Sony Ericsson announced Elm phone and Bluetooth Handsfree VH700

Singapore, December 14, 2009: Today Sony Ericsson announces the Sony Ericsson Elm phone and the Bluetooth™ Noise Shield Handsfree VH700, the newest additions to the company’s GreenHeart™ portfolio. This mobile phone and accessory provide consumers with an expanded range of products to make an educated green choice without compromising on design or functionality.

Sony Ericsson has also announced today its ambition to make all of its accessories 100 per cent GreenHeart™ compliant by 2011.

The Sony Ericsson Elm phone and the VH700 will benefit the environment and help reduce CO2 emissions through the following:
- Recycled plastics
- E-manual in phone
- Free from hazardous chemicals
- Low power consumption charger (EP300 GreenHeart™)
- Walk Mate eco application
- Green calculator
- Minimized packaging
- Condensed user guide (VH700)
- Waterborne paint (VH700)

The Sony Ericsson Elm phone announced today will be shipped with a GreenHeart™ personal handsfree; the Stereo Portable Handsfree HPM-60J, which is a step towards reaching the 100 per cent GreenHeart™ accessory goal.

Sony Ericsson Elm phone - Designed for life and more
- Quality voice – noise shield, clear voice and intelligent volume adaptation
- Natural fit – human curvature and ergonomic keypad fits in the palm of a hand
- Feel secure – back up your personal information online at Sonyericsson.com
- Social networking the easy way – easily switch to Facebook™, myspace™ and Twitter™
- 5.0 megapixel autofocus camera – snap friends and family and upload images to blogs and websites
- Essential guide – Google™ search and Google™ Maps, Wisepilot™, turn-by-turn navigation with AGPS and 10 days free weather forecast with Accuweather
- Media player – get a rich media experience

The Sony Ericsson Elm phone supports UMTS HSPA 900, 1200 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900. The Sony Ericsson Elm phone will be available in Singapore in the colours Metal Black and Pearly Rose from Q1 2010.

Bluetooth™ Noise Shield Handsfree VH700
- Create your own phone booth
- Dual microphone Noise Shield eliminates background noise
- Hear every word, everywhere with Intelligent Voice adaptation
- Bluetooth™ - wireless freedom
- Wirelessly connect to two phones simultaneously with this clip-on handsfree

Bluetooth™ Noise Shield Handsfree VH700 will be available in Singapore the colours Black, Silver/White, Pink/White and Red/White from Q2 2010.

Samsung outs second-gen Series 9 Ultra-thin Notebooks

Samsung has just debuted its second generation of Series 9 notebooks at a media event in Korea today - these ultra-slim units coming in 13.3-inch and 15-inch sizes with a single-piece aluminum body thats only 12.9mm thick.

The 13.3-inch NT900X3B-A74 works out to about US $2,376 if you opt for the higher configuration which comprises a Core i7-2637M CPU, 4GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. The notebook depends on integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics and has dual 1.5W speakers, a 4-in-1 card reader, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, a single USB 3.0 port, mini-HDMI output and a 6-cell (40 Wh) battery. Its weight is said to be just 2.5 pounds.

Little detail was shared about the 15-inch Series 9 model at this time apart from the mention of weight at 1.59Kg / 3.5 lbs, although it was indicated that the 15-inch model also has a SuperBright LED-backlit display with 1600 x 900 resolution not unlike the 13.3-inch model. Both will also sport backlit keyboards.

Base prices for the 13.3 and 15-inch models will be $1,399 and $1,499, respectively with global shipments expected to take place later this month.

Prometia is back

Everyone has been pondering about the fate of the PrometeiaMach1s and Mach2s since the collapse of Nventiv. Who will manufacture the modkits? Where do I get my warranty? There is now hope......

Extreme Cooling Technologies (ECT)is a Danish refrigeration and cooling company, purchased the assets of nVENTIVA/S, formerly known as Chip-con. ECT was the company that was involved withthe development of all versions of the Prometeia cooling units. And now theyare continuing with the development and the manufacture of the Prometeia units.E.C.T will soon commence distribution of the Prometeia cooling units to itsdistributors for sale around the world.

