GF104 Nvidia mainstream card real

Summer launch, taped out

We learned some basics about Nvidia's first new card to launch after Geforce GTX 480 and GTX 470 cards. The new card is codenamed GF104 and it is currently taped out, works and performance looks good

The chip is much smaller than recently launched Fermi-based Geforce GTX 480 and 470 and our sources expect that this product might be the next  8800 GT

Let me remind you, this was probably the best selling card in sub $200 market that Nvidia later renamed to 9800GT and most recently to GTS 250. We probably missed a few internal rebrands, as this was Nvidia’s policy for a long time

We can only hope that this card won’t be late, for Nvidia’s sake

Intel hands out mega-multi-core to researchers

Alas we can't play with it

Intel is handing out PCs equipped with an experimental 48-core CPU to a handful of lucky researchers

The gear is being sent out as part of a research project as the 48-core part might never become commercially available. Intel wants researchers who are likely to want it for supercomputing tasks to give it a try

The 48-core part includes tweaks that reduce memory and communication bottlenecks inherent in all current x86 processors so it would be very nice for home use. The 48-core part only draws between 25W and 125W, and cores can be slowed down or shut off completely in order to save power

It is not clear this point who is going to get Intel's new machines to play with. Hopefully it will go to help worthy science projects, although if Intel wants to assist my science attempts to calculate the most likely lottery numbers it would be welcome

Work your socks off

New mouse will help

 

Employers looking for new ways to make you work your socks off, will be interested in a new mouse which has come onto the market

The Toe Mouse, a concept computer interfacing device which can be seen here has been designed by a bloke called Liu Yi. He said he crafted the Toe Mouse to slip on just like a flip flop, with a piece of plastic rising between the big and second toes for grip

A sensor under the big toe acts as the left click on a traditional desktop mouse while the second toe's sensor functions as the right click. Of course the mouse is wireless and can move along the floor the same way that a hand-held mouse slides over a surface

The advantage is that it help those people with upper-limb disabilities navigate their computers

However we would have thought it much better than having to take your hands off the keyboard. It would probably give you a little more exercise too. After all writing a news story would be like playing the drums. No word on price yet

Lenovo delays Skylight smartbook

Not surprising

Lenovo has announced that it will delay the launch of its Skylight smartbook by three months

The news doesn't bode well for smartbooks in general, as it appears the market isn't quite ready for the concept

Lenovo originally announced the Skylight in January and said it would start shipping it in April However, this is not the first time we see major players turning their back on the smartbooks and there is obviously a very good reason for their lack of enthusiasm

While many vendors are hopping on the tablet bandwagon, it appears that the market isn't quite ready for smarbooks. While they might have been a good idea in 2009, it seems smartbooks don't have a very bright future, as there are plenty of other fads to go around

 

Stimulus Pack sells 2.5 million already

Unhappy with the price, but still buying, anyway

It seems that all that have been complaining about the price of the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map Package are not making much of an impact on the sales front. Regardless of whether people are just sucking it up or don’t care about the price, the end result is still the same; Activision has already sold 2.5 million people on a purchased map package that many are suggesting should be free

By way of comparison, most developers are struggling to sell 1 million downloads of add-on content for titles. (Not to mention that many downloadable Xbox Live Arcade titles struggle to hit the 1 million download mark!) That 2.5 million have paid for a map pack that is priced at $15, on a single platform, is impressive. Some analysts are suggesting that Activision will sell 10 million downloads of the Stimulus Pack before it is all said and done when the PlayStation 3 and PC versions are made available for download

It is estimated that the take for Activision is close to $12 million so far on the Stimulus Package, and this sets an incredible precedent going forward. Despite the problems when it was released and the technical issues resulting from the release, it would appear that the demand for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 content is hot and Activision’s cash cow map fever isn’t even close to being exhausted

Fermi arrived to EU partners

Soon in retail/e-tail

We managed to score a couple of Fermi pictures, and these were taken at partners warehouse in Europe, so the cards should hopefully be in retail/e-tail as of tomorrow

According to our sources , European partners have finally got their hands on some GTX 480 and GTX 470 cards and should ship them to shops as soon as possible. Some might find their way to shop shelves as of tomorrow and some might be available as of next week, the 12th of April

Of course, many of these cards are already sold and a lot of them will certainly be shipped to consumers that were brave enough to have pre-ordered them. Those who miss this first batch of cards will probably have to wait untill May to get their hands on one

At least the cards are finally here, on pictures below

Atom D425 single-core also in Q2 2010

DDR3 and 10W

Yesterday we failed to mention that one more Atom is coming to town. It is the single core version of new DDR3 / DDR2 Atoms that are supposed to launch in Q2

The name is Atom D425 and as you can imagine it is a single core 1.8GHz processor with DDR3 and DDR2 support. It has 512kb cache, no turbo, has integrated graphics and strangely enough even at 1.8GHz it can still remain under 10W TDP, just like the Atom D410 clocked at 1.66GHz

