how to install

Unable to install 'URL rewrite Module' due to error code 1603

2011-08-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hello friend, when I try to install this 'URL rewrite Module' it will gives the error code 1603. I haven’t knowledge about this but I need to solve this error code. Because of this error code the IIS URL Rewrite Module 2 Setup Wizard prematurely ended. This installation has to be goes failure and it will be creates some unrealistic problem in the installation process. If anyone having information about this installation error code then please shares your own opinion. Any helps would be appreciates.

As per my knowledge you need to install IIS ( Internet Information Services )7.5 URL rewrite module on Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. This will be helps to solve the problem. This type of trouble will be indicates compatibility problem. The win server 2008 R2 OS will be most compatible with this IIS and hence I recommended you to use this inbuilt compatible facility. This will be helps to solve the problem. Then try this onto the windows server 2008 R2 and it solves the problem.

Hey dude, this kind of trouble will be requires special process. Then I suggest you to follow the process to solve this problem. Then first test that SQL Express is not running and makes sure the account is running. If this SQL Express will be running then stop this running process. Also you need to run the account. If the service present in this IIS is not started then you need to start this service. This service helps to solve the error code and then installation done successfully.

You need to done the specific process for solving this trouble. First Click on Start button and then hit Run option. Then type msiexec /unreg into run window. After that you need to also restart this run window and then type msiexec /regserver and press enter. This will be helps to solve the trouble. then you need to restart this installation process. This will be helps to remove such trouble and it will be help to install this onto the system.
Hey friend, I just wanted to add some more information to above post. This type of problem need some extra driver. Then you need to update the existing system driver. This will be help to avoid usch kind of problem and in the result the installation has to be goes successful. Then use this task and it really well support to solve this error code. This will be fix the actual reason behind this trouble and at the end the installation trouble is to be solved.

How to copy Rosetta stone language software

2011-08-07T01:59:00.001-07:00

I am looking for help regarding copying ROSETTA STONE language software. I can’t create an accurate duplicate of Rosetta Stone German software. I just have the test version of Clone CD except I assumed it would work anyhow. The copy appears approximately faultless except it makes the complete procedure error plus shut down. It contains Safedisk 2.9 on it and I'm copying through the sony DW-D22A dual layer DVD-rewritable. Can anybody out there assist?
Making a language backup copy of Rosetta stone can be obliging if you want to uninstall the software on top of your PC and don't desire to should begin the whole program from the opening in the occasion you make a decision to reinstall. It can furthermore be helpful in the occasion your PC wants to be substituted otherwise you merely wish to include the identical data on further than single PC. It's a quite uncomplicated procedure and shouldn't get you over 20 minutes to total using whichever disc burner software.
I've already tried to learn and Pons with Langenscheidt (book with vocabulary and language samples on CD) and gave up quickly on both systems. They were much too cumbersome and not very effective. Rosetta Stone is expensive, but the learning is intuitive, that is, you do not learn large vocabularies, but the Vokablen be gradually expanded with pictures so you can "understand" what is the meaning and not the one it gets disjointed. Because of "understanding" it is less frustrating and so much more successful. The best times, one should look at the demo on the homepage of Rosettastone then becomes quite clear how the whole system running. Anyway, I'm thrilled.
Had already tried once, but not all data on the CD are displayed in the finder. And Mucommander I got the rest of the files not transferred into dmg file. You can create an exact copy somehow on the hard drive? I was once told that you can view hidden files via terminal and then you can also copy, but I have no idea of it itself wants to play around and only reluctantly in a program of which I have no idea.

Once you've downloaded the zip out of an archive, you will need srarrarlo with WinRar or another program like this should remain a folder called "Rosetta Stone" 3.4.5, should be opening a folder with the same name same name and exe called Rosetta Stone Version3.exe, forget this file and open it again and find the folder, Windows and Mac OS, of course, open windows and install the program which are usually inside, being careful to the last screen clear the message "start rosetta stone" once you have installed. You will notice that there was in the same folder where the executable was a folder called Crack, open it and right-doing click copy "RosettaStoneVersion3.exe" after you have to go probably in C: \ Program Files \ Rosetta Stone \ Rosetta Stone (where there are all different files) and paste overwrite the old one here.

I have to hack it again here. The file "FNInterface.dll", usually here in this folder "c: \ Program Files \ Rosetta Stone \ Rosetta Stone V3 \" must be found to copy you on a different drive. Then the patch file and run it and then follow the instructions. Then the patched "FNInterface.dll" copy back to the origin site. That's it. Furthermore if you get any problem while making a copy of this disc, scan through A-Ray scanner (do not make use of clony xxl since it is outdated).

I noticed that the unzipping. Rar software, you create a folder named "Rosetta Stone 3.4.5" within which there are: a self-extracting files and another folder "Rosetta Stone 3.4.5" inside with two folders containing setup files for Win and Mac, with its crack. You must install the files in the folder of your operating system or should we proceed with the self-extracting and put the crack? I don’t know if I can explain it well. I do however have installed the installation files for my OS and then cracked: all right apart from a few mistakes with a microphone.

install IIS7+PHP web installer says not supported.

2011-08-07T01:58:00.002-07:00

I am trying to install php on my system as I have just learned it in my college and now I want to practice the same at my home so I installed it at my home and that gave me error that it need a IIS server for it , I install it but while installing the installation the IIS server it gave me a error named that It needed a web-installer . Unfortunately it gives me an error message that says that the product you are trying to install is not supported by the operating system.

It all depends on which operating systems are you using and that on the other hand depends on the version and the software’s are you using. I have been through such phases before and I do not want any another person to get through same phase, for installation this you need the whole administrator rights on the system that you are installing it. And believe me there is no proper installation guide for this on the internet .

I suggest you to use the Fastcgi module in IIS which facilitate popular submission frameworks that hold up the Fastcgi procedure to be hosted on the IIS Web server in a high presentation and dependable way. Fastcgi offer a high-performance substitute to the Common Gateway Interface which is also known as CGI, which is a normal way of interfacing peripheral applications with Web servers that has been a fraction of the maintain IIS feature set since the first release. So without that I don ‘t think the installation will succeed in any way.

To acquire complete benefit of this modular structural design, you be supposed to plan your IIS 7.0 setting up to competition the necessities of the application you will be organize. Responsibility so will diminish the IIS 7.0 facial appearance you mount, approval to you to obtain benefit of the reimbursement of the IIS 7.0 modular planning. I think that would solve your problem. This is the basic step on follows before installing it.

I suggest you to upgrade your windows Xp or the Windows 7 which ever operating system that you are using so that it can get the latest updates from the server and this could then help you to install the windows installer, un fortunately most of the windows installation depends on the windows installation to do this you need to updates your system first, as without the installation of the IIS there won‘t be any installation of the php possible.

The error is most likely to cause by the one of the following conditions either you windows update temporary folder is corrupted or on the other hand the windows update Agent 3.0 is not installed properly. These are the only problem that causes the error so just double check them and also see that your antivirus programs do not interfere with them as many of times there are the only one that causes the problem. Mostly Mc Afee , Norton are the anti-virus that block IIS server.

How large should i keep my page file ?

2011-08-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

I have researched this broadly. I have a 6 gbs of triple channel RAM, and a 120gb Ocz Vertex 2 SSD, thus I was confused that shall I keep some amount of page files for my machine or the RAM that I have is sufficient for the machine, and if suppose I decided to put it, how large it should be ? and do I keep it by default or shall I change it as per my convenience. Though I have a good rid of my machine do I need to keep those page files, I am confused about that, can anyone suggest me? Thanks.

Whatever the rig you are talking about is good I would say, even if you don’t keep those page files you may not bother regarding the memory. 6 GB’s is enough memory for handling the CPU utilization, but though if you keep some amount of memory, this would surely help you with the performance. I have experienced that, I mean to say I don’t have this much RAM, just 2 GB of RAM in my machine, thus I have set the page files for all the drives in my machine.

Yeah you can have some amount of page files, I hope you know that I to keep those files, and see for the drive that you are planning to keep page files, you have to make it according to their usage. If suppose you have a three drives in your machine and one of them contains lots of data, then obviously you should give it more amount of page files. And would suggest you the same like you should keep some amount of page files.

As you have mentioned I think this is not enough actually, how many drives you have in your machine? according to that you should keep the page files. I have heard like we should have generally 2½ times of main memory. In fact what so funny in this is like I am not able to understand this ratio, but you can simply set it by yourself, I mean to say according to you convenience. If you ever find it on the internet you would always get different answer for the same.

Hey thanks friends for immediate replies, and really I would say I am completely agree with the above user, as I have tried to find out about this on many websites, but didn’t found any appropriate answer for these. And sorry I just forget to give the further details, ok let me tell you right now, as I have 3 drive in my machine 30, 30 and 60 respectively. And that’s funny as I am asking about the page files but I don’t know how to set them, I would like if you suggest me that also.

Now this is good, I would say you set it manually, rather than keeping it by default through the system managed sized. While you were setting up this page size you can have three options there like custom size, system managed size and the third one is No paging file. You have to chose custom size for that, and as soon as you select the drive it will show you the maximum limit, and you should put that much only.
I would say you should set the custom size for one drive only that’s the 60Gb one, for that you should keep 5000 MB for page file, and select the system managed size for other drives, and for making this changes select my computer and right click on that and select the system properties and after that select the advanced tab in that, you will find the frame called performance, thus from that select the setting and then the advanced tab again, where you’ll find the options for the virtual memory. And you can make changes in for the drives you want.

MagicISO doesn´t identify my CD

2011-08-07T01:57:00.001-07:00

I have a image file which has a .ISO extension, and yesterday I was about to write it on the CD and for that I am using the magicISO software but, but when I was trying to do that, I was unable to do that, as the software was unable to read the empty disk, and won’t enable the burn option in the software, what would be the problem, as I haven’t faced any such problem ever before, I have write many CD and DVD;s through this software only.
Have you ever tried to burn the image that you are doing right now? Because it might be possible that the image that you are trying to burn is not perfect, I mean to say the software that you are using that’s the magicISO unable to read the data from the source and thus won’t enable the burning option, I mean to say that the CD that you have inserted, might be perfectly alright, but there is some problem in the software only.
See it could have so many reason that cause this kind of problems, thus I would like to recommend you that you should check all the possibilities according to you that can cause this problem, if I would be there in your place I would start with the media disk that I has entered in the drive, thus would suggest you the same, that check whether the Disk is working perfectly or not, I mean to say check that the disk is not corrupted.

Have the same opinion as the above user, as you should first of all try to change the software, rather you can have a better option like you have to uninstall the software that you are using currently and then install the fresh copy of the same software again, this would most probably solve the issues regarding the software, and try to burn the CD, and if suppose you are still getting the error, then it might be due to some other possibilities.
Before burning the CD I would like to suggest you that make sure that the image that you are about to burn is not of the size bugger than the media disk that you have entered in the drive. Because if this is the only reason, then I would say it is impossible to burn the CD. Rather you can use some another kind of media disk also in order to write the data, I mean to say that the CD can hold only 710MB of data while if you have the data more that this size you can use the DVD, which has a capability for storing 4700 MB.
I am agreed with the above user as if you tried almost all the hostilities that they have mentioned, and still you are having the problem with that I would like to recommend you that you should use another software for the same, as if your search on the internet you’ll get many software that you can use to burn this kind if image files, according to me you should use ultraISO software for burning the CD, as it is very good software and doesn’t gives any such issues.

Unable to run Cyberlink Power Dvd Software due to CL HELPER.EXE

2011-08-07T01:56:00.000-07:00

Hey I have a very good rig for my machine and I have bought it before 1 month only, I use it most probably for watching the movies and listening the songs in that, and for watching the DVD’s I use to use the Cyberlink power DVD software, and yesterday only I was unable to run the DVD. It was saying the message like CL HELPER.EXE has encountered a problem, I don’t know what to do next, as I haven’t seen this problem ever yet. Can somebody give me directions on how to get rid out of the problem? Any suggestion would be appreciated.

I would say this is too ridiculous as you are using very old software for just running the DVD, as in fact I would like to told you about this problem, whatever the software that you are using that’s Cyberlink power DVD software, is being corrupted. Or some of the files that is associated with this software is being missing from the programs files, and it lead to produced this error. Now in fact I would say rather than solving these you should use some another player for playing
I was also having the similar problem as I installed this software, it was crashing while starting the software, i want to ask you that do you have the full version of the software that you’re using? Because I have seen many people having the same problem because actually they were having the trial version software. Thus I would say if you have the same you should install the full paid version, I am sure you’ll get your problem solved.

I’d say rather than repairing the software, we can install the new one in the same time, thus I would suggest you the same, as this seems the problem in the software itself, you have to reinstall the software in order to play the disk. Or I am not sure but this might be the problem regarding the driver also, you should try to change the driver that you’re using, this may fix your problem.
Yeah you can say that I am running very old software, but I would say one of my friend told me about this software, like it has a many good capabilities to play the DVD files. Because of that only I was using this, and although I don’t know other software’s also as I am very new to this computer. Ok, In fact I had decided that I’ll not use this software but at least let me know that which other should I use?
Yeah exactly, I would say you should use some other players only, and who told you, only that software gives better capabilities for playing those videos? In fact I am using other players such a classic media player and the VLC media player, and it is too good if you compare it with the one that you have, thus I would recommend you the same, you can download this players from the internet for the free, and there is no need to register.

ISO compression rate before quality loss becomes noticeable

2011-08-07T01:55:00.002-07:00

Hi I have a very good PC with very good rid that I had bought around one month ago, and I have so many movie files saved in my hard drive, and they all are in the very good quality, thus the size of each file is too large, so I have decided that I will compress them so I can manage the capacity of my hard disk, but once as I compress one movie the quality became too poor to see, so my question is like how much compression should we apply in order to get the best quality in the smaller size? Any idea?
See I would say being able to observe quality thrashing, we have to observe very hardly, because it differ from video to video and is based upon the actual type of video, but as you have mentioned that the videos that you have has a very good quality, I am assuming they are DVD rip formats, so if you have the same you can compress it till the ¾ of the part, I mean to say if you have a movie of a size 1000 MB, you can compress it till 750MB, after that quality loss would be notice able.
Exactly the same view as the above user, the mentioned ratio is too good, and if suppose you found that you are not getting any glitch then you can off course reduce its size further to see the change in the quality. And by the way the quality matter due to so many factors while compressing the movies such as fast motion VS still shots, the frequency that it used, the bit rates and the FPS that you use while conversion. Thus if you control this also you can reduce the size further also.
See if you already has the files in the formats like AVI and MKV, I would suggest you that you should not compress them, or else definitely, you’ll going to lose the quality. Or simply the best option would be to use use a program like DVD Shrink and lower the quality of the video files that you have. And if you search it on the internet you’ll get many software for doing these operation, according to me you should use the DVDRebuilder, it has a very good capability to re-encode the entire disk, and the compression is also good. Thus you should try that first, and see whether the quality decreases or not and then make some other changes while compressing the files.
According to me if you don’t want to lose the quality of the movie rather, you can make use of the codec for these, there are many you can find on the internet, they are actually made for these purpose only, such as whenever we compress any movie files, it just take care of all the associated things which is concern able. CCE Encoder is also good software you can use this also. I would say while compressing the files codec participate a very important position in functioning of a audio and video files.

