PATREONItems tagged with ECT
Intel Joins One Laptop Per Child CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 13, 2007 – Intel and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) today announced they have agreed to work together to bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs. Under the agreement, Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content. Intel will also join the board of OLPC. OLPC is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to bring learning opportunities to the most remote and poorest children of the world by providing connected, low-cost and rugged laptops to each and...
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It might seem like a foregone conclusion that using personal electronics during a lightning storm isn’t the brightest of ideas, but apparently nobody told these guys: “Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes. A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player's wires.Last summer, a Colorado teen ended up with similar injuries when lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn.Emergency physicians report treating other patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, Walkman players...
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Project Falcon is the codename for Microsoft’s latest plan to change the architecture of future Xbox 360s such that they are less prone to overheating problems as their contemporary brethren. After a recent investigation by Microsoft, the company has been plagued with a $1 billion check to extend the warranties of red ring sufferers and other consumers with similar problems. Project Falcon is probably Microsoft’s hope of eliminating the thermal issues once and for all, with a shift from 90nm to 65nm processors. It is also said that the AMD-based graphics solution will be shrunk as well and will be fitted with improved heatsinks. There’s even a little bonus. As costs for the processors are expected...
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In a report charmingly called "The Ampere Strikes Back," Britain's Energy Saving Trust has predicted that electronic gear will consume nearly half of the total electricity used by the typical household by the year 2020, surpassing the traditionally big electricity eaters in the home: kitchen appliances and lighting. The most striking number might be that in 2020, televisions on standby will consume 1.4 percent of all domestic electricity. Despite attempts by some manufacturers to make more energy-efficient products, some digital radios still use four times as much power as analogue sets, the report says. The growth of single person households --...
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Blockbuster video has thrown their considerable weight behind the Blu-Ray format by deciding to offer only that format in its video rental stores. They offered high definition discs in both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format as a test in 250 of their outlets, and consumers opted for the Blu-ray more than 70 percent of the time. The release of Sony's Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 games console was also a factor in the decision, said Blockbuster senior vice president of merchandising Matthew Smith. Smith's comments comes after Microsoft conceded that the Xbox 360 games console may eventually support Blu-ray. While Blockbuster is following market trends, its backing of Blu-ray as...
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Physicists have found a way to control the motion of individual electrons using the peaks of energy waves, which electrons can ride on like surfers. The National Physical Laboratory’s electron surf machine sends a steady stream of over a billion electrons per second in single file. It involves oscillating waves of electrostatic force, which is the force of attraction between positive and negative charges. Although we can already produce small streams of electrons, until today nobody has developed a method of delivering electrons at such a high rate in a controlled manner. Motivated by better computing and better security of digital communication, scientists are now able to manipulate billions...
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Microsoft has released a new DirectX redistributable package into the wild for virtually all versions of Windows, including Vista. This is a DX9.0c update that's not going to show up on the Windows Update website, but it is an official release. "This download provides the DirectX end-user multi-languaged redistributable that developers can include with their product. The DirectX redist installation includes all the latest and previous released DirectX runtime. This includes the bi-monthly D3DX, XInput, and Managed DirectX components." This is not going to make your Vista framerates jump all that much, if at all, but with the relative immaturity of Vista and graphics drivers for Vista,...
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Who says DirectX 10 isn't for Windows XP? Apparently not Cody Brocious of San Diego, who has been hard at work on getting DX 10 to run on XP, Linux, and OS X. Mr. Brocious blogged the following just recently: "As a fitting start to this blog, I'm proud to release a preview of our DirectX 10 compatibility libraries. These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 games on platforms other than Microsoft Vista, and increase hardware compatibility even on Vista, by compiling Geometry Shaders down to native machine code for execution where hardware isn't capable of running it. No longer will you have to upgrade your OS and video card(s) to play the latest games. The current preview allows you to run...