I talked with Garry Schnell of Hardwaregods(hardwaregods.net),one of the main distributors for ECT, he said under ECT the typical 3 week waitfor your Prometeia will be reduced as the units will be stocked in the US bythe distributors. Now they are even working to get technicians to fix the brokenunits of Mach1s and Mach2s which are under warranty as well as those whose warrantyhas expired in East and West coast of North America. RMA will also no longerbe an expensive affair since there is no need ship it to Denmark anymore.

ECT has already announced the Intel LGA775 CPU kit, which willbe in the hands of the distributors around Christmas time. So if you have aPrometeia and have been stuck with socket 478, now is your chance to migrateto socket T!

Partners Released GeForce 9800 GTX OC Editions

BFG Technologies®, Inc., the leading North American and European supplier ofadvanced NVIDIA-based 3D graphics cards, power supplies and other PC enthusiastproducts, announced today the BFG NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GTX OC™, OC2™, and OCX™512MB PCI Express® 2.0 graphics cards.

BFG GeForce 9800 GTX OC, OC2, and OCX graphics cards offer customers a choice ofthree different levels of factory overclocked Graphics Processing Units (GPU)which are all thoroughly tested and backed by the company’s famous lifetimewarranty.

“Any company can push clock speeds to the limit—but operating a graphics card atthose excessive clock speeds over time can result in all kinds of problems”,said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. “We put ourOC, OC2, and OCX overclocked graphics cards through an extensive testing processto find the highest stable clocks. This gives users an increase in performanceand ensures that their investment will operate smoothly for many years to come.”

BFG GeForce® 9800 GTX OC™
Bus Type: PCI Express® 2.0
Memory: 512MB GDDR3
Core Clock: 700MHz (vs. 675MHz standard)
Shader Clock: 1728MHz (vs. 1688MHz standard)
Memory Data Rate: 2200MHz

BFG GeForce® 9800 GTX OC2™
Bus Type: PCI Express® 2.0
Memory: 512MB GDDR3
Core Clock: 715MHz (vs. 675MHz standard)
Shader Clock: 1782MHz (vs. 1688MHz standard)
Memory Data Rate: 2250MHz (vs. 2200MHz standard)

BFG GeForce® 9800 GTX OCX™
Bus Type: PCI Express® 2.0
Memory: 512MB GDDR3
Core Clock: 755MHz (vs. 675MHz standard)
Shader Clock: 1890MHz (vs. 1688MHz standard)
Memory Data Rate: 2300MHz (vs. 2200MHz standard)

Eligible for the BFG Trade Up program
Within 100 days of purchase, any BFG GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards can betraded up to a BFG GeForce 9800 GX2, and the customer only pays the differencein price, plus applicable taxes. Additionally, if a customer is within 100 daysof purchasing a BFG GeForce 9600 GT, they may also choose to Trade Up to eithera BFG GeForce 9800 GTX, 9800 GTX OC/OC2/OCX, or a BFG GeForce 9800 GX2. Learnmore at www.bfgtech.com/tradeupprogram.aspx.

Availability
BFG NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX OC graphics card will be available at leading retailoutlets throughout North America and Europe beginning April 16. The BFG GeForce9800 GTX OC2 and OCX graphics cards will be available at leading online e-tailoutlets beginning April 16. Visit www.bfgtech.com for more information.

Phenom 8400 amp; 8600 Triple-Core On DFI 790FX

We took 2 screenshots of the Phenom 8600 and 8400 Triple-Core processorsrunning on the DFI 790FX board. The Triple core processors are slated for launchin Q1 this year and will be based on B2 stepping initially.

Third part MHL adapters with added functionality start to appear

If you wonder what MHL stands for, then were not surprised, as its still a fairly new standard and it might potentially die a pre-mature death, although this isnt very likely considering the industry backers. MHL stands for Mobile High-definition Link and it looks just like a micro USB connector, but beyond delivering USB connectivity, it also carries an HDMI signal and power.