Converting .mkv to BDMV for standalone blu-ray player,

2011-08-07T01:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone might be my question is quite complicate but don’t finding a ways to write my question in one line, but further here I had putted my question proper and without any complication, so just before few days I purchased a blu-ray burner of LG BH10LS30 and got some software along with it like media show, power dvd and powerproducer etc, that I don’t want right now as I have Nero Multimedia suite 10 and it’s have Blu-ray plugins too. And what I actually want right now want to burn a blu-ray movie instead of losing the quality of it from the MKV files, so I don’t want to shift to the another software if possible or would it be possible using Cyberlink. So suggest me that whether I can use my Nero for it or have to shift to other software for that? Thanks in advance.
I don’t know much about the Nero suite 10 that include Cyberlink in it will allow you this extend the features or not but you can use a TsMuxer which have the ability to convert all streams including EVO/VOB/MPG, MKV/MKA, TS, M2TS to TS to M2TS and also even BDMV and supports a number of codec and you can mux Fps automatically and manually also and maintain the best quality even after converting such file. So you can give a try to this application.
Hey I think you have also heard about MultiAVCHD , I can say that this will be best thing for which you are looking for and it permit you convert almost all kind format which support blu- ray players like MKV, M2TS, VOB, AVI files and also including DVD, Blu-ray/AVCHD/BDMV and also convert with best video quality and have a ability to convert the near to 252 files and convert to 1080p file, no encoding needed and just a simple process with compatible features. So just fell comfortable and use this application.
I will not take your much time just clearing you doubt that Converting .mkv to BDMV for playing it in Blu –ray players by including Cyberlink in Nero 10 is not possible, so don’t waste your time looking for comes patch file that will allow you to play blu-ray supportive file using your Nero 10 suite either, so better you should look out for other software in which are available in the market or is easily available on internet like MultiAVCHD, ClownBD and even many other are there.
Yup dude the all above mention software are excellent and they are really prove to be useful for what are you looking for, but let me tell that there is also a software which you are missing here! Have you heard of ClownBD, its stand just aside from any other software available in the market, you don’t have to install it even just download and paste it in any folder and just launch it from there and also include a other software ImgBurn separately, it will guide and help you for using ClownBD and will give a notice if by mistake you are not operating a function properly. And it use to convert mkv. To blu ray and you will able to burn that by using ImgBurn.
The time when you put an mkv file in ClownBD than a line will be visible to you in the front window of ClownBD that with assist you to find the movie location where it has been send and other mkv file on your system and under to it there will be a black area and the tiny browsing option also so from there you can also navigate through all files on your system and then mark the file which you want to convert and let you insert the file from the supportive file format for converting. And even you could utilize it for burning the ISO file with ImgBurn without any guidance from the user.
Hey dude hi, yeah MultiAVCHD is a excellent tool but if you want extra option to choose from than MKVtoolnix will be the perfect one, it is a tools for creating and alter, convert, split, and even inspect the Mkv files it is freeware software and easy available all over the internet and not much bigger in size like other software too, so for the quality of video it give out after conversion, is just awesome and you can watch even the rating of this Tool over the good rated software site.

Need to know about .mp3 Internal Tag Fixer

2011-08-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hi friends I am having a problem regarding internal Tag fixer. I need this for my .mp3 files. You know that it should be good enough. What I need is that the tag fixer should be able to set my tag's Artist as well as Track Title to - .mp3. I don’t know is there any software or some kind of internal Tag fixer but need it urgent. Whether it may be a trial or free version it will be good so please need help.
Well, you can try Mp3 Tag Tools v 1.2 Build 008. It allows complete rewrite of the formatting options to allow writing in plain custom file name, storage formats, and use label format in the format of the file name. Provide added menu and keyboard shortcuts for all important functions. Improved file labeling, MTT Now you can tag files, even if it is playing. Classification of the improvement and updating of the list view, added error handling Invert selection, more options for case sensitive and so on.
There were so many wrong or missing in the first 7000 files actually I selected them all, remove all labels and started from scratch. Many of them had to manually change the name. As it stands now, I have a sort of temporary folder of mp3s as a cell that I have ripped or downloaded to your labels need to review before being imported into my regular music folder. Once the initial fragment of fact, relabeling things you buy is not so bad. I also forgot to mention that besides having good metadata of files organized, rename the label also automatically creates folders based on any information on the label. All my things are in folders.
I've been using Tag & Rename since it’s prelaunch in September 1999. Did not match with their peers. Cannot find a music file in 15 seconds, and then does not exist in my system. All files are named and labeled, no dashes, hyphens are not part of my vocabulary. All the music is sorted by genre, artist, album, track number and file names. With Tag & Rename, with a little help from Winamp which helped.
Music Match Jukebox was my favorite for the management of labels, but sucks the player and is a huge resource hog, so I was using iTunes tagging / renaming and use to navigate the library and playback. Once I found the label and change the name that party abandoned music and use iTunes to manage my library. I like the layout and format of iTunes and how I can organize my library almost anyway. ITunes also suggest batch tagging choice if there is somewhat fishy with the addition of a third "iTunes Library Updater" software that automatically scan my self-defined folder of music and adds new files to my library.
I usually use mp3tag.de which is a freeware, but since I started copying all my CDs found Tag & Rename is more valuable because you can find information on freedb and amazon.co.uk, and even introduces a lot. Some cover information on the label. I am surprised by the large amount recognized from these sources and it saves me a lot of time, although that takes some time. I think I finished sometime late next year if I have luck.
You know that there are many Tag fixers which are available on the internet. You can download them and run them. Well I am using ID3 v2 which is also good and made for longer tags like song titles. Before I was using ID3 v1 which had many problems like tags were getting truncated etc. Well other than these tag fixers I don’t have much idea about others. I hope you can use this one or find more better one on the web.

Convert .GBX files to .MPEG

2011-08-07T01:51:00.002-07:00

I recently downloaded some video which are in .GBX format. what is .gbx file? How to play or open or convert gbx file? Is there any converter which allow me to convert that .gbx file in to .mpeg format.
GBX files are game data file in a package format and used in various games. A .GBX file is known as a Gerber PCB File. GBX is a trackmania 'game' file, i dont quite understand how you expect to convert this to video.
The .GBX format is the Nadeo Game File format, GBX format is actually some sort of compressed archive, It is used throughout the software to store different types of data.If you are getting any error use RegistryBooster, it is the easy answer to registry problems. It conducts deep scans of your registry to check for errors and conflicts, then repairs and optimizes the registry to peak performance and stability.
Aimersoft Video Converter is the most powerful video file conversion that support various video formats including AVI, XviD, WMV.I recommend you use this software :E.M. Total Video Converter. The software is designed to convert video for your mobile video player as 3gp, mp4, PSP, also VCD or DVD player, XBOX360. you can convert almost all popular formats of video to FLV format easily.
Or you could always use Programs such as Jing and HyperCam2 which record the screen on your laptop for certain other games/programs/guidance things you wish to record.

Compatibility Issue of Skype with Windows 7

2011-08-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hello guys, I usually use Skype messenger to chat with my friends and other buddy, I have been using Skype on my Windows XP and in Windows XP it was working absolutely fine I was not having any kind problem when I was using windows xp but recently I have upgraded my system to Windows7 after installing the windows7 normally every hour I encounter some or the other errors, problem like sometime it stops working, sometime there is no sound while chatting. This problem is irritating me a lot. So please help me out regarding this problem.
You need not worry regarding this, as you told that you were first using windows XP in your system that time it was working fine and you didn’t have any problem using Skype your problem took place after upgrading your system so you must have installed previous version of Skype, windows7 has compatibility issue with version you must use the latest version which is compatible with windows7 otherwise you will face problem. So, I would recommend you to download the latest version of Skype like Skype 5.3 or latest if released from their official site. This will help you in solving your problem
As you are telling that you are having different problems in using Skype. I wanted to know that if it gave you problem in installing Skype in windows7 because if it gave you problem in installing then your installation file must be corrupted because of virus or any Trojan that have corrupted your setup.exe file you can solve this problem by running a system clean up by some registered Anti-virus and after that Downloading a new setup file of Skype which must be of latest version. If it a problem of virus then it will help you. Try it out.
You mention in your problem that you are having some sound problem while chatting as you said now you are using windows7, you didn’t specified which soundcard you are using so if you are using HT Omega Striker sound Card then follow the following steps in order to solve your problem

Disconnect your internet connection, so that your Skype should not sign in automatically.
Open windows device manager and disable the HT Omega Striker sound card but do not uninstall it.
After disabling your sound card connect your internet
Now sign into your Skype account as usual you do.
Now in your Skype Account goto tools -> Options -> go to sound effects page and mute all sound effect, and ensure that you mute all of them.
Now enable your HT Omega Striker.
After following these simple steps your Skype should work fine, regarding sound problem in Skype.

Hey if you are still facing problem in using your Skype then you must go to the Official site of Skype, Skype is using ‘‘Jira Issues Tracker'' to report problems in Skype software. You have to login in jira account in order to report issue regarding Skype and ensure that you are signing in with your user ID and password of Skype with jira, when you login in jira your user id and password are not saved in jira. However when you login for the first time in jira you need to setup a jira account by entering details, in order to allow the system to keep track of your request made by you.

fastest growing technology companies

2011-06-20T09:36:00.001-07:00

Aspire Systems, India's leading Outsourced Product Development company, has announced that they have been ranked amongst the fastest growing technology companies in Asia under the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Award Program. The company has achieved this recognition for the third time in a row.

Gowri Shankar Subramanian, CEO, Aspire Systems, expressed his pleasure on winning the award and said, "Aspire Systems has always believed in providing the best of services to its clients. It is our focus on clients that has enabled us to deliver stellar growth in the Outsourced Product Development space". Gowri further added, "Our constant endeavor is towards building products better and faster for our clients. The innovation in our product development methodology differentiates us as an OPD player and we have been successful in leveraging this for our clients".

Music 2008: 40 billion illegal downloads

2011-06-20T09:32:00.001-07:00

The digital music business is booming but 95% of downloads are still illegal and not paid for, according to a new report.

Making money from digital music is "the biggest challenge for music companies" at the moment, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) Digital Music Report.

This was blamed on falling CD sales, while the increase in digital sales failed to make up for this.

The IFPI, which represents 1,400 companies in 72 countries, estimated more than 40 billion music files were illegally shared in 2008.

There were 1.4 billion single tracks legally downloaded in 2008, with the top-selling digital single, Lil Wayne's Lollipop, selling 9.1 million copies.

Digital music now accounts for 20% of recorded music sales, up from 15% in 2007.

But that success is overshadowed by the popularity of illegal downloading.
The IFPI estimates more than 40 billion music files were illegally shared in 2008. That compares with 1.4 billion legal single track downloads in 2008, with the top-selling digital single, Lil Wayne's Lollipop, selling 9.1 million units.
The UK saw one of the biggest increase in digital sales in the first half of 2008 with sales up by 45%. UK consumers downloaded 110 million single tracks in 2008 and 10.3 million digital albums were sold - accounting for 7.7% of the country's albums market.

Bharti Airtel launches Triple Play Service

2011-06-20T09:31:00.005-07:00

With this, Airtel delivers the Triple Play Advantage of Telephony, broadband and Entertainment Service to its customers.

The Triple Play Service will be initially available to customers in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida starting January 19, 2009.

On this occasion, Atul Bindal, President-Telemedia Services, Bharti Airtel, said, "Today, with the launch of Airtel digital TV interactive, we begin offering the Triple Play Advantage offer to our customers - leading in with voice, then broadband and now television and video on demand. We offer our customers a Single Knock on The Door experience - a uniform Airtel Quality of Experience with a single Customer Service interface and a single unified bill for voice, broadband and TV and video entertainment."

Airtel's state-of-the-art IPTV Headend, with best-in-class MPEG4-10 compression technology, will allow it to offer more content and better quality images as well as services like live broadcast television, network based time-shifted TV, real video-on-demand and a host of other interactive services.

Airtel will deliver its IPTV service to customers through a fibre backbone of Carrier Ethernet Network with last mile delivery on copper using ADSL2+ technology. This latest technology enables high-speed broadband connectivity which in turn delivers superior digital video and audio quality.

New Google Search Feature: Preferred Sites

2011-06-20T09:31:00.003-07:00

Preferred Sites is a new experimental feature for Google Search that lets you personalize the results by adding a list of sites you want to appear more often when you search. Based on your search history, Google suggests some frequently-visited sites, but you can add any other site.

"The preferred sites feature lets you set your Google Web Search preferences so that your search results match your unique tastes and needs. Fill in the sites you rely on the most, and results from your preferred sites will show up more often when they're relevant to your search query."

Some use cases for the feature: adding sites you trust for finding a certain kind of information (movie reviews, sports results), adding more obscure sites that aren't likely to appear in the top results (local news sites) and a partial replacement for bookmarks.

Wikipedia Beefs Up for Multimedia

2011-06-20T09:31:00.001-07:00

Wikipedia is gearing up for an explosion in digital content with new servers and storage designed to handle larger photo and video uploads.multimedia, audio, videoVideo file sizes are quickly reaching the dozens and hundreds of megabytes, and the proliferation of high-megapixel cameras means even small photos can take up a few megabytes, says Brion Vibber, CTO at the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia. Until early 2008, the user-generated encyclopedia's primary media file server had just 2TB of total space, Vibber says.

"For a long time, we just did not have the capacity [to handle very large media files]," he says.wikipedia, multimediaWikipedia has since scaled up from 2TB to 24TB and now 48TB of storage for its primary medial file server, and recently raised file upload limits from 20MB to 100MB. The amount of storage actually being used is about 5TB but that will grow quickly, Vibber says.

For example, users are uploading public domain classical music, and some recordings can last a half-hour. Documentary films that are out of copyright are also being uploaded, and some users are struggling to keep files under the 100MB limit, according to Vibber.

Symantec Announces Enterprise Vault 8.0

2011-06-20T09:30:00.003-07:00

Symantec Corp. today announced the availability of Enterprise Vault 8.0, the newest version of the industry leading email and content archiving platform. Launching in conjunction with the 10-year anniversary of Enterprise Vault, version 8.0 provides customers with the most efficient intelligent archiving platform with more ways than ever to reduce the costs of storing unstructured information such as email, file server and SharePoint content.

Since 1999, Enterprise Vault has been adopted by more than 10,000 organizations globally and each year is recognized by leading analyst firms for its archiving and e-discovery leadership. Enterprise Vault 8.0 continues this tradition offering significant advancements to storage optimization, usability and electronic discovery saving customers up to 60 percent of the costs of storing unstructured information through its archiving technology.

News Facts

Industry-Leading Cost Savings: Enterprise Vault 8.0 offers advanced storage reduction using optimized single instance storage. The archive keeps just one copy of individual emails, their attachments, and files no matter how many times the information occurs and regardless of the originating application.
Accelerated e-Discovery: Leveraging the industry's first Guided Review feature as part of Enterprise Vault Discovery Accelerator, users are able to analyze and filter search results to quickly drill down to the most relevant content with a few simple clicks of the mouse, helping to further reduce the costs and risks of e-discovery.

sync service set for a February unveiling, New Windows

2011-06-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

It looks like Microsoft is finally ready to roll out the mobile version of Windows Live Mesh, it data syncing service that competes with Apple's MobileMe (which ran into problems at launch). Live Mesh was first announced last April, and currently only supports Windows PCs and a Webtop in the cloud. Mac and mobile versions are shown to be "coming soon."

Tom Warren at Neowin reports that Microsoft is set to launch a mobile syncing product called SkyBox at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. This builds on earlier reports based on job postings. SkyBox sounds exactly like Live Mesh (it syncs pictures, calendar, contacts, emails and text messages between your mobile phone and the cloud):

Hardware Configuration for the maximum

2011-06-20T09:29:00.005-07:00

The tool still lingers on the same components: the raw performance of processors, memory, graphics office for use on one hand and for use gourmande other as well as the hard disk are evaluated. Scores of Windows 7 now range from 1.0 to 7.9, not 1.0 to 5.9 as is the case with Windows Vista. The listing is in fact identical, the score may simply climbing 2 points in Windows 7 with the most powerful machines. Thus a machine obtaining a score of 4.2 on Vista will get roughly the same as Seven.

According to the recommendations of Microsoft, a gaming machine to score between 6.0 and 6.9 should be able to display 40 to 50 frames per second in 1280 x 1024 in most of the DirectX 10 games. Scores greater than or equal to 7.0 for their part can display video games more fluid and detailed and make editing high-definition video.

iGoogle discontinues optimization for iPhone

2011-06-20T09:29:00.003-07:00

Without warning, Google has quietly removed the iGoogle Web site formatted for the iPhone. The iPhone formatted version of iGoogle now redirects users to the generic Google Web site formatted for mobile devices. The version of the page that was unique to the iPhone, optimized for Mobile Safari and offered sections that were expandable or collapsible used to display custom gadgets.