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Digitimes got a pic of a tiny DLP projector that Texas Instruments is readying for use in many mobile applications. Scoter said TI has completed developments of pico-projectors and now the model, incorporating laser-diode (LD) and LED backlighting sources, are ready to be applied in end products. The model can support image size of 15 to 20 inches. With further improvements in brightness and battery time, the size can be expanded to 15 to 40 inches within a 30-180 cm distance, said Scoter. Could be used for game consoles, too. Neat. Faster, please!...
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We Just got word from Dell that the company is planning to offer a free subscription to a theft protection service to XPS owners... Sticky-fingered PC pilferers take note: Dell is the first notebook supplier to offer a complimentary one year subscription to theft protection service on select notebook computers. Notebook computers are venturing farther from home and office, and are facing a greater risk for theft. Whether it's a sleek and light ultraportable that's easy to carry everywhere or a power-house gaming notebook that makes the rounds at LAN parties, mobile users want to use their notebooks on the go. Now Dell customers in the U.S. can have more peace of mind, because all XPS notebook...
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OCZ Technology Enhances their Flash Memory Lineup with the Remarkably Versatile Trifecta Card Series - microSD, SD, and USB in One Sunnyvale, CA - March 26, 2007 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today released the most innovative Secure Digital memory solution on the market, the new OCZ Trifecta SD card series. This unique combination of microSD, SD and a USB key in one unit creates a new way of sharing files between your mobile phone, MP3 player, digital camera, and PC. The ultra-convenient Trifecta card combines the storage use of microSD with the ability to be converted into a standard SD card that can also...
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Hollywood has a very poor track record with this genre, but New Line Cinema has acquired the rights to produce a movie based on the wildly popular Gears of War game. Set on the planet Sera, the game thrusts players into a battle for survival between humans and a race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet known as the Locust Horde. Players assume identities of soldiers on Delta Squad as they fight to save the Sera's inhabitants. The game, developed by Epic Games, sold more than 3 million units worldwide in its first 10 weeks. It also has received numerous awards, including Gamespot's Game of the Year and the Interactive Achievement...
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Ever wonder what sort of real, tangible visual effects DX10 will bring to your gaming experience? Sure there have been a few screen shots and demos here and there that have popped up around the net but none as impressive perhaps as those seen here... DX9 Left, DX10 Right, MS Flight Simulator X "One of the main (only?) improvements in Vista for gamers would be the inclusion of DirectX 10. And to make gamers upgrade, they made DirectX 10 a Vista exclusive. Is it worth it? See for yourself." Jones on it, at Gizmodo....
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AMD and Architecture for Humanity Announce World's Largest Architecture Prize at TED 2007 - First Ever Open Architecture Prize to Create Innovative New Designs in support of 50x15 Vision - SUNNYVALE, CALIF. -- March 9, 2007 --Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) and Cameron Sinclair, winner of last year's TED Prize and founder of Architecture for Humanity, today announced the first ever Open Architecture Prize at the annual TED Conference. The $250,000 Open Architecture Prize is the largest prize in the field of architecture and is designed to be a multi-year program that will draw competition from design teams around the world. Each year, a winning design will be selected from a field...
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NEW NVIDIA QUADRO ARCHITECTURE DELIVERS GREATEST GENERATIONAL LEAP IN COMPANY HISTORY New Quadro Solutions Launch with Advanced Features Including: Unified Architecture, Shader Model 4.0, and GPU Computing for Visualization SANTA CLARA, CA - MARCH 5, 2007 - NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today unveiled a new line of professional graphics solutions: NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600, Quadro FX 5600, and NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS Model IV. Armed with the largest increase in GPU power and functionality to date, these solutions are designed to help solve the world's most complex professional graphics challenges. Tackling the extreme visualization...