The tricky thing here is that there are extremely few devices that feature an MHL connector on the receiving end and as such youll need an adapter to hook up to your MHL touting smartphone or tablet. The neat thing with MHL is that a single cable can in theory provide data connectivity, 1080p video, 7.1-channel HD audio, remote control support and the ability to charge the connected device. Well, thats the theory at least, but with as far as were aware, a single MHL sporting TV set currently on its way into the market, well all have to rely on said adaptors for now.

Some of the early adaptors have been very basic and just being a simple dongle which is connected to the port on the device. On the other end of the dongle youll find an HDMI port and a micro USB port in general, as the dongle requires power to work which it can receive via the micro USB port. In general these dongles are quite cheap at US$10-30, even from the device makers themselves.

Today we spotted a new model from a company called DVDO and the device in question is simply called the DVDO Mobile. Beyond being just a standard dongle, the DVDO Mobile adds an integrated 50cm USB cable and a 20cm micro USB cable, both of which can be wrapped around the DVDO Mobile for storage. What makes this a really neat solution though is the built in AC charger, which means that you get an all-in-one device that will allow you to charge your USB device while being able to take advantage of the MHL connectivity on your smartphone or tablet as well. On top of that, the DVDO Mobile doubles up as a standard USB to micro USB cable for when you need to access your mobile device from a computer.

As neat as this all sounds, theres no word on pricing or availability, but wed expect this to be the start of what is likely to be a growing market of peripherals that arent likely to have a huge appeal for most consumers, as its just as easy, if not easier, to plug in a notebook to a TV or projector than a smartphone or a tablet. We should also add that the USB-IF is non-too keen on the MHL standard either, as it claims that it breaches the USB standard by sending video over its connectors (as the USB-IF owns the patent for the USB connectors) and as such violates the USB standard. Well see how things play out, but despite its drawbacks, wed rather have a single port for video and data on our smartphone, than a pair of ports, as most people arent very likely to make use of that micro HDMI connector anyhow.

Source: DVDO

Sapphire launches the Pure Platinum A55V

Having chatted with Sapphire back at CeBIT a couple of weeks ago, we knew the company is planning on taking a slightly different direction for its future motherboard products and the Pure Platinum A55V looks like its a step in that direction. What were looking at is a fairly basic motherboard for AMDs APUs, without being a feature stripped board like what many of Sapphires competitors are offering when it comes to the A55 chipset.

The slot layout is fairly basic with a single x16 PCI Express slot, two x1 PCI Express slots and three PCI slots, but as AMDs APUs dont support more than one discrete graphics card, this is unlikely to be an issue for those considering this motherboard. The standard six SATA 3Gbps ports are all present and its the only area where Sapphire hasnt added anything in terms of functionality.

Were quite surprised to see features like dual BIOS, a POST80 debug LED, power, reset and clear CMOS buttons on a board at this price point. One feature we cant quite figure out is the inclusion of a front USB 3.0 pin header, yet we can only locate one USB 3.0 host controller and it appears to be connected to the rear USB 3.0 ports and the board isnt sharing the same PCB as one of Sapphires other models.

The rear I/O isnt overwhelming, but its got enough ports for your average user with a PS/2 port, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 5.1-channel audio and a D-sub, DVI and HDMI port. Overall not bad for what should be a fairly affordable board and if Sapphires new strategy is one of offering more affordable motherboards with an improved feature set, this isnt a bad first step in that direction.

Source: Sapphire

Philips launches new range of audio products

Usman Qureshi, marketing manager, audio/video multimedia and TV, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand,Philips Consumer Lifestyle, gave an opening speech and talked about the companys "Obsessed with Sound" slogan whereby customers like the sound created in their living room or bedroom, the way artists made it in the studios.

"This year, we will offer solutions for each and every settings in the house. You can have a Fidelio to fit each and every needwhether it is a living room or bedroom, or have a compact product thatfeatures Bluetooth.We are expanding our promiseon our Obsessed with Sound. Moving ahead, we will deliver the best sound quality with the best value for money," said Qureshi.

The Philips Fidelio DS9000 is a docking speaker that can dock a iPhone, iPad andiPod, and lets you enjoy your favorite music without any disruption. It features advanced intuitive remote control and boasts superb performance and accuracy, along with bass management technology for deep bass. The Fidelio DS9000 is available now at S$699.