Google so far appears to still be developing its Google application--voice searches, Google Earth app and we've previously seen enhancements to the iPhone Maps app (like Street View, walking directions, public transit, etc.) for the iPhone.

Technology Launches Stand-Alone Serial SRAM Devices

2011-06-20T09:29:00.001-07:00

Many embedded applications require volatile RAM for temporary data storage, or for use as a scratchpad, for bulk processing and for math algorithms. In many cases, this RAM is embedded within the microcontroller (MCU). In the past, the most viable way to add more RAM was to buy a larger MCU, which could add unnecessary feature overhead and increase design costs. The only alternative was to add large, parallel-access RAM devices that use up large numbers of I/O pins. Microchip's serial SRAM devices provide a simple, inexpensive way for designers to add more RAM to their application while keeping the same MCU, or even using a smaller one if replacing parallel external RAM with serial RAM. Additionally, the devices feature a bus speed of 20 MHz for fast access, and low operating and standby currents to help extend battery life. They are available in 8-pin packages but only use four MCU pins, compared with 16 to 24 pins for parallel RAM.

"Microchip is pleased to offer a high-performance, low-cost option for designers wanting to easily and inexpensively add more memory to their applications," said Randy Drwinga, vice president of Microchip's Memory Products Division. "These devices show our commitment to finding new, creative solutions that help our customers save time and money, while enabling them to enjoy high performance, including the immediate writes, infinite endurance and low power draw that these serial SRAM devices provide."

PSP Firmware Update 5.03

2011-06-20T09:28:00.007-07:00

The PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system software update may include security patches, new or revised settings and features and other items, which will change your current operating system. We encourage you to check this page from time to time for software updates and to always maintain your system to use the latest version of the system software. If you recently purchased a PSP-3000 series, congratulations! Please update your system software to the version shown on this web page, so that you can enjoy all of the features of the PSP-3000 series system.

An update to the PSP® system software was released on November 20, 2008. You can use this update to upgrade your system software to version 5.02.

Handheld Graphics and Multimedia Assets from AMD

2011-06-20T09:28:00.005-07:00

Qualcomm Incorporated and AMD today announced that Qualcomm has acquired certain graphics and multimedia technology assets, intellectual property and resources that were formerly the basis of AMD's handheld business. The acquisition enhances Qualcomm's multimedia capabilities, allowing Qualcomm to strengthen its leadership position in delivering more advanced products that redefine next-generation mobile user experiences.

"This acquisition of assets from AMD's handheld business brings us strong multimedia technologies, including graphics cores that we have been licensing for several years," said Steve Mollenkopf, executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies. "Bringing this technology in-house creates even greater synergy as we seamlessly integrate the best-in-class multimedia performance AMD offers into our system-on-chip (SoC) products."

"With the sale of these handheld technology assets and resources to Qualcomm, we are better able to focus on our core business and leverage our unique position as a leader in both x86 computing and high-end graphics," said Robert J. Rivet, chief operations and administrative officer, chief financial officer of AMD. "We believe the talented AMD Handheld employees will be a great asset to Qualcomm."

activate the payload of the Conficker virus

2011-06-20T09:28:00.003-07:00

The worm is spreading through low security networks, memory sticks, and PCs without current security updates.

The malicious program - also known as Downadup or Kido - was first discovered in October 2008.

Although the spread of the worm appears to be levelling off, there are fears someone could easily take control of any and all of the 9.5m infected PCs.

Speaking to the BBC, F-Secure's chief research officer, Mikko Hypponen, said there was still a real risk to users.

"Total infections appear to be peaking. That said, a full count is hard, because we also don't know how many machines are being cleaned. But we estimate there are still more than 9m infected PCs world wide.

"It is scary thinking about how much control they [a hacker] could have over all these computers. They would have access to millions of machines with full administrator rights.

"But they haven't done that yet, maybe they're scared. That's good news. But there is also the scenario that someone else figures out how to activate this worm. That is a worrying prospect."

Intel on track with Processors featuring

2011-06-20T09:28:00.001-07:00

Despite some over-conservative expectations and reports, Intel Corp. is on track to release its central processing units (CPUs) with integrated graphics cores this year, the company said during its most recent conference call with financial analysts.

Answering the question from Hans Mosesmann – an analyst from Raymond James, a financial services holding company – Stacy Smith, chief financial officer of Intel, said that the code-named Havendale processor with integrated graphics core for desktop and mobile computers will be available "in the second half" of this year.

Intel's Havendale processor is a multi-chip module (MCM) in LGA1160 form-factor containing Nehalem micro-architecture-based dual-core CPU in addition to graphics and memory controller hub (GMCH) that features dual-channel DDR3 memory controller, PCI Express 2.0 x16 interface to connect add-on graphics cards as well as integrated graphics core. It is projected that both chips on the MCM are made using 45nm process technology.

Google Publishes 100,000th Knol

2011-06-20T09:27:00.003-07:00

Google's Knol website has recently received its 100,000th article, known as knol, and the search engine was pleased to announce on its official blog that things were starting to go its way. The rapid expansion of the new website, which is only 5 months old, is nothing but good news, and everybody at Google expressed their admiration for the thousands of users that wrote on the site, contributing to its increasing database. Bad mouths have it that Google is currently going after Wikipedia, attempting to reclaim the first returned result to query position that the free encyclopedia owns for most one- or two-word searches.

In a way, the two projects — Knol and Wikipedia — are quite similar: they both aim at becoming a comprehensive and throughout repository of freely accessible, verifiable knowledge in text and pictures format that can be used for research released via a license that allows for free redistribution and can be freely edited by other users.

The Knol interface is now available in eight languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish) and we are excited that our users are helping us translate it into many more languages using the Google in Your Language console.

Knols are basically articles, much like Wikipedia entries, which are written by experts in the field, and are meant as an online "unit of knowledge," as the site description says. As opposed to its more famed rival, Knol allows users to advertise their websites directly inside the article. Users are also allowed to name the articles however they see fit, and they can utterly disregard ambiguity issues when choosing to name their pieces in confusing terms.

AMD cut Phenom II prices

2011-06-20T09:27:00.001-07:00

The problem with not having the overall performance leadership is that your pricing is essentially determined by that of the company that does.

This is the situation AMD has found itself in since the launch of Intel's Core 2 architecture.After Intel threw down the silicon gauntlet by reducing the prices of its processors, AMD have seemingly responded in the only way they could: by cutting the cost of their 45nm Phenom II chips.

However, Intel dropped the price of the faster Q9400 to $213, instantly rendering the Phenom II 940 much less competitive.

Finally Gives Up Trying To Sell Ads In Newspapers

2011-06-20T09:26:00.004-07:00

We were somewhat skeptical of what kind of advantage Google could provide to selling ads in physical publications (initially magazines) when the program launched in 2005. At best, we thought that the relationship with advertisers could maybe bring in some advertisers who didn't traditionally advertise in print. But, there was no way to provide the customization and contextualization that made Google's ad programs online so effective. And, indeed, the original program was something of a failure. The company then took a second shot, which seemed to get a lukewarm thumbs up from some newspapers, but it was hardly a rousing success.

And, indeed, the company has now admitted that they're killing off the program -- which seems unlikely to be missed. There's certainly nothing wrong with experimenting with new business models and ideas, but it was never really clear what true advantage Google provided in this space, and the shut down pretty much confirms that the answer was that there wasn't much of an advantage.

BIOSTAR Announces AMD 760G Chipset

2011-06-20T09:26:00.003-07:00

BIOSTAR today announced the BIOSTAR TA760G M2+ / A760G M2+, powered by ATI's latest IGP-based chipset, the AM2-compatible 760G.

The 760G chipset is a value-conscious alternative to the impressive 780G, and is paired with AMD's SB710 south bridge to offer integrated Radeon 3000-series graphics.

Chipset-CPU Features

AMD 760G+SB710
Powered by ATI Radeon™ Graphics, DirectX® 10 introduces detail-rich images and dynamic interactivity for playing the latest DirectX® 10 games. AMD® 760G Chipset is designed up to 5200MT/s HyperTransport™ 3.0 (HT3.0) interface and PCI Express 2.0 x 16 graphics.

Socket AM2+ Phenom processors Support
Supported AMD® Socket AM2+ Quad /Triple Core processors, it delivers better over clocking capabilities with low power consumption. Phenom processor features dual-channel DDR2 1066 memory support and accelerates data transfer rate up to 5200MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0 system bus.

Availability of VoIPerfect and High Definition

2011-06-20T09:26:00.001-07:00

AudioCodes, a leading provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) technologies and Voice Network products, and MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NasdaqGS: MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard architectures, processors and analog IP for digital consumer, home networking, wireless, communications and business applications, today announced the availability of AudioCodes' VoIPerfect™ and VoIPerfectHD™ Voice over IP software on MIPS32® processor cores. This combination will enable System on Chip (SoC) designers to develop cost-effective products with advanced VoIP Quality of Service (QoS) and outstanding performance—leading to a more natural voice quality for devices such as IP Phones and Integrated Access Devices (IADs) for GPON, WiMAX and ADSL.

HD VoIP technologies deliver better voice clarity, intelligibility, and richer sound than traditional voice networks, improving the user experience by doubling the audible voice spectrum. AudioCodes' HD VoIP solutions are optimized for MIPS Technologies' single-threaded and multi-threaded 32-bit cores, bringing together the high-performance MIPS® architecture with AudioCodes' leading DSP, voice coding and SIP application technologies. VoIP developers are expected to benefit from the combination of AudioCodes' software and the MIPS32® 34K® core, which leverages multi-threading to process multiple VoIP channels and preserve voice quality. With its software running on the 34K core, AudioCodes achieved an acceleration of up to one and a half times compared to a single-threaded core.

Online IPhone Development Courses offer

2011-06-20T09:25:00.007-07:00

Accelerated Internet Strategies has launched an iPhone development training program. It begins February 2, 2009 and costs $97 per course. Five courses are in the series.

Each course is offered online as a "webinar." The courses are taught live, in the evening, twice a week. They're also recorded and made available in the event you miss a session.

The five courses include

Introduction to Object Oriented Programming and Logic;
Objective-C 2.0 for iPhone Developers;
Cocoa & Xcode for iPhone Developers;
iPhone SDK Programming - Getting It Done;
iPhone SDK Programming - Advanced.

500 Million Downloads for App Store

2011-06-20T09:25:00.005-07:00

The milestone was reached in just six months, because the App Store was launched only last July, and after a few months there are 300 million downloads.

Obviously you can not know how many of these applications are downloaded for a fee, and how many of those are free. The third-party apps are increasingly popular because they allow the phone to Apple to adapt the needs of the user, rather as with Firefox and add-on.

Mobile software to reduce the carbon footprint

2011-06-20T09:25:00.003-07:00

MobiMonster2.0, a company based in New Delhi, has developed a Mobile phone application that can reduce a mobile phone's global carbon footprint. The application called, GreenPhone can monitor several power hungry features in the phone and can inform the user when these resources are consuming battery but are not required to be switched on.

GreenPhone has also been recognized by Nokia, and has been awarded as the most innovative application in its Eco-Friendly category and has been selected from Asia Pacific as a finalist for the GSM World Congress to be held in February, 2009.

GreenPhone is a first of it's kind application for Series 60 devices, infact no other Eco-Friendly application exists for Mobile Devices which monitors power and resources on the phone. The application has a basic version available for sale, but is currently being re-vamped for a worldwide presentation. GreenPhone can switch off the backlight of the phone when it is not required, notify the user when the Bluetooth and WLAN is switch on but not being used and also notify the user when the charger is not required to be connected on the phone. All these features can significantly reduce the power consumption of your phone, thus reducing the time you need to charge the phone, which results in significant saving of electricity inturn reducing the carbon foot print of a mobile device.

BladeSystem Solution Blocks for Microsoft Technologies

2011-06-20T09:25:00.001-07:00

HP announced a comprehensive set of HP BladeSystem configurations for Microsoft technologies designed to quickly and cost-effectively help organizations deploy, upgrade and consolidate Microsoft business applications onto a common infrastructure.

HP BladeSystem Solution Blocks are best-practice configurations that allow organizations to deploy reliable, optimized infrastructures to support their business applications. When deployed, the solution blocks take the guesswork out of integrating technology and business applications.

New solution blocks announced today include a collaboration configuration, based on Microsoft® Office SharePoint Server, and a data management solution block, based on Microsoft SQL Server. The addition of these offerings to the HP BladeSystem Solution Blocks for Microsoft portfolio results in a full set of solutions that customers can use to address their business needs.

"Customers can simply and cost-effectively scale their technology environment to meet the needs of the business with HP BladeSystem Solution Blocks for Microsoft," said Jim Ganthier, director of BladeSystem marketing, Enterprise Storage and Servers, HP. "This best practice, building-block approach ensures that capabilities are added as they are needed, saving organizations time and money."

Mobile malware menaces money

2011-06-20T09:24:00.005-07:00

Kaspersky is reporting this morning that a Trojan affecting Symbian systems looks to transfer money from the accounts of users of a certain mobile phone operator and into the accounts of someone else, presumably the person or persons responsible for the malware. The Trojan's not new but the target certain is.

Written in Python, the malware as per Kaspersky, Trojan-SMS.Python.Flocker, versions .ab through .af sends an SMS message with an instruction to transfer money from the user's mobile account to the other account. The amounts are rather small (under a dollar), but obviously if the infection becomes widespread, such things can add up without triggering a reaction from any scammed individual.

Firefox 2 loses Phishing Protection

2011-06-20T09:24:00.003-07:00

The data service that is used by the Phishing Protection feature in Firefox 2 has been turned off. Any Firefox 2 user with version 2.0.0.19 or later may have already noticed that the option to enable this feature is disabled.

If you're using a previous version of Firefox 2, even though the feature is enabled in your browser, as of January 20th no new data will be sent to your computer.

Google hut down the Phishing and Malware Protection service that informed Firefox 2.0 users that they were at risk when browsing malicious websites, especially spoofed sites.

indicom offers 100 percent cash back on handset

2011-06-20T09:24:00.001-07:00

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) has announced an exciting 100 per cent cash back offer on handsets for its post-paid subscribers. The offer comes with an assurance of a full refund of the full value of the handset. There are three feature-rich, colour and FM handsets under the plan -- Samsung Super Hero (Rs 1,800), Radio phone (Rs 1,800) and Motorola W212 (Rs 1,200). The scheme comes coupled with the Great Value 199 postpaid plan at a monthly rental of Rs 199.

The devices bought under this scheme will be bundled with the Great Value 199 plan. The intrinsic details of the plan are as follows:

Rent: Rs. 199
Free: 300 minutes of local calls and 200 SMS per month
Local Calls: Mobile – T2T: 30 paise; Others: 50 paise
Landline – Re. 1
SMS: Local and National: 50 paise; International – Rs. 5
STD: Rs. 1.5

On the occasion, Shashank Pore, general manager, marketing, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), said, "This is yet another initiative from Tata Indicom to offer customised and first-of-its-kind services to its esteemed subscribers. Through this unique 100 per cent cash back offer, we are delivering an amazing value proposition to the consumers. We are confident that this offer will set new benchmarks in the industry."

profit drops by 69 percent in fourth quarter

2011-06-20T09:23:00.005-07:00

The world's top mobile phone maker, Nokia Corp., on Thursday said its profits fell 69 percent in the fourth quarter as the economic downturn slowed handset sales.

Net profit was euro576 million (US$743.62 million), down from euro1.84 billion in the same period in 2007.

Sales fell 19.5 percent to euro12.7 billion, from euro15.8 billion.

The results came in below expectations, sending Nokia shares down more than 5 percent in Helsinki to euro9.66 ($12.47).

The Finnish company gave a bleak outlook for the industry, saying it expects global mobile device volumes to drop 10 percent in 2009 compared to last year.

Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said the industry has been hit by "weaker consumer confidence, unprecedented currency volatility and credit tightness."

