AMD is almost ready to launch R600

Do you remember Ruby’s comparison? Well, according to this post AMD has working model of “new” Ruby. But it’s not the main spot. AMD has working R600 video cards. It’s just working prototypes for manufacturers. If manufacturers are happy, customers will be happy too (I hope). AMD still needs time to make sellable video card. Also card is needed to be reduced in size. But I hope they’ll do it quick enough.
Thinking about R600? You must start saving money, if you want to be in the first flight. Because it launches at the beginning of March

Written by mente on February 3rd, 2007 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Releases and Announcements and Conferences and Desktops.

PCI Express 2.0 Specifications

On this week PCI-Sig has released PCI-Express 2.0 specifications. General improvements are:

Dynamic link speed management allows developers to control the speed at which the link is operating

Link bandwidth notification alerts platform software (operating system, device drivers, etc) of changes in link speed and width

Capability structure expansion increases control registers to better manage devices, slots and the interconnect

Access control services allows for optional controls to manage peer-to-peer transactions

Completion timeout control allows developers to define a required disable mechanism for transaction timeouts

Function-level reset provides an optional mechanism to reset functions within a multi-function device

Power limit redefinition enables slot power limit values to accommodate devices that consume higher power

But the main improvements are:

The interconnect bit rate is doubled from 2.5GT/s to 5GT/s to support high-bandwidth applications
Power source is doubled from 75W to 150W. Also 8-pin power-connector can provide additional 150W
The higher bandwidth will allow product designers to implement narrower interconnect links to achieve high performance while reducing cost

Reverse support of PCI-Express 1.x video cards and motherboards

I want to discuss the main improvements. The interconnect bit rate is doubled. But do you know that video cards don’t use all bandwidth of PCIe? They always enlarge bit rate for future purpose, but this future never comes. New PCIe specifications come faster. Improvement for power source has 2 sides. First side - video card can be more powerful and use more power (good side). Second side - we have new 8-pin power connector (bad side). You’ll have to buy it before video card (of course if video card uses more than 150W). And of course, reverse support. It’s great that you can connect your old PCIe 1.x video card to new motherboard with PCIe 2.0 support and reverse. Upgrade step-by-step, as I call it.

Summarize this new standard. All improvements are extensive. PCI Express is developed. And it has big future

Written by mente on January 17th, 2007 with 2 comments.
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Revolution again?

Do you like something innovative? For example first smartphone fully open sourced and based on Linux. I don’t think that anyone can be surprised by mp3 player. But what about this one? It is called Cowon D2 and it has several innovative features. Which one? Just look at the picture

Cowon D2

Nothing innovative? It just looks like nothing interesting. This is first player which has touchscreen! And not small touchscreen like my watches, but really big one. Almost like on Pocket PC. Of course with such screen this device can play videos. No high-def, but do you need it? Let’s look on it’s specifications taken from product’s page:

*FEATURES*	Video & Audio Player / FM Tuner / Voice Recorder / Text & Photo Viewer
	2.5 inch 16 million color 24bit TFT-LCD - QVGA (320×240) Touchscreen
	SD / SDHC Memory Expansion
	Up to 52 hours (Music) of continuous playback (Movie 10 hours)*
	DRM-protected content Support (PlaysForSure, etc.)

Here we see 2.5 inch touchscreeen as I told you. Other is usual stuff for portable mp3 player. 52 hours for playback is a lot. I don’t think it’s true, but I hope for good things. What’s next:

SPECIFICATIONS

Playback
format

Music

MP3 : MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, ~320kbps, ~48khz, mono/stereo

WMA : ~256kbps, ~48khz, mono/stereo

OGG : ~Q10, ~44.1khz, mono/stereo

FLAC : Compression Level 0 ~ 8, ~44.1khz, mono/stereo

WAV : ~48khz, 16bit, mono/stereo

APE: TBD **

JetEffect (BBE, Mach3Bass, MP Enhance, 3D Surround, Stereo Enhance) support

Movie

AVI : MPEG4 ~ 2Mbps, 320×240, 30fps, MP3 audio
WMV : WMV9 ~ 768kbps, 320×240, 30fps, WMA audio

TV OUT support (TV OUT Cable Optional)

Recording

WMA : 32~256kbps Recording and Playback
Voice Recording, Line-In Recording, External MIC support

Photo

JPG, No limitation on image size and capacity

Text

TXT file Viewer
Support up to 2MB

Folder Limit

500 folders and 5,000 files

Radio support

FM RADIO : 76Mhz ~ 108Mhz, 87.5Mhz ~ 108Mhz
WMA : 32~256kbps recording support

Display

2.5 inch 16 million color(24bit) TFT-LCD : QVGA (320×240) Touchscreen

Built-in memory

2GB, 4GB

External

SD Card and MMC Card Slot

PC interface

USB 2.0 High Speed

File transfer speed

Max. 35Mbps (Upload 40Mbps)

Power

Up to 52 hours (Music) of continuous playback (Movie 10 hours)

Charge time

About 3.5 hours by adapter, About 7 hours by USB

Button

3 Button(MENU, VOL-, VOL+), POWER & HOLD Switch

SNR

95dB (A-Weighted)

Frequency Range

20Hz~20KHz

Max Output

16 Ohm earphone : 37mW + 37mW

Size

3.07 X 2.18 X 0.65 inches (78.0 X 55.4 X 16.6 mm)

Weight

3.21 oz (91 g) (Include Lithium Polymer battery)

Specifications are usual for such sort of players. What can I mention is that Cowon D2 supports not only mp3 and wma, but flac, ogg, ape. Another company that produces player with multi support is iRiver. There are several editions of Cowon D2. Black and white as you see on the picture. And 2 GB and 4 GB editions.