The Philips Harmony Hi-Fi DCD8000aims to deliver the most authentic sound experience to users in the comfort of their living room. Even though the 8000 series supports onlyDVD playback (and not Blu-ray), at the rear, it has a HDMI connector that can output DVD video to full high definition resolution. It is available now at all leading electronics retailers with a price tag of S$1,099.

The Philips Fidelio SoundSphere DS9800W integrated seamlessly with your iTunes, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch tooffer a hassle-free experience and superb audio quality. You can also play your favorite music over a home Wi-Fi network from iTunes on Mac and PC and other mobile devices. The Fidelio SoundSphere DS9800W will be available from September at S$1,299.

And if you are into portable docking speakers, check out the Philips Fidelio Docking Speakers DS7700. It features a robust aluminium finish and a cover case for protection while you are on the move. According to the company, the speakers can withstand drops of up to 2m and weight pressure of 10kg. The DS7700 is selling in stores now at S$299.

Quad Core Opteron In Q2

There gonna be four Quad Core Opteron models based on Barcelona core(512KB x 4 L2, 2MB L3) in Q2 :

Opteron 2258HE : Socket F 1207, 1.9-2.0GHz, 68W
Opteron 1266 : Socket AM2+, 2.1-2.3GHz, 95W
Opteron 1268SE : Socket AM2+, 2.4GHz, 120W TDP
Opteron 1270SE : Socket AM2+, 2.5GHz, 120W TDP

Motorola unveils Intel Atom-powered RAZR i smartphone

Motorola has unveiled the RAZR i, its first smartphone to be powered by an Intel Atom processor, boasting high speeds and a long-lasting battery life.

The Android 4.0 phone comes with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display made with Corning Gorilla Glass surrounded by a diamond cut aircraft-grade aluminium frame. There is additional survivability with a “splash guard,” which means rain or spilled coffee wont damage the phone, even the electrical boards inside.The Atom processor allows speeds of 2 GHz, which allows faster switching between apps. It also offers a battery that lasts 40 percent longer than the iPhone 4S, with SmartActions to program the device to use certain power saving and other rules at different times, such as at meetings or at home.Another major feature is an instant-launch 8 megapixel camera accessed from a dedicated camera key. A multi-shot mode lets users capture 10 photos in under one second, while an illuminated sensor and High Dynamic Range will improve photo lighting.“Together with Intel, we’re redefining what people can expect from a mobile device,” said Jim Wicks, SVP of Consumer Experience Design at Google-owned Motorola. “A camera that launches in an instant, Web pages that load blazingly fast and a device that’s the perfect balance of screen size and fit in hand. RAZR i delivers just that when you put an Intel-fast processor in a beautifully designed phone and add in extra long battery life.”The RAZR i will launch in October in select countries in Europe and Latin America, with prices varying from region to region.

Samsung Stealth spotted at FCC

Samsung unveiled their first 4G LTE phone at CES in January, which was the temporary codename then, though it will have a formal name when it goes on retail. Recently, a 4G Samsung handset was spotted at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called Samsung Stealth, model SCH-I510.

From the FCC documentation, this phone and the Samsung 4G LTE look different and it is likely both are not one and the same. Earlier news reports stated that the Samsung I510 will feature a 4.3-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display (800x480 resolution), 8-megapixel rear camera, supports Wi-Fi and runs Android 2.2 Froyo mobile operating system. The Samsung SCH-I510 is said to be available in Q2 this year.

Sims 3 Seasons Expansion Pack released

With this expansion pack, gamers can now see physical shifts in the (literal) atmosphere of their world. It adds seasons, of course – spring, summer, fall, and winter – but it doesnt stop there. All sorts of weather will now be available – snow snow storms and rain both take a big role in the lives of your Sims, letting them use umbrellas in the rain and appropriate clothing in the snow. Sunny, rainy, snowy, foggy, and even hail-y! Wondering what weather is coming next? Your Sim can check out the weather channel for all the updates. Each season comes with one specific holiday to match, and the town now takes notice! Watch for pumpkin carving, snow ball fights, and kissing booths to appear during their particular season.