"We are taking action to reduce overall costs and to preserve our strong capital structure. This is clearly our top priority in the current economic environment," Kallasvuo said.

Nokia said its share of the handset market fell to 37 percent, down from 38 percent in the previous quarter and 40 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

The company said it expects to maintain its market share at the same level in the first three months of 2009, and maintains its target of increasing market share in the full year.

Adamo And Dell Team Up For MacBook Air Rival

2011-06-20T09:23:00.003-07:00

A recent dig through Dell's trademarks turned up a couple of curiosities – "Adamo" and "Adamo by Dell."According to the documents, the trademarks cover computer hardware, including possibly desktops and laptops.

The whole "Adamo by Dell" bit sounds rather fancy for a company that lumps all of its computers under just a handful of brands. But, apparently, this computer isn't your regular Dell computer. It has its own Web site after all, which says the product is coming soon.

Throw Adamo and Dell into a search engine, and you get nothing. Well, make that almost nothing.

A luxury goods publication appears to have some early marketing collateral from Dell for Adamo. "Rumor has it that Dell is coming out with a computer called Adamo that will rival the MacBook Air," Uptownlife.net writes.

But most telling of all might have been the reaction of Michael Tatelman, Dell's vice president in charge of consumer sales and marketing, to my question about whether or not Dell had an Air-like product in store. Mr. Tatelman's mouth gaped open and his eyes darted away from my face.

If looks could reveal product dimensions, then I'd guess that Dell's going even thinner and lighter than Apple.

After a couple of moments, Mr. Tatleman said, "I think we need to get some iconic products out there, so people associate Dell's brand with other things." Namely, that's goodbye to clunky, and hello to sleek.

Apple beats expectations with record earnings

2011-06-20T09:23:00.001-07:00

Apple on Wednesday reported it finished 2008 with record quarterly profit of 1.61 billion dollars, with iPod sales hitting an
all-time high.

The iconic California company posted revenue of $10.17 billion in the three months ending December 27, 2008 and declared quarterly earnings of $1.78 per share.

Analysts had forecast Apple earnings of 1.29 dollars
per share for the quarter.

The results topped the profit of $1.58 billion, or $ 1.76 per share, seen by the firm in the same quarter a year earlier.

"Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history, surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a written release.

University Becomes Asia’s First CUDA

2011-06-20T09:22:00.003-07:00

NVIDIA Corporation and National Taiwan University (NTU), one of the world's leading research universities, today announced that NTU has been named as Asia's first CUDA Center of Excellence. NTU earned this title by formally adopting NVIDIA GPU Computing solutions across its research facilities and integrating a class to teach parallel computing based on the CUDA architecture into its educational curriculum. NTU joins previously recognized CUDA Centers of Excellence, University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign and University of Utah with more announcements expected in the coming weeks.

"This appointment and our adoption of GPUs will empower our academic researchers to do world-changing research," said Prof. Ji-Wang Chern, Dean for Research and Development of NTU. "This partnership with NVIDIA will help NTU improve the state of parallel computing education in Taiwan and equip the next generation of computational researchers with the tools they need to make great discoveries."

"Taiwan is the global epicenter of technology innovation and NTU is one of the key universities cultivating engineers and developers that will go on to become true pioneers in the world of IT. We are delighted to recognize their contribution by naming NTU a CUDA Center of Excellence," said David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA.

Microsoft cutting jobs, but not products

2011-06-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Although Microsoft is cutting jobs, the software maker apparently isn't axing any major products as part of its cost-cutting moves.

On a conference call with analysts Thursday, though, CEO Steve Ballmer defended the company's decision to stick by all of its businesses, even as it looks to cut up to 5,000 jobs.

"I like our portfolio," Ballmer said on the conference call. "The board likes our portfolio," he said, before moving on to the next question.

But should they be so pleased?

Microsoft itself acknowledged on the call that it does not have the leading position in several of its emerging businesses. The company makes the bulk of its money from Windows and Office. It also has a server software business that is profitable and fast-growing.
However, the software maker has struggled to attain profitability in its entertainment unit, its cell phone software unit remains small, and its online efforts continue to lose significant money.

Thus far, Microsoft has announced plans to cut only one product, its Windows Live OneCare security service. Even that one will be replaced by a new, free product code-named Morro.

The company apparently isn't cutting any entire products as part of the new

All-New Skype Now Available

2011-06-15T09:16:00.003-07:00

Skype announced the launch of Skype 4.0 for Windows, the most
distinctive new release in the company's five-year history. Thanks to
the feedback of tens of thousands of people, the new version offers
full-screen video calling, crystal clear call quality and is easier to
use than ever before. In addition, Skype users will find all of the
features they have come to expect – free voice and video calls to
other Skype users, instant messaging, SMS, as well as calls to
landlines and mobile devices around the world at very low rates.

Face-to-Face Video Calling

"Video calling has emerged as a very popular way for people to
communicate online," said Mike Bartlett, director of product strategy
for Skype. "Whether it's saying hello to your daughter at college or
reading a book to your child while you're away on business—video
calling lets you have the conversations that make a difference and it
really feels almost as good as being there."

With the all-new Skype, people can experience the benefits of free
face-to-face video calling. It's now easier to start a video call and
experience full-screen video, which makes conversations more intimate
and engaging.

Additionally, a new built-in bandwidth manager ensures that consumers
have the very best Skype video calling experience possible even on a
low-bandwidth connection. If you have a fast enough connection
(recommended 400 Kb/s or higher), a dual-core processor PC and a Skype
Certified High Quality Video webcam, Skype delivers up to
30-frames-per-second High Quality Video.

Improved Call Quality

Call quality is substantially improved in the new version of Skype.
The new audio codec achieves wideband audio quality using 50% less
bandwidth than previously required. Moreover, it introduces super
wideband audio that delivers crystal clear, richer and warmer sound to
those using a compatible headset and a high quality broadband
connection. The bandwidth manager interacts with the codec to adjust
quickly to fluctuating bandwidth conditions to produce the most
reliable sound.

Vodafone and HTC unveil Android-

2011-06-15T09:16:00.001-07:00

Vodafone and HTC Corporation on monday announced the HTC Magic
smartphone, Vodafone's first Android-powered mobile, which will be
available in the spring.

The stylish new handset is exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, Spain,
Germany and France (SFR) and available on a non-exclusive basis in
Italy. Customers can ensure that they are the first to receive
information about the HTC Magic's availability, pricing and
pre-ordering by registering their interest via their local Vodafone
website from today.

The introduction of the HTC Magic is the result of a successful
relationship between Vodafone and HTC, and Vodafone's joining, late
last year, of the Open Handset Alliance.

A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and unprecedented
compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC
Magic enables a superior mobile internet experience, providing broad
flexibility for personalisation via the application-rich Android
Market. Available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in
Germany and in both colours in Italy, the HTC Magic will be for sale
in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.

"Delivering an unbeatable mobile internet experience for our customers
is a priority for Vodafone, so we are very excited to be introducing
our first Android-powered smartphone in the spring," says Patrick
Chomet, Global Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group. "Following our
joining of the Open Handset Alliance, we have worked very closely with
HTC to bring this cool new phone to the market. Our customers want to
access a wide range of the most attractive mobile devices to help them
make the most of their time - the HTC Magic helps meet that need."

Blackberry settles case with SEC

2011-06-15T09:15:00.003-07:00

Executives from Ontario-based telecoms firm Research in Motion (RIM)
makers of the BlackBerry have agreed to pay fines of at least 1.4
million US dollars following a financial watchdog's probe into its
stock issuing practices.

Co-Chief Executive Officers Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis and two
of the firm's other senior managers agreed to pay the US Securities
and Exchange Commission the fine following allegations that they had
illegally back-dated stock options, potentially distorting the firms
earnings.

RIM said in a statement that through the settlement the group neither
admitted nor denied the allegations.

Earlier this month the firm's bosses made a similar deal with
regulators of the Toronto Stock Exchange after it emerged that they
may have wrongly backdated stock options for staff as far back as
1996.

In 2007, a probe by RIM's board found that the company had backdated
more than 40 percent of stock options granted to its employees since
1996, including 12 of 16 option grants made to Balsillie and co-chief
executive Mike Lazaridis for two million shares.

IBUYPOWER Launches Gaming Systems

2011-06-15T09:15:00.001-07:00

IBUYPOWER prepped a pair of Intel machines, one spec out and priced
around the 505 setup with Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 and NVIDIA GeForce
8400GS; the other driven by i7 920 (2.66Ghz) and NVIDIA GeForce
9800GT, built for more developed gamer in mind. Both the Intel rigs
are housed in a painted iBUYPOWER Vantage Case with a detailed Halo2
side panel graphic.

The Gamer Extreme 968i is targeted at a more developed gamer, and
features an Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz Processor and the venerable
NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT. Like the Gamer Power 903, the Gamer Extreme
968i is housed in the intimidating iBUYPOWER Vantage enclosure, but
has the power to play the more graphic intensive titles like Far Cry
2, Mirror's Edge, and FEAR 2.

NEC Expands 32-bit Microcontrollers With Built-in

2011-06-15T09:14:00.003-07:00

NEC Electronics Corporation today announced that it has developed nine
new 32-bit All Flash(R) microcontrollers (MCUs) with built-in Ethernet
interface and embedded flash memory. The new products are ideal for
remote and supervisory control of industrial devices and
building-management systems and include six 128-pin variants, named
V850ES/JH3-E and three 144-pin variants, named V850ES/JJ3-E.

The new products have the following features: (1) Integrated Ethernet
media access controller (MAC) channel, eliminating the need for an
external Ethernet controller; (2) Up to 512 kilobytes (KB) of flash
memory and up to 124 KB of random access memory (RAM), making it
possible to run network software using on-chip memory alone; (3)
Peripheral functions including full speed USB 2.0 interface and CAN
interface.

Originally deployed as a networking technology for office computers,
servers, and office automation equipments, Ethernet is now the world's
most widespread wired local area network (LAN) technology. Over the
next few years, Ethernet is expected to be further used for remote and
supervisory control of industrial devices, building-management
systems, home networks, and utility meters for the gas, water, and
electricity. Factory Automation equipments in particular has been a
field in which designers traditionally used proprietary network
architectures but with the growing popularity of Ethernet, more and
more developers are moving to Ethernet to facilitate network
communication.

Hp joins the ubuntu linux bandwagon

2011-06-15T09:14:00.001-07:00

HP's Linux support will no longer be limited to Red Hat and SuSE
Linux. Through a new partnership with Canonical, HP is becoming one of
the latest in a series of huge IT players to hop aboard the Ubuntu
Linux bandwagon.

More specifically, HP and Linux distributor Canonical are now working
toward full certification of Ubuntu on HP Proliant servers, according
to Mark Murphy, Canonical's alliances manager.

"This will give another layer of assurance to users and customers --
particularly in the enterprise -- with market leader HP recognizing
the growing importance of Ubuntu to enterprise and SMB customers,"
Murphy wrote in the Canonical Blog on Monday. "The certification means
HP will list Ubuntu as a supported operating system and verify the
work undertaken by Canonical to ensure full certified compatibility.
Furthermore, both companies are fully cooperating at the engineering
level to provide full underlying confidence for HP customers using the
certified servers."

Meanwhile, earlier this month, HP released an Ubuntu-based custom OS
for its Mini 1000 Mi Edition netbook.

Like IBM, although not in the same ways, HP is now adding Ubuntu to a
roster of Linux distributions previously limited to Red Hat and
Novell's SuSE Linux.

Nintendo DSi to be launch on April 5

2011-06-15T09:13:00.005-07:00

Nintendo pioneered hand-held entertainment in the '80s and made it
fully mobile with the Game Boy video game system. Now, Nintendo is
transforming the way people access, experience, create and share
content with the new Nintendo DSi™ system, the third iteration of the
world's best-selling portable video game system. Nintendo DSi launches
in the United States on April 5, 2009, at an MSRP of $169.99. The
colors available at launch will be Blue and Black.

"Ever since the arrival of the first Game Boy, consumers worldwide
have turned to Nintendo for their portable gaming," said Cammie
Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales &
Marketing. "Nintendo DSi builds on Nintendo's commitment to bringing
fun and creative entertainment to everyone, and will allow consumers
to personalize and share their very own experiences."

Some features that will be built into the system and ready to enjoy
upon purchase include the Nintendo DSi Camera, Nintendo DSi Sound and
Nintendo DSi Shop. The most noticeable feature of the slim Nintendo
DSi system is its two cameras – one camera is on the external body,
and the second one points at the user when the device is flipped open.
As the first truly interactive digital camera in a video game system
with 10 different interactive "lenses" that can manipulate your
photos, the Nintendo DSi Camera offers an easy way to take and share
your photos with family and friends. The cameras also present people
with unprecedented ways to interact with their games while giving
developers a new tool to devise creative games and experiences. If the
touch screen gave Nintendo DS a sense of feel and the microphone
allowed it to hear, the two cameras give Nintendo DSi the sense of
sight.

iPhone features in rivals' new phones

2011-06-15T09:13:00.003-07:00

Copying a few pages from the playbook of Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone
strategy, which brings many of the powers of the Internet to mobile
phones, is no way to beat the computer interloper at its game.

But that's exactly what many of the world's biggest handsets makers
are trying to do with new copycat phones and services that ape key
features of the iPhone.

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the world's biggest annual
trade show for the wireless industry, Apple is everywhere and nowhere.
The company avoids such events, preferring to unveil products at its
own venues.

The handset business will produce more than a billion phones this
year, but is suffering a crisis of confidence brought on by sharply
changing business models that has only been exaggerated by the global
economic slump.

"Imagination is expensive in a year such as this," said Richard
Windsor, a technology analyst at the conference who is with Nomura
Securities in London.

Terminal Reality Announces New Game Engine

2011-06-15T09:13:00.001-07:00

Terminal Reality Announces a Breakthrough in Videogame Development:
The Infernal Engine

The world of videogame development has taken a turn for the better
with Terminal Reality's highly featured, all-in-one Infernal Engine

Terminal Reality officially announced today their revolutionary
next-generation development platform, the Infernal Engine. This new
technology powers the much-anticipated Ghostbusters: The Video Game, a
continuation of the Ghostbusters story. Terminal Reality will also
license the Infernal Engine to third parties and is currently
scheduling private meetings at the DICE Conference this February 17 –
20 in Red Rock, NV.

The Infernal Engine is a high-quality cross-platform engine

The Infernal Engine offers excellent cross platform support and is
compatible with all of the leading gaming systems as well as the PC.
Thanks to the extensive experience of the team at Terminal Reality,
the Infernal Engine takes full advantage of next generation hardware
while scaling easily to all systems. Veteran monster-killer The
Stranger (from Terminal Reality's 1999 hit title NOCTURNE) appears
here in his new incarnation, updated to take full advantage of
Infernal Engine's latest tech advances. The Stranger will be featured
in upcoming Infernal Engine technology demos.

FISHLABS and Nokia sign N-Gage agreement

2011-06-15T09:12:00.005-07:00

Nokia and FISHLABS Entertainment GmbH, a leading developer and
publisher of high-quality 3D mobile games, today announced an
agreement to bring games to the N-Gage service.

Titles scheduled for release in 2009 include, Powerboat Challenge(TM),
Rally Master Pro(TM), and Snowboard Hero(TM) followed by Galaxy on
Fire(TM) and Blades & Magic(TM) in early 2010. All titles will be
significantly improved in terms of graphics and sound quality and will
be enhanced with additional features. With the powerful multimedia
capabilities of N-Gage compatible mobile phones, FISHLABS can now
offer an even better gaming experience.

"The N-Gage cooperation with Nokia is one of the most important
milestones for FISHLABS since its founding," says Michael Schade, CEO
of FISHLABS Entertainment GmbH. "Being able to market games on
millions of devices with the marketing power of the world's largest
mobile phone manufacturer is a major success for us. Our strategy of
relying exclusively on high-quality, innovative mobile games fits
perfectly with that of Nokia to sell only the best products on
N-Gage."

