a snowmobile with one of their Street View cameras to capture shots of the slopes at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. You can check it out at Google.

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Microsoft explains there's no battery bug in Windows 7

Over the last couple of weeks many users complained about a supposed battery status report bug in Windows 7, but after investigating the issue Microsoft claims Windows 7 is not at fault and that it's really the battery that is in need of replacement. The reason why so many people get this message after upgrading to Windows 7 is because this operating system has a new battery health status feature that isn't part of Windows XP or Vista.

Windows 7 makes use of built-in features of batteries that allow the battery health status to be read. "This is reported in absolute terms as Watt-hours (W-hr) power capacity," Sinofsky explains, "Windows 7 then does a simple calculation to determine a percentage of degradation from the original design capacity. In Windows 7 we set a threshold of 60% degradation and in reading this Windows 7 reports the status to you."

The key point here is this: this functionality was not part of Windows XP or Windows Vista. As such, people who think Windows 7 is causing the batteries to fail have it backwards; the battery was already in need of replacement, but XP nor Vista had the ability to report that to you.

Source: OS News

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Mozilla wants to drop Mac OS X 10.4 support

Mozilla announced it plans to drop support for the Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" operating system in future versions of the Firefox browser. The developers argue that supporting the nearly five years old operating system is a hindrance and that dropping support will enable them to significantly improve the user experience on Mac OS X 10.5 and especially 10.6.

Supporting Mac OS X 10.4 also comes with a penalty for those who are using 10.5 and 10.6, added Mozilla programmer Boris Zbarsky. "We can significantly improve the user experience on 10.5 and especially 10.6 if we drop support for 10.4 (we're talking something like 30 percent performance improvement on 10.6, for example if I recall the numbers correctly, between the newer compiler and doing 64-bit builds," he noted.

Mike Shaver, Mozilla's vice president of engineering, added that the decision wouldn't immediately cut off those with Tiger.

More info at CNET.

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AMD to launch Fusion with Llano APU in 2011

AMD revealed its Fusion processor plans at a presentation at this year's International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). One of the things the company announced is that the Llano APU will be available from OEMs in 2011, this processor will be made on a 32nm SOI process, it will have four cores and on-die integrated graphics with DirectX 11 support. AMD expects Llano to run at clockspeeds of over 3GHz, and is working on new power management technologies to improve efficiency.

Today we learn a bit more about the CPU side of Llano. The first chip will be a quad-core processor plus on-die graphics. Each core is Phenom II derived, but there�s no shared L3 cache. So Llano cores look a lot like Athlon II cores. I�m hearing that they may have some architectural tweaks, so performance could be better than present-day Athlon IIs.

At 32nm each core (minus L2 cache) is only 9.69 mm^2 and is made up of over 35M transistors. Each core is paired with its own 1MB L2 cache, meaning the quad-core processor will have a total of 4MB of L2 on-die. AMD expects Llano to run at above 3GHz, which should be more than possible at 32nm given that we�re already at close to 3GHz with the 45nm Athlon II X4.

Full details about Llano can be found at AnandTech.

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NVIDIA Optimus technology launched for notebooks

NVIDIA has officially introduced Optimus, a new notebook technology that automatically switches between the system's integrated graphics and discrete graphics card to deliver higher battery life and improved performance. This was tried in the past with the company's Hybrid SLI technology, but according to early reviews this is the first time it's done right. Contrary to previous switchable graphics technologies, Optimus will deliver a seamless and instantaneous experience.

NVIDIA Corp. today announced NVIDIA(R) Optimus(TM) technology, a breakthrough for notebook PCs that chooses the best graphics processor for running a given application and automatically routes the workload to either an NVIDIA discrete GPU or Intel integrated graphics -- delivering great performance while also providing great battery life.

"Consumers no longer have to choose whether they want great graphics performance or sustained battery life," said Rene Haas, general manager of notebook products at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA Optimus gives them both -- great performance, great battery life and it simply works."

