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Archive for October, 2008
J. TECH - Oct - 31st
J. TECH - Oct - 31st
By Prince McLean October 31, 2008
Apple recently recruited a top chip designer from IBM, resulting in a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the executive from taking his knowledge as “IBM’s top expert in Power architecture and technology” to the Mac maker. Mark Papermaster, who served as IBM’s vice president of microprocessor technology development, is set to join Apple within the next couple weeks to begin working closely with chief executive Steve Jobs. According to a report by Tom Krazit of CNet News, IBM’s complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York indicates that IBM believes this is “an attempt to expand Apple’s presence in the markets for servers and chips for handheld devices.” IBM has issued a statement saying “Mr. Papermaster’s employment by Apple is a violation of his agreement with IBM against working for a competitor should he leave IBM. We will vigorously pursue this case in court.”
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J. TECH - Oct - 31st
Nightmare on Chip Street
By Sylvie Barak: Friday, 31 October 2008
INTEL HAS ADMITTED IT fears the credit crisis bogey man which lurks under its bed, trembling that the beast could suck up all the demand for chips and leave its key suppliers bankrupt, resulting in scarily serious product delays. In its latest 10-Q filing, Chipzilla made no effort to disguise its fears and worst nightmares that the “current uncertainty in global economic conditions poses a risk to the overall economy as consumers and businesses may defer purchases in response to tighter credit and negative financial news, which could negatively affect product demand and other related matters”. Chilling stuff.
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J. TECH - Oct - 31st
By Jessica Mintz Oct 31, 2008
Computer makers are recalling 100,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp. after 40 reports of overheating, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notice Thursday. The voluntary recall applies to certain Sony 2.15Ah lithium-ion cell batteries made in Japan and sold around the world in laptops made by Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Toshiba Corp. Some incidents involved smoke or flames, according to Sony. Twenty-one of the reports claimed minor property damage, and small burns were reported in four cases. Sony blamed two factors for the defects: adjustments on its manufacturing line from October 2004 to June 2005, which may have affected the quality of cells in certain production lots; and a possible flaw in the metal foil for electrodes.
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J. TECH - Oct - 29th
by Brooke Crothers October 29, 2008
Advanced Micro Devices’ first 45-nanometer chip, the Shanghai quad-core Opteron, has made its debut at resellers. The officially unannounced Opteron 837X and 838X series processors are not cheap. Online reseller PC Connection lists the Opteron QC (quad-core) 8384 at $2,509. Another reseller, Buy.com lists the same processor at $2,240. The 8384 is expected to run at 2.7GHz and draw 75 watts, relatively low power consumption for a quad-core server processor. The 8385–same clock speed with a faster system bus–is offered for $2,509 at PC Connection. Other processors listed include the 8382 (2.6GHz), 8380 (2.5GHz), and 8378 (2.4GHz), priced at $2,177, $1,768, and $1,360 respectively at PC Connection. Note that these prices will differ from official pricing from AMD. The Shanghai Opteron 230X series includes the 2382 (2.6GHz) and 2380 (2.5GHz). These are priced at $1,019 and $814 respectively at PC Connnection. Rollout of the chip is expected officially on November 13, according to industry sources.
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J. TECH - Oct - 29th
Laservue 65-incher doesn’t even need shades to watch
By Mark Harris Oct. 29, 2008
Starting from today, you can own a little bit of history – the world’s first laser-powered telly. Mitsubishi America is finally stocking shelves with the LaserVue L65-A90, a 65-inch rear projection set that uses DLP technology (usually found in projectors) to deliver amazing colour depth. The Laservue set claims to be able to deliver twice the colour gamut of HDTV standard, using just 135W – a third of the power of a typical LCD and a quarter of those planet-hating plasmas. The A90 comes ’3D Ready’, a fairly meaningless term seeing as Blu-ray and other packaged media lack any 3D standards, but presumably there will be a few games that make use of it in the future.
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J. TECH - Oct - 29th
By Jason Mick – October 29, 2008
In 2001, Apple was a shell of the vibrant company it had been in the 1980s. Battered by years of losses to Microsoft, the company had little options. It had virtually no market share in the personal computer industry, and little brand image. Then the company invented a seemingly insignificant little device that would go on to change everything — the iPod. The iPod not only turned around Apple’s finances, it redefined the entire company. Apple went from a tired elitist on the brink of financial collapse to a hip trend-setter delivering music to the masses and with plenty of cash to burn. In Q1 2006, just 5 years after the launch of the iPod, the iconic device accounted for 55.6 percent of Apple’s sales. However, over the last couple years, something curious has happened — the iPod has grown increasingly insignificant to Apple. First there was the so-called “halo effect”, in which increased sales of iPods led to increased sales of Mac computers and OS X. With the halo effect Apple’s computers were suddenly hot items.
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J. TECH - Oct - 28th
Microsoft says next Windows won’t be as annoying
By Jessica Mintz Oct 28, 2008
The next version of Microsoft Windows, the software that defines the computing experience for most people, will nag users much less than its much-maligned predecessor, Vista. PC users will be able to test the new edition early next year. The world’s largest software maker also is making Word, Excel and other key elements of Office – its flagship “productivity” programs – able to run in a Web browser. The move is meant to help confront rivals such as Google Inc. that offer free word processing and spreadsheet programs online, threatening one of Microsoft Corp.’s most precious profit centers. The Windows and Office news came Tuesday at a Microsoft conference for software developers. The forthcoming Windows 7 will let users choose to see fewer alerts and warnings from their computers. Rampant notifications alerting people to security risks irked many Vista users.
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J. TECH - Oct - 28th
by Thomas De Maesschalck October 28 2008
VIA demos the first VIA Nano mini-ITX processor board, the VIA VB8001, at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. This tiny motherboard measures just 17cm x 17cm and features the 1.6GHz VIA Nano processor, supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, Gigabit LAN, two Serial ATA ports, integrated VIA CN896 DirectX 9 graphics, VIA Vinyl 5.1 audio and a x16 PCI Express slot. You can find the full specifications of the motherboard at VIA. The VIA VB8001 board is a full featured Mini-ITX board using the eagerly-awaited 1.6GHz VIA Nano processor, which boasts support for up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, Gigabit LAN and two Serial ATA ports, delivering exceptional 64-bit performance within a rigidly low thermal envelope, while a mini-PC slot can extend connectivity to wireless broadband.
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J. TECH - Oct - 28th
By JR Raphael, Oct 28, 2008
T-Mobile’s G1 Android phone is about to get cheaper — at least, if you look in the right place. Wal-Mart will start selling the Google-powered device at a discounted rate this week, the company has confirmed. The G1 will become available Wednesday in select Wal-Mart stores for $148.88, with a two-year agreement. That’s $31.11, or about 17 percent, less than the T-Mobile pricetag of $179.99. The offer will be available to all new T-Mobile customers and to any existing customers who qualify for upgrades. As of now, about 550 locations are slated to participate. “They will launch in top markets where consumer interest is expected to be very high and where the T-Mobile 3G coverage area is available,” says Wal-Mart spokesperson Melissa O’Brien.
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