Mozilla and Skype join the EFF

2011-06-15T09:12:00.003-07:00

While the U.S. government is poised to revise the DMCA (Digital
Millennium Copyright Act) to protect copyright in the digital age, the
EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) asked what practices jailbreaking
of the iPhone is permitted as an exception. Today we learn that
Mozilla and Skype share this position.

Last Monday, in response to this demand, Apple has provided on its
official positions facing jailbreaking "jailbreak techniques widely
generalized use of unauthorized modification of bootloader and the OS
(...) which leads to a violation of Skype, placed on these programs,
"explained the firm's lawyers from Cupertino. This is not a surprise
since Apple developers have repeatedly filled the gaps in the system
used by third party programmers.

More precisely, if this exception proposed by the EFF was accepted
into the DMCA, Apple would still be able to take legal action against
developers modifying the system's internal phone book. However, the
practices of jailbreaking, designed to break the protection measures
implemented by Apple, would facilitate the work of hackers.

John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Corporation, says his side is the side of
the EFF."This is not to criticize Apple," he says, "but it is a matter
of principle. The user should have the choice, which should not lead
to repercussions. The Mozilla Foundation has never proposed Fennec,
its mobile version of Firefox under development for the iPhone but
Apple has stated that software competing with those embedded by
default on the phone are not accepted within the App Store. Anyway
John Lilly says that even if the exception of the jailbreak were to be
accepted by the regulators of the DMCA, Mozilla probably does not
venture on the side of the iPhone.

Engineering the Windows 7 Boot

2011-06-15T09:12:00.001-07:00

As we connect through this blog and through all of those talking about
Windows 7 it is clear that folks have a lot of passion around many
topics. We learned early on about the passion around the boot/startup
sequence and how important it was for that to go by quickly! At the
same time, we know that it is really dull to watch a HDD light blink
when resuming a machine from hibernate or powering up a machine. To
improve this first connection with people, we set out to improve the
boot sequence—jazz it up if you will. It sounds pretty easy, but as we
looked into solving this we found it is a pretty significant
engineering challenge. Our goal was to have fun while having no impact
on the boot performance of the system. To explain this engineering and
describe the boot sequence, Karen Wong, a program manager on our Core
User Experience feature team, authored this post. --Steven

Design

We use the word "personality" to refer to some of the characteristics
of software that connect emotionally with people. 'Light' and 'energy'
are some of the terms we use to describe the personality of Windows 7.
As we designed Windows 7 it became clear that in order to showcase
these elements of Win7's personality, we needed go above and beyond
what we did with Vista's boot visuals.

Siemens Survey Reveals Low Awareness

2011-06-15T09:11:00.007-07:00

Given the growing strain placed on the power grid every day and the
increasing demand for data processing and storage, corporations have
no choice but to start identifying areas to amplify energy
efficiencies immediately. However, according to a Siemens survey
released today, many companies are uncertain about how to best
accomplish new efficiency expectations. The new study, which examined
general IT efficiency attitudes and practices, revealed nearly three
quarters of the Fortune 2000 respondents (87%) believe it is important
to pursue overall energy efficient practices, but only 48% have a
stated goal to reduce their carbon footprint, and even less have begun
to take action.

"As businesses continue to search for ways to save money and alleviate
the strain on the power grid, green technology across the board is
becoming a necessity rather than just 'the right thing to do' --
examining and implementing data center efficiencies is one major area
we cannot overlook," stated Ken Cornelius, CEO of Siemens One, a
business unit of German engineering giant, Siemens AG. "If we do not
start looking closely at our data centers now, 70% of the world's data
centers will have tangible system disruptions by 2011 and the systems
will experience world-wide brown outs over the course of the next five
years."

Data centers alone account for 2.5% of the world's energy use, which
is expected to grow by an astonishing 12% a year, placing even more
unnecessary strain on the power grid. The EPA notes that the energy
used by datacenters in the U.S. is more than the electricity consumed
by all of the nation's color TV sets and comparable to the electricity
consumption of approximately 5.8 million homes. According to the
survey, a majority (65%) of leading Fortune 2000 companies recently
reported that the costs of running their data centers have increased
over the last few years, which certainly is no surprise given the
growing number of data centers across the U.S.

Photo of next-gen Apple Mac

2011-06-15T09:11:00.005-07:00

The photo shows the rear of a Mac mini that includes five USB ports
instead of 4, both mini DVI and Mini DisplayPort connectors, and
FireWire 800 instead of 400

For what it's worth, this is the second picture of a Mac mini seen by
AppleInsider with such a port makeup, the first of which we were asked
not to publish. While we cannot vouch for the authenticity of this new
photo, it shows a Mac mini that is identical in every way to the
system in the unpublished photo, which was said to be a prototype from
last fall.

While we cannot vouch for the authenticity of this new photo, it shows
a Mac mini that is identical in every way to the system in the
unpublished photo.

People familiar with Apple's plans have said that the new Mac mini,
like Apple's MacBook families and upcoming line of iMacs, will be
powered by chipsets from NVIDIA Corp.

ZyXEL Showcases Green Products for

2011-06-15T09:11:00.003-07:00

ZyXEL Communications, a world leader in broadband access solutions,
will introduce its green technology with a series of digital home
devices including comprehensive Wireless N routers, Powerline, Network
Storage Appliance, and Digital Media Adapter at Cebit 2009 in Hall 13,
booth C70 from March 3to 8. The new eco-friendly products provide
users more high performance, energy-saving solutions while meeting the
users' need for multimedia streaming.

Complying with the three EU directives – WEEE (Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment), RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), and
EuP (Eco-Design Requirements for Energy Using Products) -- to
manufacture environmentally responsible products, ZyXEL also optimizes
devices such as network storage appliances, digital media adapters,
and wireless routers with ENERGY STAR® qualified power adapters to
help users save energy costs and protect the environment.

Featuring the unique wireless scheduler, ZyXEL 802.11n series routers,
including NBG-460N, NBG-420N, NBG-417N, and NBG-419N, can be
configured to turn on or off automatically, according to the user's
wireless usage pattern. Users may have the router automatically start
up when they get home and shut off when they go to sleep. Using this
customized and intelligent energy-saving benefit, the routers can save
energy consumption and associated cost when not in use.

Sony Integrates Corel InstantON Technology

2011-06-15T09:11:00.001-07:00

Corel Corporation announced Corel® InstantON™ technology is now
included in the award-winning Sony® VAIO® P series Lifestyle PC.

With Corel InstantON technology, VAIO P series Lifestyle PC users can
surf the web, check email, chat online and play back photos, videos
and music in seconds after turning on their notebook, saving the time
of booting up their Windows operating system.

Jeff Hastings, President and General Manager, Digital Media at Corel,
Quote:
We are pleased to work with Sony to provide a superior instant-on
solution for their VAIO P series Lifestyle PC. Users will find an
all-new, custom-designed interface that provides a complete, efficient
and secure way to quickly access online content at home or on the go.

Bob Ishida, Senior Vice President, Corporate Executive, President of
VAIO Business Group, Sony Corporation,
Quote:
As the world's lightest 8 inch notebook at 1.4 pounds, the VAIO P
series Lifestyle PC deserves a superior instant-on solution to meet
the needs of today's mobile computer user. By adopting Corel InstantON
technology, users will enjoy a stress-free and exciting user
experience through an easy-to-use interface that accesses the internet
faster than ever before.

Intel Notifies AMD of Cross-License Breach Efforts to

2011-06-12T10:12:00.001-07:00

Intel Corporation today disclosed that the company has notified
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) that it believes AMD has breached a 2001
patent cross-license agreement with Intel. Intel believes that Global
Foundries is not a subsidiary under terms of the agreement and is
therefore not licensed under the 2001 patent cross-license agreement.
Intel also said the structure of the deal between AMD and ATIC
breaches a confidential portion of that agreement. Intel has asked AMD
to make the relevant portion of the agreement public, but so far AMD
has declined to do so. AMD's breach could result in the loss of
licenses and rights granted to AMD by Intel under the agreement.

"Intellectual property is a cornerstone of Intel's technology
leadership and for more than 30 years, the company has believed in the
strategic importance of licensing intellectual property in exchange
for fair value. However AMD cannot unilaterally extend Intel's
licensing rights to a third party without Intel's consent," said Bruce
Sewell, senior vice president and general counsel for Intel. "We have
attempted to address our concerns with AMD without success since
October. We are willing to find a resolution but at the same time we
have an obligation to our stockholders to protect the billions of
dollars we've invested in intellectual property."
Under terms of the license agreement the notification to AMD means the
parties will attempt to resolve the dispute through mediation. In
response to the notification AMD claimed Intel breached the agreement
by notifying AMD of its breach. Intel believes that position is
inconsistent with the dispute resolution process outlined in the
original agreement.
Intel [NASDAQ: INTC], the world leader in silicon innovation, develops
technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how
people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available
at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.

VIA Surfboard C855 for full 1080p netbooks

2011-06-12T10:11:00.005-07:00

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86
processor platforms, today announced the VIA Surfboard C855 Reference
Design – an ultra-compact mainboard incorporating the VIA C7-M ULV
processor, the brand new VIA VX855 unified IGP chipset, and advanced
VIA multimedia and connectivity silicon, that has been specifically
designed for easy integration into devices targeted at the rapidly
growing mini-notebook market.

Unveiled today at the VIA Global Mobility Bazaar (GMB) Tech Forum
Spring in Shenzhen, China – an event bringing together a host of PC
manufacturing and infrastructure partners focused on delivering
affordable, power efficient mini-notebooks to global markets – the VIA
Surfboard C855 Reference Design will not only reduce development time
and costs for system manufacturers, but offers the latest advancements
in ultra-mobile technology including smooth playback of high bit-rate
1080p HD video and outstanding 8-channel HD audio.

While consumers have been quick to endorse the mini-notebook form
factor and the convenience provided by its connectivity and web
surfing capabilities, the rise of HD video has resulted in a growing
demand for better visual computing from ultra-mobile products.

The VIA Surfboard C855 meets this demand by providing flawless
playback of high bit-rate 1080p HD video, which along with support for
internal display resolutions of up to 1366 x 768 pixels and external
display resolutions up to 1920 x 1440 pixels, the latest high
definition VIA Vinyl Audio, and a wide range of connectivity options,
allows for a rich on-the-go multimedia experience.

"A key advantage of the VIA Surfboard C855 is the head start it
affords mini-notebook system developers or those seeking to enter the
market," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA
Technologies, Inc. "Not only is VIA in the unique position of being
able to offer customers a complete, ready-to-build solution, but the
new board's HD capabilities mean VIA-based mini-notebooks will provide
a superior multi-media entertainment experience."

Anark Releases Anark Core 2.2

2011-06-12T10:11:00.003-07:00

Revolutionary 3D CAD Transformation Platform Now Bridges Gap between
Mechanical CAD and AEC Markets

Anark Corporation, leading provider of automated 3D CAD transformation
and visualization solutions today announced the release of the Anark
Core Platform 2.2. This new release now supports direct export of the
Autodesk DWG format, providing a valuable bridge between mechanical
CAD and AEC products and solutions.

The Anark Core platform is an innovative software platform that
quickly and easily transforms native 3D CAD data for use throughout
manufacturing, design, engineering, and support organizations. Unlike
conventional CAD tools and translators, Anark Core enables users to
automate the modification of 3D product structure and geometry, and
export revised product data into high-precision B-rep and lightweight
mesh formats.

The addition of 3D DWG support enables users to quickly and easily
convert and simplify their 3D CAD geometry for use in industry leading
AEC and visualization products such as Autodesk Revit, Bentley
MicroStation, Google SketchUp, 20-20 Technologies Cap Studio, and
others. Anark Core's powerful automation capabilities, coupled with
support for 3D mechanical and AEC CAD formats, enables manufacturers
to exponentially reduce costs by automating the production of
optimized lightweight DWG models for use in layout, space planning,
configuration, and catalog applications.

"After receiving a consistently growing number of inquiries and
requests, we are happy now to deliver a streamlined bridge between
native 3D mechanical CAD data and leading AEC applications," said
Stephen Collins, CEO, Anark Corporation. "Anark Core 2.2 includes
several robust new features and performance enhancements, and the
addition of the DWG format further extends its value to a large and
important group of consumers of 3D CAD geometry."

"Our customers and supply chain partners will benefit greatly from the
latest version of Anark Core," said Jean Mignault, CEO of 20-20
Technologies. "Autodesk DWG format support will allow them to easily
prepare lightweight 3D models for use in our Cap Studio and Office
Sales products, which will dramatically cut their implementation time
and cost for their space planning and 3D catalog applications."

Additionally, Anark Core 2.2 includes numerous new features and
performance enhancements, including a new feature called "Region
Select" that drastically reduces the time to create shell geometry for
visualization and simulation applications as well as supply chain data
exchange and collaboration. The company also added direct export
support for MultiGen-Paradigm's OpenFlight format, the de-facto visual
database format for simulation and visualization applications.

Dexim Introduces Compact Sync Adapter for 3G

2011-06-12T10:11:00.001-07:00

The new iPod shuffle (third generation) ships with its own sync &
charge solution provided by Apple. The accessory is a USB cable a few
inches long, while Apple claims that third-party vendors produce
longer cables. The people at Dexim, however, see things differently –
no cord, just a compact adapter with a USB plug on one end, and the
jack plug on the other.

Set to be released on April 4, the aluminum Shu-Lip is similar to
Incipio's IncipioBud for the previous generation shuffle, Macworld
points out. Just like the IncipioBud, Dexim's Shu-Lip features a
standard USB plug and an iPod-shuffle charge/sync plug, each on one
end of the adapter. What makes the Shu-Lip great, as far as we can
tell, is that the adapter sports the same width and depth (and design)
as the shuffle itself. Basically, when the two devices are connected,
they should look as one (second picture down).

The 3rd Gen shuffle connected to an Apple MacBook via Shu-Lip
Enlarge picture
"Now you have the latest & most fashionable music player, the iPod
shuffle," says Dexim. "Surely you want your accessories to match. Want
to charge and sync your shuffle anywhere without carrying a long cord
in your pocket, bag, or purse? Dexim Shu-Lip offers great connect
solution for iPod shuffle! Perfect in size, and simple to use. Charge
& sync your iPod shuffle anywhere without the fuss of a cord," reads a
post on the company's web site.

Instant PC Recovery Solution Honored by GCN

2011-06-12T10:10:00.005-07:00

CMS Products, Inc. a leader in data security, backup, disaster
recovery and content management technologies is proud to announce that
BounceBack Ultimate™ its new "Instant PC Recovery" product offering,
received a special "Best of FOSE Judges' Award" at FOSE 2009 in
Washington, D.C.

The special award recognizes an innovative solution for government in
an area not covered in the usual competition categories. GCN's editors
and technology analysts reviewed the new products during FOSE show
hours and chose the winners based on four criteria: innovation,
usability/applicability to government; relative performance based on
specifications; and value.

BounceBack Ultimate with "Instant PC Recovery" is the first
commercially-available software product that enables computer users to
instantly recover their PC following a hard drive "crash."

Apple Previews Developer Beta of iPhone OS 3.0

2011-06-12T10:10:00.003-07:00

Apple today previewed its iPhone OS 3.0 software and announced the
immediate availability of a beta software release to registered
developers. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes an updated
Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,000 new Application
Programming Interfaces (APIs) including In-App Purchases; Peer-to-Peer
connections; an app interface for accessories; access to the iPod
music library; a new Maps API and Push Notifications. Apple also
announced over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and
iPod touch users this summer including cut, copy and paste; MMS;
landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes; stereo Bluetooth; syncing
Notes to the Mac and PC; shake to shuffle; parental controls for TV
shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and automatic login at
Wi-Fi hot spots. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release will also include a
new Voice Memo app and expanded search capability for all key iPhone
apps, as well as Spotlight search across the iPhone or iPod touch.

"The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with
incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and
developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,"
said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide
Product Marketing.

The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK include over 1,000 new APIs
and are available today for all iPhone Developer Program members to
use for development and testing of their apps for iPhone and iPod
touch. Included in these APIs is the ability to leverage the
incredible purchase model of the App Store within apps. In-App
Purchases will allow developers to offer subscription content and
provide the ability to sell new content and features in a simple and
secure process. Developers can also more easily create peer-to-peer
games for iPhone and iPod touch by using Bluetooth.