This expansion pack has been long awaited by fans of the series. The previous installment, The Sims 2, also had a Seasons expansion pack, which was highly acclaimed and very popular with the Simmers. While the Sims 2 version added the seasons, much of the new material in the Sims 3 version will be in the holidays and festivals. After EAs most recent expansion for the game, the Supernatural pack, enthusiasts were wowed at the sheer amount of content included. Directly after that release, they announced the Seasons pack... which has left many excited, waiting impatiently for the release. The day has come and gone, and Seasons is out on shelves now.

The game has two versions – original and limited. The limited version features an Ice Lounge community lot, where your Sims can go and cool down in the summer. It features an ice bar, ice furniture, and pub table. Tthe extra content isnt massive, but that hasnt stopped fans from going the extra mile to pick up a limited copy.

Gamers have yet to collectively sound-off on how they like or dislike the expansion pack; this may be due to many being too busy actually playing the expansion pack. Go figure.

Samsung adds new devices to its Apple Lawsuit

As the endless patent infringement battle between our pals A and S seemed to finally be drawing to a close, the Korean electronics superstar Samsung stirred things up again by filing to the US District Court of Northern California for the addition of several of Apple’s latest devices to their ongoing lawsuit.

Samsung states that there is “good cause” to add the three new devices to their original claim, as the products were not yet released at the time of Samsung’s original submission of contentions on June 15th 2012 or at the time of the company’s first supplementary contentions given on October 1st, 2012. (This just shows you how long the battle has been going on, new devices have long since come and gone since this whole thing started!)

According to Samsung, the iPod Touch 5, iPad mini, and iPad 4 carry the same accused functionality as the versions of iPod and iPad that were already given in the case, and that the proof of these infringements is substantially similar to that already given to the court for the previous revisions of these devices. So basically Samsung think they can claim more damages without even offering proof this time, I guess. If the design and functionality of the new devices are sufficiently similar to those which they have already successfully gotten accused, then Samsung certainly have a case.

On Wednesday of this week, Samsung’s Chief Executive Shin Jong Kyun went on record to The Korean Times that “Without Samsung’s wireless patents, it would be impossible for Apple to produce its handsets.”

Apple and Samsung have been at each others throats since back in April 2011, and this August saw Apple winning $1 billion in damages for claims that Samsung had infringed upon the iPhone and iPad’s patents with its Galaxy S smartphones (although Samsung has appealed against this ruling).

In areas such as the UK, the Netherlands, and Japan, Apple’s infringement claims against Samsung have been dismissed however, and Samsung have won a few cases of their own, such as the previous litigation brought against the iPod and iPad outlined in this article.

Either way all those legal costs must have both firms burning through money, and it begs the question: Can’t we all just get along?

Seagate 400GB External Hard Drive

Seagate Technology, maker of the world's most popular hard drives, announcedtoday at CES it is now shipping its popular Seagate External Hard Drive with newcapacities up to 400GB. Available with easy pushbutton-button backup andaward-winning backup software, and with its stylish design, cool-runningruggedness, and a convenient on/off switch for power savings and data security,the Seagate External Hard Drive offers the most convenient way to store all thetreasures of your digital lifestyle. Perfect for a PC or Mac, Seagate ExternalHard Drive lets you safely store massive amounts of digital video and picturesof family and friends, business files, the latest computer games, favoritemusic, and more. It was developed from the ground up to deliver the highestconsumer design standards ever seen in a hard drive.
With Seagate's unique interlocking design, users can stack multiple SeagateExternal Hard Drives horizontally, or place the drive vertically for thesmallest footprint on the market. A sturdy, upright stand and non-slip rubberfeet on two sides ensure the drive can be arranged in many convenient ways andwon't slide around or slip off a desk. And users can plug and unplug the drivewithout turning off the computer. The Seagate External Hard Drive runs muchcooler than other high-capacity external drives, because it's designed todissipate heat in any configuration -- vertical or stacked. Plus, lifetime techsupport means that users can call for friendly technical advice for the entirelong life of the drive.

