Digital news

AMD Introduces ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series Graphics Processors

gert92 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:49:02 +0000

AMD today released its ATI Radeon HD 5700 series of mid-range graphics processors aimed to increase the company’s competitiveness in the sub-$200 market, and present a mainstream graphics card series compliant with the DirectX 11 API. The series makes use of AMD’s 40 nm Juniper graphics processor, that packs 1.04 billion transistors, 800 stream processors, 40 texture units, and 16 raster operation units. The 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface provides up to 76.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The higher-end product of the two on offer, Radeon HD 5770 is priced around the $150 mark, and has all its 800 stream processors and 40 texture units enabled. It comes with clock speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory), while the Radeon HD 5750 looks to cash in on the $120 point. It has 720 stream processors, 36 texture units enabled from its kitty, with clock speeds of 700/1150 MHz (core/shader). While the Radeon HD 5770 comes with 1 GB of memory, the Radeon HD 5750 comes in variants of 1 GB and 512 MB. Some of the other big selling points of these cards are low rater power consumptions of 16~18 W at idle, and 86~108 W at load. The connectivity options include two DVI-D, and one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. The cards support AMD’s Eyefinity technology which allows combining three 2560×1600 pixel display-heads for a single large display head. Each of these can pair with up to three more of its kind for 4-way CrossFireX multi-GPU performance upscaling.

All major AMD board vendors, such as ASUS, Sapphire, HIS, PowerColor, Gigabyte, MSI, VisionTek, XFX, among others, have their offerings based on these GPUs ready to sell from today. Pictured below (in order) are Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5750.

original article

YouTube`s new logo shouts from the rooftops: 1 billion views per day

gert92 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:40:30 +0000

Head on over to YouTube right now and there’s a minor change that’s sure to catch your eye: the site’s

new logo

unmistakeable logo has been modified to include a new “1BN” banner, with the words “1 billion views per day!” beneath it. It’s obviously a huge milestone for the site, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise — back in June we reported that YouTube was seeing over 1.2 billion views a day, and it’s likely above that by now.

So why the spiffy new banner now? Turns out, it was three years ago to the day that Google acquired YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion.

One other fun note: check out the name of the logo’s image file. It’s “logo_holy_crap_1bn_a_day”. Holy crap, indeed. (Good eyes Coweybear).

original article

Cut the Cords and Charge It

gert92 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:27:58 +0000

Wireless magnetic induction charging is, after several years’ promise, finally on the market. Now you can charge your iPhone, BlackBerry and other hand-held devices by placing them on a pad from Powermat — without any wired connection.

The concept and execution are very cool. Unfortunately, the concept is much cooler than the product’s utility.

Which is not surprising. High-tech products — think AT&T’s Picturephone of the 1960s — often appear before there’s a reason for their existence.

With Powermat, you can charge up to three devices simply by laying them down on the special pad. When they’re in the right place, a pleasing tone sounds and you feel a slight magnetic tug.

To get the pad to transfer power to the batteries, each device needs a special sensor. With a BlackBerry, you replace the standard battery cover with a Powermat version. Because the iPhone doesn’t have a removable battery, the Powermat sensor is incorporated into a special iPhone case. Both increase the weight and depth of the devices to which they’re attached. If you didn’t want an iPhone case, you’ll be using one now.

Other similar devices are sold for the Nintendo DS and DS Lite. Apple products that use a dock, like some iPod models, can use a special Powermat dock that sits on the pad. And each pad comes with a number of universal tips attached to a small cube; the tips fit a wide range of cellphones and Bluetooth devices like earpieces.

The devices and the packaging looks as if an ex-Apple designer was hired to create them. Each product sports clean lines, pleasing colors and a perfect, sparing simplicity. The boxes in which they come deserve their own unboxing videos on YouTube.

But people don’t buy products just because they look good. According to Ron Ferber, Powermat’s president, people will like the system because it gets rid of the tangle of charging cords and power bricks on one’s desk. And it eliminates the tangle of cords when traveling.