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Sony's taking a beating with their latest generation console, the PS3. In an effort to save money, the european version won't have a PS2 chip in it to make it backwards compatible for existing games and will rely on software to achieve the same result. "The method used for playing PS2 games is going to be different," he said. "We also want to concentrate on developing PS3 games." It's still undecided whether PS3 machines for Japan, U.S. and elsewhere will also be sold without the PS2 chip, but the option is being considered, Nakata said. The U.S. and Japanese version PS3 machines had also failed to deliver full compatibility with PS2 games. There are almost no titles for the new...
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Princeton has agreed to let Google digitize about 1 million public domain books which are no longer in copyright, into the enormous database that is Google Books. The project started two years ago, and aims to digitize many of the worlds books, allowing them to be searchable over the web. "The Web search leader said on Monday Princeton had agreed to work with it to digitize about 1 million public domain books -- works no longer covered by copyright protections. The combined collections of the university's libraries total more than 6 million printed works, 5 million manuscripts and 2 million nonprint items. A Google spokeswoman said her...
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NVIDIA, first to bring DX 10 capable cards to the market, seem to also be prepping a DX 10 card for the masses. Enter the GeForce 8600 series, an upcoming entry level card from NVIDIA in the GeForce 8 series lineup. If you want to join the ranks of the cool kids with one of those nifty DirectX 10 cards for promoting Vista shenanigans, but don't want to sell any vital internal organs to purchase a GeForce 8800 GTX or one of those upcoming ATI R600 cards, then you might be happy to hear that the price of entry is about to get a whole lot cheaper. Details of NVIDIA's upcoming GeForce 8600 series have been revealed, with the 8600 GT going for roughly $150 and the 8600 Ultra demanding...
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Intel, DIRECTV Customers Can Now Play Music and View Pictures on Their TVs from Their Intel(R) ViivTM Technology- Based PCs Via Their DIRECTV Plus(R) HD DVRs LAS VEGAS, Jan.10, 2007 - DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading satellite television service provider, announces that the DIRECTV Plus(R) HD DVR has been verified with Intel(R) ViivTM technology. With this certification, DIRECTV becomes largest supplier of Viiv-verified digital media adapters (DMAs). DIRECTV customers who have a DIRECTV Plus(R) HD DVR can now access and enjoy their pictures and music on their TVs directly from Intel Viiv technology-based PCs. The DIRECTV Plus(R) HD DVR is the world's first digital set-top box with integrated...
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Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod has conquered the portable music market, is making inroads in video, and may turn out to be a video game player as well, game maker Electronic Arts Inc. is betting. Many potential gamers already carry iPods, easily the most popular portable music players sold. Now they can listen to music while also playing EA iPod titles that include "Tetris," "Mahjong" or "Sudoku." EA, the world's largest video game maker, has built a stable of 11 iPod games since September and sells them for $4.99 each on Apple's iTunes online store. Why not? Read more here......
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There has been a lot of news lately on Set Top Box (STB) System-on-Chip (SoCs) and dual High Definition (HD) mode devices, you can read more here, here and here. The latest news is a dual format, HD DVD/Blu-Ray decoder chip to be manufactured at 65nm for STBs. TMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), the world's leading supplier of ICs for TV Set-Top Boxes (STBs)*, today announced a new dual-video-stream high-definition (HD) decoder chip, the STi7200, intended for STBs, digital video recorders (DVRs) and DVD players. This very highly integrated System on Chip supports both HD DVD and Blu-ray formats, in addition to high-definition satellite and cable...
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Hot on the heels of Broadcom's announcement STB SoC yesterday, STMicroelectronics has announced the STi5107. Integration of the latest security specifications seem to be the biggest selling point of the new chip, although other performance enhancements have been added. STMicroelectronics, the world's largest supplier of silicon chips for set-top boxes (STB)*, has announced the STi5107, a new MPEG decoder for standard definition TV, within the Company's OMEGA family of STB solutions. Using the new device, manufacturers will be able to cut their total component cost and simplify board design and assembly, while offering enhanced security features. The STi5107 is designed to address the requirements...
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