Another key developer feature in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta software is
the ability for apps to interface with hardware accessories, creating
a whole new element of control for iPhone and iPod touch accessory
developers as well as a new ecosystem of solutions for customers.
Developers will also be able to use Apple's new Maps API to integrate
Google Mobile Maps services within their apps which will offer Google
Map tiles, current location, custom annotations and geocoding. The
iPhone OS 3.0 beta software includes the Apple Push Notification
service which provides developers with a mechanism to alert users with
sounds, text or a badge.

The new iPhone OS 3.0 software will be available to iPhone and iPod
touch users this summer with over 100 new features including cut, copy
and paste which can be done within or across applications; MMS to send
and receive photos, contacts, audio files and locations with the
Messages app; and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on
the go with the new Voice Memo app. Landscape view will be available
for Mail, Text and Notes. Search capabilities will be expanded,
allowing customers to search within Mail, iPod and Notes or search
across all key apps by typing a key word or phrase into the new
Spotlight search, conveniently accessed from the Home screen.

Windows Mobile 6.5 Beta has been released to Microsoft

2011-06-12T10:10:00.001-07:00

According to reports Windows Mobile 6.5 Beta has been released to
Microsoft employees, and the software will soon enter the RTM version,
it means that we have probably true at Q3 of this year to see Windows
Mobile 6.5 mobile phone appeared on the market. They speculate
entirely to the staff based on the following Microsoft released
Windows Mobile 6.5 beta announcement.

The following are the stories reported by Neowin once in Windows
Mobile 6.5 Roadmap:
* Windows Mobile 6.5 RTM will be coming in April 2009
* The first Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will be listed in September 2009

At the same time, take a look at the Windows Mobile team's latest
ads:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgQ-xLdCSjo

AMD Supports Microsoft Windows 7 in ATI Catalyst

2011-06-12T10:09:00.005-07:00

AMD today released Windows 7 driver support as part of the latest ATI
Catalyst 9.3 unified graphics driver. ATI Catalyst 9.3 represents the
industry's first unified driver installation package to incorporate
Windows 7 support, including Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.1
compliance, bringing with it a host of benefits for developers
currently testing and updating applications using the widely available
Windows 7 beta release. In addition, the inclusion of Windows 7
drivers sends a clear message to the millions of AMD graphics
customers worldwide – ATI Catalyst 9.3, and every planned future
release of ATI Catalyst, is ready for the final release of Windows 7.

In addition to the rock-solid stability of ATI Radeon graphics drivers
for Windows 7, the combination of Windows 7 and ATI Radeon graphics
permits developers to fully utilize the DirectX 10.1

ASUS Bags Prestigious 2009 Red Dot Design Awards

2011-06-12T10:09:00.003-07:00

For distinctions in high quality design, ASUS has received the
prestigious 2009 red dot design awards for the Eee PC S101, the
EeeKeyboard PC, the ASUS S121 and P30 notebooks, and the ASUS
Chocolate notebook keyboard. Furthermore, the ASUS RT-N17 wireless
storage router and ASUS L-Series laptop bags also won red dot design
Honourable Mention awards.

The international red dot design award ranks among the largest and
most famous design competitions in the world. Each year an
international jury reviews and evaluates the submitted products
according to stringent criteria like degree of innovation,
functionality and the formal quality of the product. This ensures that
the seriousness of the competition and its international acceptance is
upheld.

ASUS is proud to present the red dot award: product design 2009 winners:

red dot award: Product Design 2009 Winners

Description

Eee PC S101

The ASUS Eee PC S101 is exquisitely designed for fashion forward
individuals who view style as much of a factor of success as
substance. Boasting a wholly reforged exterior in four gorgeous
colors—Brown, Champagne, Graphite or Pink—accentuated with delightful
details such as premium Infusion finishes and crystal-adorned hinges,
a successful melding of fashion and functionality easily situates it
at the pinnacle of portable computing.

Apple Inc unveiled new software for the iPhone

2011-06-12T10:09:00.001-07:00

Apple unveiled new software for the iPhone that will support some
long-anticipated features, such as copy-and-paste of text and picture
messaging, as the company pushes to stay competitive in the phone
market.

Apple also gave its vast network of software developers a slew of new
options for upcoming applications, such as support for subscription
models and automatic alerts, a move applauded by analysts.

"They've taken a few more steps ahead of the pack in the race," said
CCS Insight analyst John Jackson, adding that, in spite of the
omission of certain features until now, the iPhone was still the most
high-profile cell phone.

"Two years on they still have the cool phone and business model that
everybody's talking about and trying to emulate."

While Apple's touchscreen inspired many imitators, some users
complained it lacked functions common in other smartphones such as
multimedia messaging and the ability to copy and paste text.

Such features already exist on rival devices such as the BlackBerry
from Research In Motion Ltd and Treo from Palm Inc and phones based on
Windows Mobile from Microsoft Corp. iPhone is central to Apple's
plans, as growth in its Mac computer and iPod music player businesses
slows.

On Tuesday, Apple -- represented by iPhone software senior vice
president Scott Forstall, as Chief Executive Steve Jobs is out on
medical leave -- lifted the veil on iPhone 3.0 software with 100 new
features, including some long-wished for updates.

Xbox 360 and EA Bring Beloved HASBRO FAMILY

2011-06-12T10:08:00.005-07:00

Watch out, Junior. Now your cousin in Boston can sink your Battleship
in Phoenix. The HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT destination from Electronic
Arts Inc. (Nasdaq "ERTS") launches Wednesday on Xbox LIVE, the premier
gaming and entertainment network.

Starting Wednesday, players can download digital versions of some of
the world's most beloved family-friendly board games: SCRABBLE,
CONNECT 4, BATTLESHIPand YAHTZEE. Through Xbox LIVE, fans can then
play these cherished games with friends and family members1 seated
nearby on the couch or across the globe.2 BOGGLE, SORRY! and SORRY!
Sliders will also launch on Xbox LIVE Arcade in the coming months.

The HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT destination is one of many ways Xbox 360
is bringing families more fun and entertainment at a greater value
than ever before. Xbox 360 puts the entertainment you love all in one
place. Want to host a family movie night any time? Download or
instantly watch one of the 30,000 movies and TV shows on Xbox LIVE.3
Looking for a new twist on game night? Pick up one of the more than
200 family-friendly games that get everyone playing together on Xbox
360.

"Hasbro defined the original family game night," said Scott Austin,
director of digitally distributed games at Microsoft. "Today, Xbox 360
is introducing a new generation of game players to the next generation
of family game night through Xbox LIVE Arcade. Families can now
connect and play across the globe in addition to across the coffee
table."

The HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT lineup takes full advantage of the latest
features and innovations on Xbox LIVE. Play as your own custom avatar
and use voice chat to declare, "I win!" in real time to friends and
family around the world. You can show off your mad word skills,
increase your Gamerscore, earn Achievements when you connect four in a
row and compete for a top spot on the Xbox LIVE Arcade leader boards.

Apple Unveils iPhone 3.0 firmware

2011-06-12T10:08:00.003-07:00

iPhone 3.0 firmware has just be previewed, and I must say, it
definitely got us interested. Apart from running background apps, it
features almost all of the features we were hoping the iPhone 3.0
firmware will come with and then some for the 2G iPod Touch as well.
Here's a quick rundown of the new features and apps it will come with:

• Cut, copy and paste
• MMS with message forwarding and deleting of multiple messages
• Bluetooth stereo A2DP
• Tethering
• New Spotlight feature for universal search on the iPhone/iPod Touch
• New Voice Memos app
• Revised Stocks app that features news stories and supports landscape view
• Calendar now supports CalDAV and subscriptions in the .ics format
• Landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes
• Note syncing to Mac and PC
• Parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps
• Auto-login for WiFi hotspots
• Shake the shuffle iPod playback
• Phishing protection
• Form auto-fill
• YouTube account support
• Bluetooth on the 2G iPod touch

They've also included some new features developers can take advantage
of when creating and/or updating their apps. Here's what future apps
can boast of:

Symantec Announces New Norton Internet Security 4

2011-06-12T10:08:00.001-07:00

Symantec Corp., makers of Norton security software, today announced
the availability of Norton Internet Security 4 for Mac, a
next-generation security suite that integrates an all-new firewall and
antivirus protection with tools to help protect against identity
theft. The newest version of Norton Internet Security for Mac installs
in about one minute and features an improved user interface with fast,
unobtrusive updates. In addition, the solution includes fully
configurable settings for more technical users.

Symantec also launched today Norton Internet Security for Mac Dual
Protection, securing Mac users running Boot Camp or other Windows
virtualization software – programs that allow users to run both Mac OS
X Leopard and Windows operating systems. This solution provides
comprehensive protection from both Mac and Windows-based
vulnerabilities and malicious code. With Norton Internet Security for
Mac Dual Protection, Mac users benefit by receiving Symantec's newest
security suite for the Mac and the award-winning Norton Internet
Security 2009 for Windows.

While automatically blocking computers attempting to exploit
vulnerabilities from connecting to the Mac using different protocols,
Norton Internet Security for Mac's firewall now also offers
application control, which allows users to manage the applications
that are connecting to the Internet, protecting Macs from spyware.
Also, new location awareness controls let users specify different
connection settings for every network to which the computer is
connected. Norton Internet Security for Mac is also integrated with
Symantec's DeepSight Threat Management System, updating the firewall
rules at least once a day to protect against the latest attacking IP
addresses.

According to the Symantec Report on the Underground Economy, credit
card and financial information make up more than 50 percent of the
stolen goods advertised by cyber criminals online. [1] To help
consumers protect their personal information online from phishing
threats, Norton Internet Security for Mac now includes the leading
commercial antiphishing solution for Safari and Firefox browsers. By
blocking fake Web sites and authenticating popular Web sites, Norton
Internet Security for Mac allows users to bank, shop and browse online
with confidence.

Google Releases Faster Chrome Web

2011-06-12T10:07:00.007-07:00

Google released a new version of its Chrome Web browser on Tuesday, as
the search giant continues its efforts to get a foothold in a market
dominated by Microsoft.

The new Chrome represents the first major update of the software aimed
at the general public since Google entered the browser business six
months ago.

It offers Web surfers faster performance and a handful of new
features, such as auto-filling of personal information on online forms
and a new way for users to drag around tabs of different Web pages
within the browser window.

Google was a distant No 4 in the browser market, with 1.2 per cent
share of the worldwide market in February, according to market
research firm Net Applications. Microsoft's Internet Explorer
dominates the market, with a 67.4 per cent market share in February,
while the Mozilla foundation's Firefox browser had a roughly 22 per
cent share.

Apple's Safari browser had an 8 per cent share. Last month, Google
officially joined the European Union's antitrust case against
Microsoft, describing the browser market as "largely uncompetitive."

The EU has charged Microsoft with abusing its dominant market position
by bundling its Internet Explorer Web browser with its Windows
personal computer operating system. According to a post on Google's
blog on Tuesday, the new Chrome beta loads certain types of Web pages
25 per cent to 35 per cent faster than the current version of the
browser.

ORACLE sustains healthy contract signings

2011-06-12T10:07:00.005-07:00

Oracle Corporation's sales force pulled off a big feat in the business
software maker's latest quarter, sustaining a healthy clip of contract
signings amid a dreary time for technology spending.

The efforts helped push Oracle's sales and profit above Wall Street's
forecasts. Oracle also surprised investors by declaring its first
dividend, a rare sign of confidence that comes as other bellwethers
are cutting or suspending their dividends to save money.

Oracle's shares jumped $1.11, or 7 percent, to $16.94 in after-hours
trading Wednesday after Oracle reported its results. The stock had
gained 43 cents, or 2.8 percent, to close the regular trading session
at $15.83.

Oracle's chief executive, Larry Ellison, called the numbers a
"tremendous achievement in the face of the serious slowdown in the
world economy."

In Oracle's fiscal third quarter, which covers December-February,
Oracle said it earned $1.33 billion, or 26 cents per share, versus
$1.34 billion, also 26 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Subtracting out one-time charges, profit was 35 cents per share. That
was 3 cents better than the average estimate from analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters on that same basis.

Sales were $5.45 billion, a 2 percent increase over last year, though
Oracle said revenue would have jumped 11 percent without the effect of
a stronger dollar, which meant deals done in other currencies weren't
worth as much in dollars.

Z-Wave-Capable "Smart Metering"

2011-06-12T10:07:00.003-07:00

Horstmann, manufacturer of energy controls and metering devices,
offers consumers transparency and control for their energy consumption
with its "H" Series and "SG" Series product lines. The combination of
electric/gas meter and consumption indication gives consumers an
overview of their energy usage – by the half hour, by the day, or by
the month. Using GSM/GPRS, the Smart Metering data from the "SG"
Series is transmitted to the power company for improved customer
information and billing. The Home Energy Monitor receives the data via
Z-Wave Mesh networking technology, and can also be integrated into a
Home Control network.Smart Metering technology is – thanks to
intelligent metering – a basis for an individual statement of energy
costs. With new rates oriented to actual requirements, energy
suppliers create incentives for customers to take measures which
reduce consumption. The load shedding capabilities of a home control
solution combined with the energy monitoring system can produce
substantial savings in a very short amount of time

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company Selects IBM

2011-06-12T10:07:00.001-07:00

One of the nation's nationally recognized premier community banks, has
selected IBM systems to power a new backup-and-recovery solution.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Company began in Louisville's stockyard
district more than 100 years ago and recently expanded to Indianapolis
and Cincinnati.

"The backup and recovery system installed by IBM and IBM Business
Partner Software Information Systems, is providing greater reliability
and has improved our operational efficiency," said Jim Condra, Stock
Yards chief information officer. "We chose to replace our
Hewlett-Packard servers and storage systems with IBM hardware largely
because of the expertise of the IBM and SIS team that helped us."

The backup and recovery solution is based on IBM System x3650 servers,
a storage area network (SAN) based on IBM System Storage EXP3000
expansion units, and VMware virtualization software.

Software Information Systems (SIS), an IBM Premier Business Partner,
worked closely with IBM and managed the solution installation,
configuration and associated training.

"IBM provided Stock Yards Bank & Trust with a customized
backup-and-recovery solution that fit their budget and provides an
easy-to-use solution that reduces administrative costs and energy
use," said Jeannette Browning, IBM client representative.

Microsoft Web Technologies Unveiled

2011-06-12T10:06:00.005-07:00

Today at MIX09, Microsoft Corp. announced a set of platform
investments to help companies more efficiently and affordably engage
with their customers through a rich, interactive presence on the Web.
This includes the release of Microsoft Silverlight 3 Beta and
Expression Blend 3 Preview, and continued progress in the cloud with
updates to the Azure Services Platform. The company also pointed to
strong momentum in platform adoption and demonstrated a number of
solutions from key partners including Netflix Inc., Bondi Digital
Publishing, StackOverflow.com and KEXP. In addition, building on the
success of Silverlight during the Beijing Games, NBC Universal has
again chosen Silverlight to deliver the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter
Games on its official Web site, NBCOlympics.com.

The Business Imperative of a Return on Experience
Organizations that create more intuitive, more engaging experiences on
the Web are able to reduce costs and increase sales. Their visitors
find the information they want faster, their customers make fewer
calls to support help desks, and the number of impulse purchases made
by customers generated grows dramatically. The integrated and
interoperable offerings from Microsoft, composed of software and
services for desktop, datacenters and the cloud, help organizations
deliver richer, more compelling experiences that they require both in
and out of the browser, and give them enhanced "return on experience"
that the current economic climate demands.