It even saves energy, because charging cords draw power even when not connected to a device. Powermat’s does as well, but it draws less.

But do you really need to spend up to $250 ($100 for a charging mat, and $30 to $40 for each charging device) to just eliminate a little clutter? The travel version of the Powermat folds up in thirds and comes in its own handsome case, but several charging cords wouldn’t take up any more room.

If you’re annoyed with having to simultaneously find three wall plugs for all your portable devices, here’s a better and cheaper solution: buy yourself an extension cord for a few bucks, stuff the cables under the desk and throw them in a drawer when you’re done.

original article

PSP Go: Smaller, lighter playable…?

gert92 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:25:35 +0000

Very big brother

April showers bring autumn! This seems, at least for the games hardware from Sony to apply to that made recently by a slimmed-down edition of the Playstation 3′s attention to himself and now an alternative to the Playstation Portable for 250 euros in the trade. With the concise supplement “go” is the of Big Brother continues on the handheld: The UMD drive has been completely thrown for 16 gigabytes of built-in memory on board and the basic controls are due to space-saving mechanism slider below the display. How the PSP beats go in practice, you will learn the following TEST.

new psp-go

The most fundamental change is undoubtedly the elimination of the UMD drive. This means that we are supply software for the PSP go to the nearest dealer is no longer worried, but buying online through PlayStation Network and Store, and the data on the 16 gigabytes of onboard memory or memory card (MicroSD or Memory Stick Micro) can dig . This principle works because of the familiar menu properly and has the enormous advantage that the loading times while playing without disk access is much shorter.

The system also has two significant catch: The first 16 GB of storage for a larger collection of games are pretty tight and if necessary, require the use of additional memory cards (=) extra. Second, the downloads are extremely time consuming – Anyone who has already moved once around 1 gigabyte over WLAN, should already have made acquaintance with the hour-eater. The PSP Go supports the IEEE 802.11b and Bluetooth 2.1. Sony has recognized this problem and already “Minis” announced a series of matches of lesser extent.

Whether in black or white: At first glance, however, is the radical “housing on Diet,” has been subjected to the PSP. Thanks to the slider mechanism is go much narrower and even the display with a constant resolution (480×272 pixels were shrunk) by about 4 inches to 3.8 inches scarce. This is fortunately not for the image quality, which is impressively still, if the device is exposed to direct sunlight. With extremely compact dimensions and a weight of just over 150 grams, finally a welcome companion for your pocket.

Open Sesame

Once pushed to reveal the most important controls. Positive is striking that the keys have a pithy, accurate pressure point and has the analog stick noticeably more room. Is incomprehensible, however, the decision to reduce the action buttons and losing again to the second analog stick instead of the Select and Start button placed in the center. Players with larger hands will find it also difficult even to reach the shoulder buttons at the back without the onset of finger cramp. Not to mention the volume and brightness control that works there, even completely out of place.

Upskirt

On the PSP go inside has been changed in comparison to the still little available PSP 3000: According to remain an R4000 CPU acts as the core, 64 MB RAM of memory are available. A little different when it comes to the battery: This is not interchangeable, and somewhat less failed. Over the duration of the device but does this not because, by eliminating the drive current is also saved. The average charge to be reckoned with, the PSP go after 4 to 6 hours either via the mains or via USB cable. Not ideal, but fully in order.

With a purchase price of 250 euros, the PSP go is not exactly a bargain. After all: Who is to 10 Registered October at Sony, to receive the full version of Gran Turismo for download. In addition, an old PSP owners get to enjoy, being able to select via the “PSP Reward Program” for three additional PSP games of your choice from the online inventory.

So great is the enthusiasm of the beginning of the compact dimensions and the razor-sharp display of the PSP go well, Sony is treading the path to the future of handheld only tentatively. The courage to base-line is remarkable, the technical conditions for it but too many gaps. Real shells, such as a touch screen or a GPS module in response to the “ricochet” iPhone have stayed away and the keyboard layout could have been more logical. Considering even the price of around $ 250, still a nice piece of equipment left over that can not permanently obscure the fact to have remained below its potential.