"As people pile up more and more digital photos and videos, digital music andother content, they need a reliable, simple way to store and back it up," saidBrian Dexheimer, Seagate executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. "It'sone thing to lose a spreadsheet -- it's another thing entirely to lose picturesof your kids. Consumers want easy to use, plug-and-play solutions that don'trequire an electrical engineering degree to master. That's why Seagate designedour drive to be exceptionally easy to use, while maintaining our signaturereliability and performance."

In the past several months, Seagate has introduced a variety of external storageproducts designed to address consumers' needs for reliable, flexible and simplestorage. The new Seagate USB 2.0 Pocket Hard Drive -- the world's first 5GB harddrive truly small enough to fit in a pocket or backpack -- redefinescost-performance when compared with traditional USB thumb drives. And the newSeagate USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive offers up to 100GB of portablestorage in a sleek and very small footprint perfect for travel -- it's theworld's first external drive featuring a 100GB, 2.5-inch hard drive with ablazing fast 5,400-rpm spin speed.

Reliability is crucial to consumers. External hard drives may get moved aroundand are often stacked. With their high shock tolerance and excellent heatdissipation, Seagate external drives are built to handle these usage patterns.The inventive new drives are built on the world's most advanced hard drivetechnology platforms from Seagate, and are designed to make data and digitalcontent storage, backup and transfer more reliable and easier than ever to meeta variety of consumers' computing needs. Seagate is at the forefront of rapidlyevolving consumer storage trends -- with these new drives, consumers now havebetter control of their data, video, music, digital photography, games andmultimedia.

Available Now

The Seagate External Hard Drive is now available in capacities of 200GB, 300GBand 400GB featuring pushbutton backup and dual USB 2.0 and Firewire connectors,or in capacities of 160GB and 250GB in an economical storage-only solution withUSB 2.0 connector. The Seagate External Hard Drive features a worry-freeone-year warranty that covers all parts and labor, plus free technical supporteven after the warranty ends. Ask for this and other Seagate products at BestBuy, CompUSA, Fry's, D&H, and other retail stores.

SAPPHIRE HD 6950, 6870 Dirt 3 Special Edition

Bothcards SAPPHIRE HD 6950 Dirt3 Special Edition (shown on the left) andSAPPHIRE HD 6870 FleX Dirt3 Special Editionare non-overclocked edition. However, both of them are bundled with a Dirt 3 game coupon, which allows you to download the full game for free. Addtionally, the HD 6950 Dirt 3 Special Edition also features a special cooler with a dual fan configuration.

Full press releasehere-SAPPHIRE.

Heresthefull specifications of the HD 6950 Dirt3 and HD 6870 Dirt3.

Pogoplug launches Series 4, ads USB 3.0 connectivity and USM

The latest addition to Pogoplugs growing family of devices is adding quite a few new features and it looks like the company wants to take a serious slice out of the home storage/home cloud market with the Series 4. That said, the price has also gone up and you still have to add your own hard drives, but at least the Series 4 comes with a little twist to make this a lot tidier.

The Series 4 Pogoplug appears to be the same as the recently announced Pogoplug Mobile, but with a few additional features. However, the two are only sharing the same look and basic features as the company has made quite a few changes. First of all were looking at a larger device, as the top comes off to reveal a SATA/USM (Universal Storage Module) connector which will accept either a 2.5-inch internal SATA hard drive or one of Seagates GoFlex 2.5-inch hard drives. Theres also a USB 2.0 port hidden in here somewhere.

As with the Pogoplug Mobile the Series 4 sports Gigabit Ethernet and an SD card slot, but it also adds a pair of rear USB 3.0 ports for further storage expansion. Were not sure if the ARM processor inside the Series 4 has received an upgrade as well, but its entirely possible that Pogoplug is using the same PLX NAS7820 SoC as it did in the Pogoplug Video, a product that is now discontinued and that sold for twice that of the Series 4, especially as this dual core ARM11 SoC (ARMv6 architecture) has a PCI Express interface which would allow it to connect to a USB 3.0 host controller. Its also entirely possible that were looking at the same Marvell 88F6192 Kirkwood ARMv5 SoC as found in the Pogoplug Mobile, as this two has SATA and PCI Express support, although its only a single core SoC.