Just as a Hybrid car chooses between the gas-powered and electric car engine on-the-fly and uses the most appropriate engine, NVIDIA Optimus technology does the same thing for graphics processors. NVIDIA Optimus Technology instantly directs the workload through the most efficient processor for the job, extending battery life by up to 2 times(1) compared to similarly configured systems equipped with discrete graphics processors (GPUs). When playing 3D games, running videos, or using GPU compute applications the high-performance NVIDIA discrete GPU is used. When using basic applications, like web surfing or email, the integrated graphics processor is used. The result is long lasting battery life without sacrificing great graphics performance.

"The genius of NVIDIA Optimus is in its simplicity," said Dr. Jon Peddie, President of Jon Peddie Research, a pioneer of the graphics industry and a leading analyst. "One can surf the web and get great battery life and when one needs the extra horsepower for applications like Adobe Flash 10.1, Optimus automatically switches to the more powerful NVIDIA GPU."

Notebooks with NVIDIA Optimus technology will be available shortly, starting with the Asus UL50Vf, N61Jv, N71Jv, N82Jv, and U30Jc notebooks. For more information on NVIDIA Optimus technology visit the NVIDIA Website at http://www.nvidia.com/object/optimus_technology.html.

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Cooler Master reveals CeBIT 2010 lineup

Cooler Master send out a press release with details about the products it will showcase at next month's CeBIT. This include the HAF X case, new power supplies with an efficiency of over 90 percent, the V6 GT CPU cooler, and new notebook coolers and laptop stands.

The X Factor
Featuring unsurpassed airflow and DIY-friendly features, Cooler Master�s HAF chassis Series has been a runaway hit with both gamers and enthusiasts alike. At CeBIT 2010, Cooler Master will be unveiling its all-new HAF X PC chassis. This new HAF Series flagship chassis offers the latest advancements in chassis design, including support for up to four 200mm fans, nine slots for quadruple VGA cards, and removable hotswap HDD. With the HAF X, Cooler Master is poised to once again wow the PC enthusiast community. Cooler Master will also be showing off the latest additions to the best-selling Elite Chassis Series.

The PSU Gold Standard
Cooler Master will be demonstrating live, Silent Pro Gold Series � a brand new lineup of power supplies that meet the 80Plus Gold Standard with over 90% power efficiency. The Silent Pro Gold will make its first ever appearance at CeBIT 2010 for all to see. Using patented technologies such as Heat Transfer Technology� (HTT), Hyper PathTM and Hybrid Transformers, the Silent Pro Gold sets a new standard in PSU excellence. Also at the show will be the USNA 95 Notebook Power Adapter � the world�s smallest notebook power adapter with a USB port.

V6 Cooling
True to its name, Cooler Master is the master of PC cooling solutions. At CeBIT 2010, Cooler Master will show off its latest cooling innovation � the V6 GT. Featuring highly dense aluminum fins and a Double-V heatpipe design, the V6 GT offers wicked cooling performance. Its tool-free design makes it easy to install the accelerating twin high-speed fans, which deliver awesome cooling for even the most high-end desktop systems.

A Storm is Rising
Gamers have long turned to CM Storm gaming products for a competitive edge, and at CeBIT 2010, Cooler Master will introduce its latest tools to add to the gamer�s arsenal. First off is the SF19 Gaming Notebook Cooler � a notebook cooler specifically designed for high-end gaming laptops. Featuring a flexible fan solution that accommodates fans 80-200mm in size, manual fan speed control, four USB ports and even an easy carry handle for maximum portability, mobile gamers can keep cool under the heat of battle. Also coming to the Hannover show will be the unveiling of the follow-up to the award-winning CM Storm Sentinel Mouse � the CM Storm Inferno.