If all of what I have written impresses you - run and it. As for me - I’ll stay without player. Read books

Written by admin on January 12th, 2007 with no comments.
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Discrete Graphics for Mobile Systems

Users of mobile systems with weak mobile card now can breathe free. Asus presents XG Station. As for me - very interesting gadget. With his help you can play on notebook with the help of stationary video card and monitor. How you will ask? Just look at the picture above. Usage Scenario

Taken from Vr-zone.com

As you can see this station connects with notebook and monitor. It has built-in video card 7900GS, but you can replace it with more powerful. As for me very interesting now gadget. Now I don’t have to keep desktop. Just monitor. The incredible benefit is that there is no competition. What do you think about this gadget? Will you buy it? It will be available since Q2 2007. I’m waiting!

Written by mente on January 3rd, 2007 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Releases and Announcements and Laptops and Desktops.

Game Exhibition

Girls exhibition

According to Reuters there is an exhibition about games in London. Who was there please e-mail me or just express your feelings in comments

Written by mente on October 25th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Releases and Conferences and Desktops.

Asus increases notebook series by 3 models

Asus thought that its notebook series are small and added 3 new models. Each one is oriented for business. So let’s look at each model separately.

R1F

First model is called R1F. Its tablet PC which as it was written “offers a smart balance of mobility and performance with comprehensive security features that protect with both software as well as hardware solutions, providing a secure and convenient computing experience for business professionals on the go”. Interesting, how does it differ from existing models except new hardware? I don’t think there is built-in hardware firewall or some other protecting system. What I really like at this model is handwritten support. It’s really nice! Also LCD is converting up to 180 degrees, but if you’re not big business man, who shows presentations on notebook (actually real business man shows it on projectors) you won’t need this feature.
R2H

The other model is called R2H. It looks like Pocket PC, but it’s really Table PC. This notebook has built-in web-camera to communicate with other world. Also as R1F it has handwritten input support. This is actual for this notebook, because there is no other input . This system is weak comparing to others, but much enough for office applications. And my opinion is its battery lives much more than R1H. So this notebook is oriented for beginning businessman.

VX1

And last notebook is called Lamborghini VX1. It’s classic notebook with many features. Long-lasting battery, slim design, wireless connections. This notebook is oriented for really big business man. According to its price - $4888. Not anyone can afford it.

P.S. By the way, Lamborghini edition which was always Asus top-model has “only” 7400GS video card. So gamers, forget about this model.

Written by mente on October 19th, 2006 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Releases and Announcements and Laptops.

Notebook users can be not only users, but gamers

Notebook

NVIDIA has released new mobile graphics card GeForce Go 7950 GTX. Man, this card faster for my desktop… Interesting what about energy usage. Still battery problems are remembered. And if this video monster will be provided with AMD processor? What batteries will we need to keep it all power on? And cooling systems? I wonder what performance this video card will have. If more than 7600GT desktop version I’ll be surprised. And who will be the customer of this product? Extremely mobile and rich gamers. Very small area of usage. But it will be. If the price goes down at nearest future, they’ll become more moderate

Written by mente on October 13th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Releases and Laptops.

Zune. Does it deserve our attention?

Speaking again about Microsoft. Have you ever heard about Microsoft’s new mp3 player called Zune? No? Well, then you probably live in a cave… Just joking.??

Zune is a new Microsoft’s mp3 player. It’s positioned like a famous Apple iPod’s rival. Saying secret - it’s full copy of iPod. It will have even the same service, like iTunes, but with other name. When only Zune be released it will has one specification - 30 gb model. And no TVs and movies! But for what there is big display? Microsoft says it will make it later. They promise to spend huge money on advertising Zune. I want to believe… Like Mulder’s poster at his office. Of course they will spend money, but will be the result positive? No one can say exactly. We must see what Apple will answer

Written by mente on September 19th, 2006 with no comments.
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Try single disc for both new DVD formats

As you know Microsoft and Sony are real rivals on the market of DVD formats. Sony tries to advance with it’s Blu-Ray. Everything was good, until Microsoft introduced own “next” dvd format - HD-DVD. As for me each format has advantages and disadvantages. Blu-ray is fast and big. HD-DVD is a bit smaller, but much cheaper. But only customer will choose the best dvd format.
It was preamble. Now three employees from Warner Bros (funny, heh?) patented dvd disc which will have both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray layer. Now it’s really strange - why have only one layer of one standard if you can have both of it? But there is rising question - each format has itself few layers. How they will fight with it? I don’t know. We’ll wait till some press release. As for me I don’t see future for this innovation. But it’s my opinion. And what’s yours?
Via Reuters

Written by mente on September 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Releases and Announcements and Technologies.

Releases

AMD is almost ready to launch R600

PCI Express 2.0 Specifications

Revolution again?

Discrete Graphics for Mobile Systems

Game Exhibition

Asus increases notebook series by 3 models

Notebook users can be not only users, but gamers

Zune. Does it deserve our attention?

Try single disc for both new DVD formats

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