Pogoplug is making a big deal out of the fact that its products features infinite storage expansion, although this is only true in as far as you can plug in additional storage devices until you run out of ports. As with previous products, the Series 4 comes with 5GB of cloud storage, something that was announced last month by the company. Were not sure why you need to use another could service when the Pogoplug is meant to be a cloud storage device, but such is life and not all things make sense. In as much as we think the Pogoplug Series 4 is a neat device, especially as it allows you to stream media around your home or share it over the internet as well as use it as a simple NAS, we cant but wonder why anyone would be willing to spend US$99.95 (S$130) on one when you can pick up a two bay NAS for little more. The ability to share files might be better than with a basic NAS, but theres no data redundancy and we doubt the performance will be as good as that of even a cheap NAS.

Source: Pogoplug

News'flash' No Flash for Xoom + Honeycomb combination

So the Motorola Xoom tablet is well on its way to hitting retail shelves, and certain carriers will get first dibs on the device before the tablet is released for saleas a standalone unit and not as part of a data contract bundle. That sounds good enough for us: after all, just about all the details pertaining to the Xoom has already be revealed, so nothing else could go wrong for Motorolas and Googles flagship tablet, right?

Unfortunately for us consumers, it would seem that this is a typical case of Murphys Law in action. Apparently, a microsite hosted by US carrier Verizon to advertise the Xoom has dropped a bombshell which is sure set tongues wagging. According to Verizon, it seems that the first batch of Xooms being sold to consumers will be offered sans support for the all-important Adobe Flash plugin, as shown in the image below.

Now, the lack of Flash support for Android devices is definitely not unheard of. After all, earlier versions of Android were well-known for not having support for the Flash plugin as well, and it was only with Froyo that Android users were finally able to experience the full web experience often touted by Google and hardware OEMs as a key factor of its alleged superiority over iOS.

Still, it does not change the fact that the lack of Flash support is definitely not going to give Honeycomb users the full web content that they can come to expect, especially after the success that was Froyo and Gingerbread. That being said, it is worth pointing out, if only for consolations sake, that Flash will eventually make its way down to Honeycomb, as long as users do not mind waiting it out for a few more months. After all, eventual Flash support is still infinitely better than opting for a platform that has completely zero support for the plugin, is it not?

Source: Verizon

MSI unveils GT780DX Notebook with 4.16GHz clocked Core i7

MSI has dared to do what no other notebook manufacturer would by selling a gaming laptop with a heavily overclocked mobile Core i7 EE processor tipping beyond the 4GHz barrier. This will be as part of a limited edition variant of its GT780DX, running a Core i7-2920XM Extreme Edition with frequencies of up to 4.16GHz on tap in Turbo Boost mode (up from the stock 3.5GHz Turbo Boost frequency).

MSI has made this possible by packing the notebook with a superior cooling solution it calls "Cooler Boost". MSI says with this cooling tech implemented the fans can work at higher than usual rotation speeds resulting in a temperature drop by as much as 10c.

The GT780DX is already quite the impressive piece of portable gaming prowess with its 17.3-inch (either 1600x900 or 1920x1080) LED-backlit display, NVIDIAs GeForce GTX 570M graphics core supported by 3GB of GDDR5 memory and up to 16GB of DDR3 system memory.

Up to two HDDs can be incorporated into the GT780DX with the premium option being a couple 750GB 7200rpm in RAID 0, offering 1.5TB of storage space. Further to that is space for a DVD or Blu-ray drive.

Polishing off this notebooks feature set is the SteelSeries-made LED backlit keyboard (providing a good batch of gaming oriented features), a couple USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA port, HDMI 1.4 and VGA video outputs as well as Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity and a 9-cell battery.

Pricing on this limited edition overclocked model hasnt yet been disclosed. The base (non-overclocked) model of the GT780DX with its Core i7 2670QM processor sells for US $1,749.99.

Source: MSI

New program allows you to deblur images at touch of a button!