Silverlight 3 Beta Released
Silverlight 3 empowers Web developers and designers to build the best
experiences for their customers through the creation of cutting-edge
Web applications. Silverlight 3 helps rich Internet application (RIA)
developers work faster with new graphics, animation and 3-D features,
and more than 60 controls. Silverlight 3 also ushers in a new
generation of high-quality and high-definition video experiences with
true high-definition video in full-screen mode, with stutter-free live
and on-demand video. Silverlight 3 also gives users more video format
choices than ever before, including H.264, along with enhancements
such as deep linking, to improve navigation in Silverlight content and
automate search engine optimization (SEO) tasks. Finally, Silverlight
3 enables developers to create lightweight Web application experiences
that can exist outside the browser. This enables Web sites to deliver
more persistent relationships with their customers.

SAPPHIRE steps up with new Vapor-X Series

2011-06-12T10:06:00.003-07:00

SAPPHIRE Technology is now introducing its new Vapor-X Series of
graphics cards to market with new versions of the HD 4870 and HD 4850.
Built on SAPPHIRE original design PCBs these new models will bring the
benefits of Vapor-X cooling - quieter and more efficient cooling - to
a wider range of users. A new distinctive cooler design makes the
Vapor-X Series stand out in looks as well as performance.

The SAPPHIRE HD 4870 Vapor-X Edition offers for the first time a
choice of 2GB or 1GB of DDR5 memory and runs with clock speeds of 750
MHz core and 900 MHz memory. The SAPPHIRE HD 4850 Vapor-X Edition has
512MB of GDDR3 and clocks of 625 MHZ core and 993 MHz memory. Both
models feature high specification solid capacitors and SAPPHIRE
'Diamond Black' heatsink chokes for reliable operation. An HDMI
connector is provided on the rear bracket, as well as DVI and VGA
giving the maximum versatility in connecting to monitor or flat panel
displays. Two simultaneous displays are supported.

NVIDIA PhysX technology SDK available for registered

2011-06-12T10:06:00.001-07:00

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that it has been approved as a
third party tools solution provider for the Wii console. As a result,
the NVIDIA PhysX technology SDK is now available to registered Wii
developers.

"Nintendo has reshaped the home entertainment and video game market
with the success of the Wii console. Adding a PhysX SDK for Wii is key
to our cross-platform strategy and integral to the business model for
our licensed game developers and publishers," said Tony Tamasi, senior
vice president of content and technology at NVIDIA. "With NVIDIA PhysX
technology, developers can easily author more realistic game
environments for the evolving demands of a broad class of Wii gamers."

The NVIDIA PhysX software development kit (SDK) consists of a
full-featured API and robust physics engine, designed to give
developers, animators, level designers, and artists unprecedented
creative control over character and object physical interactions by
allowing them to author scalable physics in real time.

The PhysX SDK for the Wii console, and all major gaming platforms, are
available for license directly from NVIDIA. For more information on
licensing PhysX SDKs or NVIDIA PhysX technology,

WorldWide Telescope is Now a Web App

2011-06-12T10:05:00.005-07:00

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software
environment that enables your computer to function as a virtual
telescope—bringing together imagery from the best ground and
space-based telescopes in the world for a seamless exploration of the
universe.WWT is a single rich application portal that blends terabytes
of images, information, and stories from multiple sources over the
Internet into a seamless, immersive, rich media experience. Kids of
all ages will feel empowered to explore and understand the universe
with its simple and powerful user interface.

WorldWide Telescope is created with the Microsoft® high performance
Visual Experience Engine™ and allows seamless panning and zooming
around the night sky, planets, and image environments. View the sky
from multiple wavelengths: See the x-ray view of the sky and zoom into
bright radiation clouds, and then crossfade into the visible light
view and discover the cloud remnants of a supernova explosion from a
thousand years ago. Switch to the Hydrogen Alpha view to see the
distribution and illumination of massive primordial hydrogen cloud
structures lit up by the high energy radiation coming from nearby
stars in the Milky Way. These are just two of many different ways to
reveal the hidden structures in the universe with the WorldWide
Telescope. Seamlessly pan and zoom from aerial views of the Moon and
selected planets, as well as see their precise positions in the sky
from any location on Earth and any time in the past or future with the
Microsoft Visual Experience Engine.

Video Game Industry faces recession

2011-06-12T10:05:00.003-07:00

The video game industry continued to defy the recession in February,
posting double-digit year-over-year growth with Nintendo Co.'s popular
Wii gaming system leading the way.

U.S. retail sales did not grow as quickly versus the year-ago period
as they did in January. But revenue from video game hardware still
climbed 11 percent to $532.7 million from $481.4 million, according to
market researcher NPD Group. Americans bought 753,000 units of
Nintendo's Wii, the best-selling console. The handheld Nintendo DS,
which sold 588,000 units, came in second.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 sold 391,000 units, up 53 percent from a year
earlier, while Sony's PlayStation 3 sold 276,000 units.
Nintendo also had the best-selling game in February with its Wii Fit,
an exercise game that sold 644,000 copies. Capcom USA's Street Fighter
IV took the number two and three spots with 446,000 copies for the
Xbox and 403,000 for the Play Station 3.

Overall software sales grew 9 percent to $733.5 million from $673.3 million.

The economic gloom was not completely absent from NPD's report.

"Unit sales increased even more than dollar sales did, reflecting a
slightly lower average retail price for all categories as compared to
last year," NPD analyst Anita Frazier said in a statement.

The average price of video games dropped about 4 percent year-over-year.

New Microsoft browser adds shortcuts,

2011-06-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

Microsoft Corp. released a new version of Internet Explorer Thursday,
adding features meant to speed up common Web surfing tasks and
bringing the browser's security measures in line with those of major
competitors.

The number of browsers has grown to a dizzying array, from Internet
Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox, the two most popular, to Apple Inc.'s
Safari, Google Inc.'s Chrome, the Norwegian entrant Opera and others.
Each is using speed, security enhancements and new features to fight
for a share of Web surfers' growing time online. Microsoft remains the
dominant player, but Firefox's influence is growing.

Dean Hachamovitch, the IE group's general manager, said in an
interview Wednesday that the free browser is important to Microsoft
because the company simply wants PC users to have a "great experience
every day" when surfing the Web. For Microsoft, as for Apple and
Google, the browser is one more way to build relationships that could
sway other decisions, like whether to buy a Macintosh or a Windows
computer, or whether to use Google's Gmail instead of Microsoft's
Hotmail.

Google's entry into the market last year also shows the Web search
leader believes owning the browser can help it better understand Web
users' behavior and advertise to them more effectively — an area in
which Microsoft is struggling to catch up.

123456' is world's most common password used

2011-06-12T10:04:00.001-07:00

'123456' is the most common password used by people on the Internet.

Obscenities, names of fast cars and even ncc1701 - the ship number for
Star Trek's Starship Enterprise, have made it to the list of top 500
worst passwords of all time.

Compiled by Whatsmypass.com, the list features passwords most commonly
used by Internet users.

And topping the list of the most common password is 123456, followed
by "password" in second place.

Other popular password choices were first names, repeated letters and
numbers, pop-culture references.

Even batman, bond007 and cocacola made it to the list, reports the Courier Mail.

The website said that almost one out of nine people use at least one
of the passwords mentioned on the list, and one out of every 50 people
use one from the top 20.

In fact, a study commissioned by digital communications agency @www
found that an average adult had as many as 15 passwords to remember.

But 61 per cent of people used the same passwords for as many
different accounts as possible in order to make life easier.

Google in mood to fight Bing - 'Explore Google Search'

2011-06-07T02:32:00.005-07:00

In the middle of all heavy publicity that Microsoft is doing is new search engine with the help of Bing Ads of Television, twitter, facebook and what not, Google has already begun to feel the heat. So Google has now launched 'Explore Google Search'. If you visit the Google homepage today, you will find, beyond the nifty Firebird ballet logo, a link that says “Discovering the web: Explore the world of Google search.”The resulting page "Explore Google Search," explains an array of Google's blended search capabilities. It's almost certainly a reminder by Google that it is also a "decision engine" with features to match.

With this new launch, Google has brought out all the existing feature under one roof by the concept of Discovering the Web.The “Explore Google Search” page itself is useful for novices and experts alike. It succinctly explains, with accompanying video, 16 different Google search features. Until now, the way in which things Google has proposed, there was never really a need for Google to market itself to consumers.

But in the current scenario, where Bing on the known properties is not necessarily unique to have Bing, Google seriously need it to show that all that Bing shows already existed Google ResearchTake it however way you want, but we can not escape the fact that intentionally or unintentionally this is the first step of Google to the reengineering of its research vertical products and of course the baby steps of Google for the prevention of its user base Bing further is.

Google, Facebook launch Farsi, Persian services

2011-06-07T02:32:00.003-07:00

Internet giant Google has unveiled a Farsi translation service to help Iranians "communicate directly" to the world, while Facebook has launched a version of its site in Persian, they said Friday.

The Internet has played a key role in allowing some Iranians to communicate since last week's disputed presidential elections and many international media outlets have used services like Twitter and emails in their coverage.

"We feel that launching Persian is particularly important now, given ongoing events in Iran," Google's principal scientist Franz Och said, announcing the addition of Farsi to Google Translate, its free online service.

Like YouTube and Twitter, "Google Translate is one more tool that Persian speakers can use to communicate directly to the world, and vice versa -- increasing everyone's access to information," he added in a posting on Google's official blog.

Meanwhile, Facebook engineer Eric Kwan said on its blog: "Since the Iranian election last week, people around the world have increasingly been sharing news and information on Facebook about the results and its aftermath."

He added: "Today we're making the entire site available in a beta version of Persian." Several thousand people posted a "thumbs up" reaction to the news, denoting their approval.

The BBC reported that Google and Facebook had speeded up work on their projects because of huge interest in current events in Iran.

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been declared the winner of the elections, provoking major protests on the streets of Tehran by supporters of his principal challenger, moderate former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Many young people have been taking part in the protests.

Meanwhile, the BBC also said Friday it has increased the number of satellites carrying its BBC Persian television service to countries including Iran.

It said in a statement that the Hotbird 6 satellite which carries BBC international TV and radio services had been subjected to "deliberate interference" since last Friday.

Micron Introduces Low-Power 1.35V DDR3 Notebook Memory

2011-06-07T02:32:00.001-07:00

Notebooks can now take advantage of optimized battery life and portability with a new line of low-voltage, high-bandwidth DDR3 memory modules introduced today by Micron Technology, Inc. Offering an unparalleled combination of performance and efficiency for notebook computers, Micron’s new modules are available in densities up to 2-gigabytes (GB) now, with 4GB samples coming this fall.

Sustaining battery life and delivering desktop-equivalent performance are two critical criteria when developing notebook computer designs, and Micron’s new modules provide an ideal combination of performance and power efficiency. The modules are designed using the industry’s lowest 1.35-volt 1-gigabit (Gb) DDR3 components, allowing for even greater power savings compared to standard 1.5-volt DDR3. More importantly, this low-power is achieved without compromise to memory performance - the modules provide an optimum bandwidth of 1,333 megabits per second.

“Across the board, we are making our DRAM more efficient – from both a power and performance perspective – which ultimately empowers users to be more productive,” said Robert Feurle, vice president of DRAM marketing at Micron. “Our new DDR3 notebook modules offer approximately a 20 percent reduction in power usage compared to standard 1.5-volt modules while maintaining DDR3’s high performance advantage, enabling a desktop-class computing experience for portable computers.”

“Our notebook graphics processing units deliver industry-leading performance and visual fidelity,” said Barry Wagner, director of technical marketing at NVIDIA. “Micron has been a valued partner in defining the performance and power parameters necessary for portable computing applications. We look forward to working with Micron to validate their new modules with our notebook processing solutions.”

Intel 'Rockstars' Show off Future Research Concepts, Projects

2011-06-07T02:31:00.005-07:00

A sneak peek of tomorrow was provided by Intel Corporation today at the company's annual Research@Intel Day. Nearly 40 futuristic projects and concepts were showcased in such areas as eco-technology, 3-D Internet, enterprise IT and wireless mobility. Intel also has made public a beta website where users can play "point, counterpoint" by submitting a statement found online and learning whether he or she has been duped.

Two researchers on hand included Ajay Bhatt, the co-inventor of USB, the standard to connect devices to computers and Joshua Smith, a pioneer in wireless power and robotics. Both are currently featured in a new commercial called "Rock Star," which is part of the company's current Sponsors of Tomorrow marketing campaign.

"I hope attendees get a chance to speak with and meet our very own rock stars from Intel Labs today," said Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer. "What the researchers are developing today in the labs will ultimately make future computing and communications faster, easier and more energy efficient, and have a significant impact on people's work and home life in the coming years."

Rattner, also an Intel Senior Fellow and vice president and director of Intel Labs, discussed recent changes to Intel's research agendas and priorities. The goal is to improve the likelihood of impact and tightly align with the company's overall growth vectors such as mobility, visual computing and system-on-chip design, where many more computing and communications functions are placed on a single piece of silicon. The new organisation, called Intel Labs, will identify game-changing opportunities for tech innovation and deliver breakthrough discoveries in those areas.

Several of these research innovations were on display at the event. Demonstrations covered power efficiency for mobile devices, immersive connected experiences, mobility and enterprise IT.

The 3D Modeling and Animation Market Shows Resilience

2011-06-07T02:31:00.003-07:00

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, has just released a new report on the 3D modeling and animation market is poised for growth. The same software that is used primarily film/TV production and game development is also being put to work for rendering and visualization in architecture, manufacture, and science and is on the verge of major breakthroughs due to demand from new vertical markets as well as hobbyist and consumer sectors.

Like all others, the 3DM&A industry is going through a period of contraction and consolidation. However, as difficult as it is for all participants, the JPR study points out that this is often a prelude to growth.

----------------------------------------2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Worldwide forecast 3D Modeling

and Animation ($M US dollars) ----- 219 237 221 238 262.05 293.49 328.71

CAGR ' 6.8%, 2007 to 2013

The 3D Modeling and Animation market includes software tools that are used for TV and movie special effects, creating content for games, product design, and for the web. Over the years the industry has grown steadily, but the 3DM&A tools are still expensive and used primarily by professionals.

Mainstream Markets Open Up for 3DM&A

Beyond traditional industries, new markets are also opening up for more casual users of 3D modeling and animation tools, defying barriers posed by high cost and complexity. Free 3DM&A tools are becoming available and millions of copies are being downloaded every year suggesting a pent-up demand for easy-to-use 3D tools. In addition, there is a hard core of hobbyists and casual users who are using 3D tools even though the learning curve is steep. New distribution models are just now opening up including online worlds, YouTube, MyToons, the Daz communities, and more. By the end of this decade, new growth will come in mainstream markets, the report says.

Google takes on Wikipedia articles in Google News

2011-06-07T02:31:00.001-07:00

Google News, this month started using Wikipedia as a new source. Typically, it only news, but according to Google Wikipedia articles are a useful complement to these sources.

According to Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker, the first company with a small group of Google News users experimented with the use of Wikipedia. When it became clear that it did was the addition this month to the News site. "We saw that users Wikipedia were a useful addition to the many stories that they saw. Wikipedia often gave a broader perspective on the subject."

There are sometimes put in question the reliability of articles on Wikipedia, but supporters of the encyclopedia indicate that the sources are usually extended to appear, especially if it is on recent events. The article on the Iranian presidential elections this year, this weekend, for example, more than 200 footnotes. Wikipedia spokesman Jim Walsh was pleased with the use of the lemma by Google, so reports the New York Times. "Google recognizes that Wikipedia is a source of timely information has become, although it is an encyclopedia."

Oracle Unveils New Release of Agile Product

2011-06-07T02:30:00.005-07:00

Oracle today unveiled Oracle’s Agile Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) 9.3, a new enterprise PLM offering with advanced risk analysis, an enterprise PLM backbone that integrates other applications and hundreds of productivity-enhancing innovations.

"Quantum has been a long time user of Oracle's Agile Product Lifecycle Management, relying on it to help drive product data consistency, support new product development and time-to-market and create global alignment around our product objectives. This has been particularly important as we've built out our portfolio of disk-based, deduplication and replication solutions and reinforced our leadership in backup, recovery and archive,” Daniel Hartley, PLM Applications Manager, Quantum Corporation. “With Agile PLM 9.3, we can see improved usability and productivity in our product development processes and will be able to leverage our current applications infrastructure with the Enterprise PLM Backbone in 9.3."