Mobile Computing with Style and Substance
Mobile users need peripherals that not only look good, but feel good as well. The NotePal ErgoStand offers optimal cooling performance for laptops with its metal mesh surface and built-in 14cm silent fan, while 5 adjustable viewing angles offer superior ergonomics. Also at the show will be the all-new Choiix Comforter, a laptop stand that enables users to compute in complete comfort, whether they place it on their legs, on a table, or even when lounging around. Visitors can also check out the Choiix Crusier � a travel mouse that features adjustable height, a 2.4G sensor with 1600dpi and even a plug-and-forget nano receiver.

Cooler Master reveals CeBIT 2010 lineup - More news at DV Hardware

AMD aims to get GPGPU in mainstream servers by 2012

AMD announced it will focus on integrating GPUs into mainstream servers starting 2012:

Mainstream servers in the future could have a combination of graphics processors and CPUs in servers as applications take advantage of thousands of GPU cores, said Gina Longoria, director of the product management and workstation division at AMD. The company may provide CPUs and GPUs together in a server to run highly parallel applications, she said.

Graphics cards are considered more advanced in tackling scientific and math applications than CPUs, which are designed to handle generic computing tasks. Some servers already combine the performance of GPUs with CPUs in high-performance computing environments.

More info at PC World.

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Micron and Nanya debut 42nm 2Gb DDR3 chips

Micron and Nanya jointly developed 2Gb DDR3 memory devices on a new copper-based 42nm process. Sampling will start in Q2 2010 and volume ramp is planned for the second half of the year.

Micron Technology, Inc. and Nanya Technology Corporation today announced that they have jointly developed a 2-gigabit (Gb) DDR3 memory device using their new copper-based 42-nanometer (nm) DRAM process technology. DDR3 is the predominant memory technology used in high-performance computing applications including servers, notebooks and desktop computers.

The move to smaller process geometries is fundamentally important for maintaining manufacturing cost efficiencies while also providing benefits for customers including lower power, higher performance, greater density, and smaller die sizes. The new 42nm process now makes 1.35-volts the standard, mainstream voltage requirement, compared to 1.5-volt with previous generations. Reducing memory power consumption is critical to today�s server environments, where power and cooling infrastructure costs can be comparable to the costs for the server equipment. With increasing memory requirements in servers, it has been estimated that memory power consumption can be up to 21-watts per module.* The 1.35 voltage can provide a savings of up to 30-percent in these applications, reducing both power and cooling requirements.

Faster memory speed grades are important for achieving maximum system performance. By shrinking process technology, the new 2Gb 42nm DDR3 device delivers improved memory performance capable of reaching up to 1866 megabits per second. In addition, the small die size coupled with the 2Gb density of the 42nm DDR3 device enables modules up to 16GBs.

�With the move to 42nm � and with a 3Xnm process working in our R&D fab in Boise � Micron�s expertise in copper metallization and proprietary cell capacitor technology has enabled us to stay on the cutting-edge of DRAM process design and innovation,� said Robert Feurle, vice president of DRAM marketing. �The addition of this new 2Gb 42nm device to our DRAM product line strengthens our already rich portfolio of memory solutions for customers� end applications.�

�We are very pleased to offer this 2Gb DDR3, the most competitive DRAM device in production, to our customers,� said Dr. Pei Lin Pai, vice president of global sales and marketing and spokesman for Nanya. �Nanya plans to serve the server and PC market, as well as the consumer market, with this latest technology device.�

Copper: The Path to Higher Quality and Reliability
The new 42nm DRAM process technology uses the more efficient and reliable copper metallization technology, allowing Micron and Nanya to stay on the leading-edge of process scaling. Micron has long recognized the benefits of copper in aiding DRAM scale, and has continued to leverage and refine the technology for nearly a decade. When compared to other metallization techniques, such as aluminum, copper is recognized as the more extendible, reliable and cost-effective approach for advancing process geometries and enhancing product performance. As Micron and Nanya continue to scale, moving to their next-generation 3Xnm process technology, the companies are building on their strong copper foundation to deliver high-quality and highly reliable products.

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