Vladimir Yuzhikov, a software engineer working in image and signal processing, has created a windows application, "SmartDeblur", which allows the user to, at the touch of a button, sharpen up foggy and unfocused images. Yuzhikov explains that the app sharpens up blurring which occurs from both movement and poor focus.

This kind of blurring (ie, non-artificial blurring) has been impossible to fix with conventional software until now, and Yuzhikov explains that the mathematics behind it are 70 years in the making. Trying to fix blurring is thus not a particularly new thing, but actually succeeding is.

Examples of SmartDeblurs effects

The images are not perfect, as you can see above and it seems like motion blur is more difficult to fix than simply poor focus. There are artifacts all over the images, but that being said, the improvement they exhibit is very impressive indeed.

If you want a copy of the program, and again, note that it is for Windows only, you can download it here

Nvidia Shop Decor Competition - Presentation Grand Finale

Well, it's been a busy month for all of us, and come tomorrow, it will be thetime where the heros should be honoured.

All of you are welcomed to come down and witness the end of this grand event!

Starting from 12pm onwards, the 4 sweet Nvidia ladies will be in Sim Lim Square,promoting awareness for VR-Zone and Nvidia.

From 1pm onwards, Mad Mod Mike will join in the crowd, and present prizes tothe top 3 shops:

1pm ~ 1.30pm: Bizgram Pte Ltd - Prize presentation of being the 3rd bestdecorated shop. Also, we'll give out the prize for the Online Voting winner, whovoted for this shop. (Inno3D Geforce 6800GT)

1.30pm ~ 2.00pm: DAT Computers Pte Ltd - Prize Presentation of being the 2ndbest decorated shop. Prizes for the Online Voting Winner (Inno3D Geforce 7800GT)will be given presented here also.

2.00pm ~ 3pm: Media Mart Computer - Prize Presentation of being the BESTdecorated shop. Prizes for the Online Voting Winner will be given out here also(Inno3D Geforce 7800GTX). **SPECIAL PERFORMANCE OF MAD MOD MIKE WILLCOMERENCE OVER AT MEDIA MART DURING THE PRIZE PRESENTATION!!!


So do join us Tomorrow, Saturday, 26th Nov 2005, for closing ceremony of theFIRST EVER Nvidia Shop Decor Competition. Especially for the MMM segment, it'lldefinitely be a huge surprise!

NVIDIA preparing revised GTX 560 Ti

As we wait for next-gen 28nm GPUs, NVIDIA is preparing an upgrade for the popular GeForce GTX 560 Ti. Much like the GeForce GTX 260 was upgraded to GTX 260 (216 Core) in 2008, the GTX 560 Ti is set to be revised as GTX 560 Ti (448 Core). Despite the branding, the GTX 560 Ti (448 Core) has much more in common with GTX 570 than the vanilla GTX 560 Ti.

Unlike the GTX 560 Ti, which is based on a fully enabled GF114 die, the GTX 560 Ti (448 Core) will be based on the GF110 die. In essence, it is GTX 570 with 1 SM disabled, and likely underclocked. It features 14 active SMs, which indlude 448 SP / CUDA Cores and 56 TMUs; 320-bit memory and 40 ROPs - a very similar configuration to the old GTX 470. Along with increased performance, power consumption is expected to rise over the 384 SP GTX 560 Ti. A benefit to using GF110 means the revised 560 Ti will feature 2 x SLI connectors, enabling 3-way SLI. In terms of display outputs, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort are included. Visually, the reference GTX 560 Ti (448) is expected to look identical to the reference GTX 570.

The revised GTX 560 Ti is expected to compete with overclocked SKUs of the HD 6950 2GB, and fill in the gap between HD 6950 2GB (~$280) and GTX 570/HD 6970 (~$340). Priced right, the GTX 560 Ti (448) could be an enticing option until the next-gen GPUs hit. NVIDIA is preparing to release its first Kepler part, GK107, in Q1 2012. However, performance GPUs to succeed the likes of GTX 560/570/580 are only expected later in 2012.

With the GTX 560 Ti (448 Core) there will be no less than 4 different versions if GTX 560 on the market - GTX 560, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560 Ti (OEM) and now, GTX 560 Ti (448 Core) - a new height for GPU nomenclature chaos.