This latest release equips customers to drive profitable innovations, mitigate risk, lower development and product costs and improve productivity across the entire product lifecycle. Agile PLM 9.3 represents the latest milestone for Oracle’s “Applications Unlimited” program.

"Agile has had a tradition of being easy to use and the enhancements in version 9.3 belay any concerns that the Oracle acquisition would dilute this advantage. Agile has also led the PLM market with analytics and this continues to be true with the latest improvements," said Michael Burkett, AMR Research.

“Today, PLM has become a highly strategic tool that can impact profitability, mitigate risks and improve enterprise productivity,” said Oracle Vice President, PLM Product Strategy Hardeep Gulati. “With this latest release, Oracle extends its lead in delivering Enterprise-class PLM by giving organizations more out-of-the- box processes to support their corporate initiatives within the framework of a scalable, enterprise PLM backbone.”

Innovations and Enhancements Deliver Substantial Business Value

Enhancements and innovations in Agile PLM 9.3 include:

T-Mobile to launch second Google phone in August

2011-06-07T02:30:00.003-07:00

T-Mobile USA's follow-up to the first "Google phone" will go on sale in early August, the carrier said Monday.

The "T-Mobile myTouch 3G with Google" will be a touch-screen phone and will lack the physical keyboard of the T-Mobile G1, the first phone that used Google Inc.'s Android software.

The G1 went on sale in October. T-Mobile has sold more than 1 million of the phones.

Google is giving away the software, because the company's goal is to make Android the basis for phones across the industry, stimulating the use of its Web services on mobile devices.

Google is getting some traction. Verizon Wireless has said it will bring out an Android phone "in the near future." Motorola Corp. is betting big on Android, and aims to have its first products out late this year.

But Android phones are facing strong competition. BlackBerrys from Research In Motion Ltd. are gaining ground among consumers. Apple Inc. launched a new iPhone model Friday and said that it sold more than a million units in the first three days. The Pre from Palm Inc. has gotten favorable reviews.

The myTouch looks much like an iPhone and has many of the same features, including a similarly sized screen. It will cost $199 with a two-year contract. It will ship with software that allows it to connect to corporate e-mail servers. Such software became available for download to the G1 some months after it launched.

Cole Brodman, T-Mobile USA's chief technology officer, said the new phone should appeal to a much wider audience than the G1.

"We believe a lot of this market will come from people who are moving into the smart phone space for the first time," Brodman said. G1 buyers "were much more of a tech-enthusiast, early adopter-type crowd."

G1 owners will likely not be eligible for the subsidized $199 price for the myTouch, because the G1 came out so recently that T-Mobile has yet to recoup its subsidy through service fees. Many iPhone 3G owners are facing the same conundrum, as AT&T will not subsidize the newly released upgraded model until subscribers have "paid off" the subsidy.

Kingston Adds T1 Heatspreader to HyperX 1600MHz 6GB

2011-06-07T02:30:00.001-07:00

Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping its HyperX® 1600MHz triple-channel kits with the high-profile T1 heatspreaders. The 1600MHz frequency is a sweet spot amongst gamers, and combining it with the popular T1 heatspreaders gives enthusiasts a performance advantage through improved heat diffusion while overclocking and gaming.

The new 1600MHz kit (Kingston® part #: KHX12800D3T1K3/6GX) is available now for $155.00 (U.S. MSRP). It joins a growing family of HyperX memory solutions that employ the T1 heatspreaders which are made of heavy-duty aluminum with extended fins. Other T1 kits include triple-channel DDR3 (2GHz, 1866MHz) and dual-channel DDR2 (1066MHz, 800MHz).

About Kingston Technology Company, Inc.
Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Malaysia, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America. For more information, visit : kingston.com.

Lenovo Teams Up with Leading Formula 1 Team

2011-06-07T02:28:00.002-07:00

Global PC manufacturer Lenovo and Vodafone McLaren Mercedes today announced a partnership ahead of the 2009 Formula 1 season. Lenovo notebook and desktop PCs will provide the team’s mission-critical computing solutions, both at the race track and at the team’s headquarters.

Lenovo engineers and technology specialists have already begun to specify the mobile wireless computing technology required by the Formula 1 race team as well as the fast and demanding desktop computing needs of the pit garage and pit wall battlestations. Lenovo technology is being integrated into the heart of the team as it travels the world on the Formula 1 calendar.

Martin Whitmarsh, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes CEO Formula 1, said: “Both Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and Lenovo are committed to the competitive advantages from exceptional engineering. We are looking forward to the significant technology contribution that Lenovo will provide through its notebooks and desktop computer solutions.”

The partnership with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes provides a highly visible demonstration of Lenovo’s exceptional engineering as the corporation strengthens its position in the global marketplace. Lenovo is a leader in the technology race for fast, reliable and wireless computing power.

“Vodafone McLaren Mercedes performs at the highest level in Formula 1 and integrates PC technology into every aspect of its car design, development and racing –- as well as its business operations," said Deepak Advani, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Lenovo. "Lenovo has an excellent heritage of computing performance and reliability in complex, high-profile, global events –- such as the Olympic Games –- and we look forward to making a significant contribution to the team."

HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web launched

2011-06-07T02:28:00.000-07:00

HP today unveiled the world’s first web-connected home printer: The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web. HP is bringing the power of the web directly to the printer and combining it with HP’s TouchSmart technology to give people quick, easy, touchscreen access to popular digital content. Designed for the digital generation and connected households, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web features an entirely new web-based printing platform with HP applications (apps). Similar to other Internet-connected devices, these apps, which are viewable on an extra-large, intuitive-to-use TouchSmart panel, allow people to connect instantly with fun, informative and personal content.

In addition to receiving apps preloaded on the printer, people can download new ones as they become available at the HP Apps Studio to suit their interests and needs. With the sweep of a finger, users will be able to browse and view popular web destinations and simply touch the app of their choice to launch a web page where they can customize and print content on demand in an easy-to-read format.

As pioneers of this new content-on-demand delivery platform, the world’s first HP app partners will be USA TODAY, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weather News Inc. Through these apps, people will have free access to customized daily news, maps, coupons, coloring pages, movie tickets, recipes, personal calendars and more – all at the touch of a finger.

The new printers also will connect directly to a user’s Snapfish account to view, print and upload photos. People additionally can access projects from the HP Creative Studio.

MySpace to close 4 offices outside US

2011-06-07T02:27:00.004-07:00

Social-networking website MySpace said Tuesday that it will cut 300 international positions and close at least four offices outside the U.S. as it looks to cut costs and narrow its territory coverage.

The move comes a week after the company said it would cut nearly 30 percent of its U.S. work force in a bid to become more efficient.

"As we conducted our review of the company, it was clear that internationally, just as in the U.S., MySpace's staffing had become too big and cumbersome to be sustainable in current market conditions," Chief Executive Owen Van Natta said in a statement. He rejoined the company in April.

The News Corp. division has been trying to bring its staffing level more in line with its more popular rival, Facebook. Recent data from tracking firm comScore shows Facebook has caught up with MySpace in monthly U.S. visitors for the first time.

MySpace has had difficulty growing its user base, which stands at about 125 million worldwide. Meanwhile Facebook has said that its usage has doubled to more than 200 million in less than a year.

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based MySpace plans to trim its international work force to about 150 employees from the current 450 employees and said it will have to consult on the plan with international workers in some countries.

The company says the restructuring applies to all of its international units and will leave London, Berlin and Sydney as its primary international hubs. Offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and Spain will all be looked at for potential reductions.

MySpace China and a joint venture in Japan will not be affected by the restructuring.

In the U.S., MySpace plans to cut approximately 420 employees, bringing the total number of U.S. staff to 1,000. As of May, Facebook had about 850 employees worldwide, the vast majority in the U.S.

Samsung Announces Mantra as Virgin Mobile

2011-06-07T02:27:00.002-07:00

If talk, text, surfing, and social networking capture your phone persona, Samsung Mantra from Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) virginmobileusa.com will have you chanting its praises. A slim flip phone with external caller ID and dual color screens, the Samsung Mantra is priced at $59.99, making it a desirable yet affordable handset synonymous with Virgin Mobile USA's line-up of no-annual-contract quality devices. The Mantra has a clear, simple user interface and a large keypad that makes navigating a cinch; it is available now at virginmobileusa.com and will be at retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, Target and RadioShack later this summer.

VIRGIN MOBILE USA CHANNELS THE EXTROVERT IN YOU WITH SAMSUNG MANTRA

Talk and Text :

Samsung Mantra is available on both pay-as-you-go and monthly plans. For those who love to talk, Virgin Mobile offers Totally Unlimited Calling for $49.99 per month. Messaging lovers can combine monthly no-annual-contract plans, starting at $29.99 per month with $10 per month Unlimited Messaging Packs [TXT, PIC, IM and e-mail] or Texter's Delight Plan (unlimited messaging + 10 cent minutes charged separately) for $19.99 per month.(1) All talk plans without annual contracts include Nights & Weekends starting at 7 p.m.

Matrox Graphics Unveils Triple and Quad Monitor

2011-06-07T02:27:00.000-07:00

Matrox Graphics, the leading manufacturer of specialized graphics solutions, today announced the availability of the Matrox M9138 and Matrox M9148 DisplayPort graphics cards. Expanding the M-Series product line, these new triple- and quad-monitor cards offer a remarkable 1 GB of memory, and with support for independent or stretched mode at resolutions up to 2560x1600 per output, users can drive business, industrial, and government applications on an exceptional multi-monitor platform.

"The first generation of Matrox DisplayPort graphics cards bring a tremendous amount of flexibility to today's DisplayPort users," says Samuel Recine, Director of Business Development, Matrox Graphics. "Not only can users choose any combination of pivoted, independent, or stretched displays, but also have the opportunity to combine two M9148 cards in a single system to drive up to eight DisplayPort or DVI monitors."

The Matrox M9138 and Matrox M9148 are low-profile graphics cards that make it easy to integrate into a wide variety of systems, and both offer optimal support for Windows Vista Aero (WDDM mode).

Samsung Electronics and Numonyx join

2011-06-07T02:26:00.004-07:00

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Numonyx B.V. today announced they are jointly developing market specifications for Phase Change Memory (PCM) products, a next generation memory technology that will help enable makers of feature-rich handsets and mobile applications, embedded systems* and high-end computing devices to meet the increasing performance and power demands for platforms loaded with content and data. Creating common hardware and software compatibility for PCM products should help simplify designs and shorten development time, enabling manufacturers to quickly transition to high-performance, low-power PCM products from both companies.

Phase change memory produces very fast read and write speeds at lower power than conventional NOR and NAND flash memory, and allows for bit alterability normally seen in RAM.

"Our joint efforts with Numonyx will enable a more secure path for introducing PCM into the mobile environment," said SeiJin Kim, vice president, mobile memory technology planning and enabling, Samsung Electronics. "We anticipate that PCM will eventually be a major addition to our family of memory products, one that will nicely compliment our other mobile memory solutions and ultimately increase our leadership in the industry," he added.

"This is a significant milestone for both the development of PCM and for the overall memory market," said Brian Harrison, president and CEO of Numonyx. "The collaboration between two memory industry leaders Numonyx and Samsung is helping to provide the kind of direction and clarity that is often needed when new technologies are introduced. The common specifications will enable chipset vendors and others in the ecosystem to standardize and more easily support the delivery of a new generation of memory technology that will benefit not only handset OEMs, but also manufacturers of embedded systems and high-end computing devices, and their customers."

Samsung and Numonyx are developing common specifications - or "pin for pin" hardware and software compatibility - for mobile, embedded and other potential computing applications supporting the JEDEC LPDDR2 Low Power Memory Device Standard. The LPDDR2 standard offers advanced power management features, a shared interface for nonvolatile memory (NVM) and volatile memory (SDRAM), and a range of densities and speeds.

Phase change memory has many of the advantages of NAND and NOR flash memory as well as other RAM memories - allowing data to be read at RAM speeds while lowering the cost and power consumption levels by reducing the large amounts of RAM often used in today's digital applications.

Mainstream MLC NAND Flash Stay Flat in 2H June

2011-06-07T02:26:00.002-07:00

Mainstream MLC NAND Flash average contract price stayed flat or slightly declined in 2H June due to the interaction of quarter-end, slow reason and new smart phone launch effects. Therefore, recent NAND Flash market showed consolidating status.Says DRAMeXchange.

Upstream & downstream NAND Flash related makers intend to lower their inventory level by the end of June. Moreover, June and July remain the traditionally slow season for NAND Flash’s major applications such as memory card and UFD. Meanwhile, NAND Flash cost has largely increased in 1H09. They both leads to the purchase hesitation for memory card and UFD makers in June. Memory card makers urge NAND Flash suppliers to offer some price discount in order to stimulate the demand in slow season. Some NAND Flash suppliers thus slightly cut price to help increase clients’ procurement volume. Therefore, contract price for some products slightly declined in 2H June.

With the exciting sales figures of new iPhone 3GS and other new smartphone launch to the market, some NAND Flash suppliers will benefit from these system maker customers’ restock demand in 3Q09. Some NAND Flash suppliers thus can maintain the stable pricing policy and help improve the profitability. DRAMeXchange is confident that contract price for certain products stayed flat in 2H June.

Given the fact that more new smartphone will launch in 3Q09, 3G cellular phone upgrade demand in China market and U.S. economy expected to gradually recover in 4Q09 will help revive the year-end holiday sales, demand for NAND Flash related products is expected to gradually improve quarter by quarter in 2H09.

Rambus Demonstrates Superior Power Efficiency

2011-06-07T02:26:00.000-07:00

Rambus Inc., one of the world's premier technology licensing companies specializing in high-speed memory architectures, today showcased a silicon demonstration of a complete XDR memory system running at data rates up to 7.2Gbps with superior power efficiency. This silicon demonstration consists of Elpida's recently-announced 1Gb XDR DRAM device and an XIO memory controller transmitting realistic data patterns. The XIO memory controller is up to 3.5 times more power efficient than a GDDR5 controller, and the total memory system can provide up to two times more bandwidth than GDDR5 at equivalent power. In addition, the XIO memory controller demonstrated bi-modal operation with support for both XDR DRAM as well as next-generation XDR2 DRAM.

"Future graphics and multi-core processors require significantly higher memory performance under extremely challenging power and thermal constraints," said Martin Scott, senior vice president of Research and Technology Development at Rambus. "This technology demonstration highlights the outstanding power efficiency of the XDR and XDR2 memory architectures at performance levels from 3.2 to 7.2Gbps with scalability to well over 10Gbps."

This silicon demonstration, shown at Denali MemCon 2009 in San Jose, is the first implementation supporting the XDR memory architecture roadmap incorporating innovations developed as part of Rambus' Terabyte Bandwidth Initiative. Implemented in the bi-modal XIO memory controller for XDR2 operation, these innovations include:

Fully Differential Memory Architecture (FDMA) - enhances signal integrity and increases performance through point-to-point differential signaling of clock, data, and command/address (C/A), an industry first;
FlexLink C/A - reduces pin count and increases scalability; and
Enhanced FlexPhase - enables the world's highest memory signaling rates while simplifying routing and board design.

In addition, t
he XDR2 memory architecture includes:

Micro-threading of the DRAM core - introduced by Rambus in early 2005, increases data transfer efficiency and reduces power consumption; and
16X Data Rate - allows for extremely high data rates with the use of a relatively low-speed system clock.

Morro Antivirus by Microsoft Revealed

2011-06-07T02:25:00.003-07:00

Its time for Morro. After the failure of Microsoft's OneCare security suite, they have now come up with a new antivirus code name 'Morro'. The software is named after a beach in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Microsoft has already started testing this software and has reached the second phase of testing. The Beta testing is under progress and some screenshots have been leaked. Look at the screenshots. Looks similar to Windows Defender. The best rumor about Morro is that, this will be the free software+antivirus package.

Morro is a part of Microsoft Security Essentials Beta that released on 23rd June See : Microsoft Security Essentials