Both Atom D425 and D525 are supposed to completely replace D510 and D410 and the transition starts already in Q2 2010. This has to mean that partners were unimpressed wit Atom D510 and 410 and they simply wanted something at least slightly faster than good old Atom N270 and 330, both clocked at 1.6GHz

There are hints that even faster Atom CPUs will emerge in Q4 2010 and beyond, but nothing is confirmed at this time

WOW Cataclysm is heading to beta

No hard date for possible release, however

World of Warcraft fans had better get ready, as news comes from our sources that Blizzard is accepting signups for the beta of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm until April 15th. Prior to April 15th, members of the media will get a preview. While signups will end on April 15th, the beta will not go live on that date

Cataclysm is being billed by those who claim to know as the most significant changes to Warcraft since release. While Blizzard has not made a formal announcement yet, we expect them to do soon in the next week or so, according to our sources. Also, Blizzard (as is customary) has not announced a hard release date for Cataclysm yet, and we don’t expect them to do so until they are much closer to release

Linux support restored to PS3

Does not look like Sony will be rid of it soon

As we told you a few weeks back, Sony dropped a new update that was to do away with Linux support for the PlayStation 3. As no surprise to anyone, someone has figured out how to restore Linux support once again

George Hotz was able to restore Linux support for the PlayStation 3 using Firmware version 3.21 by creating and loading a custom built PUP file. Hotz says that his firmware isn’t a version string change, and while we would have liked to been able to show off the new features of 3.21, there are none to speak of. Of course, the best part of this is that users can easily roll back. He also believes that it might be possible to use the same sort of method to enable Linux support on the PS3 Slim, but he will not know till he is able to start testing it

So, from what we can tell, it would appear that Sony is going to have more problems trying to rid itself of Linux than it might have expected. We expect this cat and mouse game to continue and Linux will be running on the PS3 for a long time to come

Linux support restored to PS3

Does not look like Sony will be rid of it soon

As we told you a few weeks back, Sony dropped a new update that was to do away with Linux support for the PlayStation 3. As no surprise to anyone, someone has figured out how to restore Linux support once agai

George Hotz was able to restore Linux support for the PlayStation 3 using Firmware version 3.21 by creating and loading a custom built PUP file. Hotz says that his firmware isn’t a version string change, and while we would have liked to been able to show off the new features of 3.21, there are none to speak of. Of course, the best part of this is that users can easily roll back. He also believes that it might be possible to use the same sort of method to enable Linux support on the PS3 Slim, but he will not know till he is able to start testing it

So, from what we can tell, it would appear that Sony is going to have more problems trying to rid itself of Linux than it might have expected. We expect this cat and mouse game to continue and Linux will be running on the PS3 for a long time to come

AMD launches the new ATI FirePro V8800

Cypress based

AMD has launched a new card in its FirePro lineup of professional graphics cards, the ATI FirePro V8800. The new FirePro V8800 is the first professional graphics card base on the 40nm Cypress GPU

The new FirePro V8800 card features full 1600 Stream processors and works at 825MHz for the GPU and 4600MHz for 2GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 256-bit memory interface. The rest of the features include a full 30-bit display pipeline, four DisplayPort outputs and support for DirectX 11 and Shader Model 5.0, OpenGL 4.0 and 3.2, OpenCL 1.0 as well as ATI's Crossfire Pro, FirePro S400 and Eyefinity support

The card has a maximum power consumption rated at below 225W and it needs two 6-pin    PCI-Express power connectors

The card is already available with a price tag of US $1,499 and have already been benched and previewed over at PCPerspective and HotHardware



 

Lenovo outs thin IdeaPad S10-3s

Sweet and cuddly

Lenovo has launched the all new IdeaPad S10-3s and we must admit that it's Lenovo's best looking netbook to date

It is just 0.63 inches thick and it features a rather stylish design with chiclet keys and a buttonless trackpad. We can only hope that Lenovo will introduce proper notebooks with a similar design, as it's hands down one of the best looking products to come out of Lenovo for a while



Looking beyond its design, the S10-3s is rather well spec'd netbook. It will be available with       N450 and N470 Atoms and a 720p screen will be optional. 3G is also an option and users will be able to choose several storage options, including hard drives up to 320GB and SSDs up to 32GB

The sleek IdeaPad will hit stores sometime in April at a $380 price tag  

Windows Mobile converts to Android

Something Microsoft was not expecting

Hackers are turning Windows Mobile based phones into the latest Android technology

Microsoft Windows gear is being laughed off the shelves at the moment, at least until     Windows 7 Mobile comes along. But it seems that hackers have come up with a natty solution that means you can convert your old, useless Windows Mobile 6.5 into something more useful

Connor Roberts, a a software engineer has posted a step-by-step tutorial to running Android OS on the HTC Touch. He said that the biggest reason he switched was because Windows Mobile was so sluggish. It would hang and take forever when you dialed a number. He said that Android was a lot faster and he got GPS navigation on my phone now for free

The process involves unlocking the phone and flashing the Android OS to it. With a decent guide it only takes half an hour. Roberts has been tinkering with the phone and says that by changing the ROM he can increase the amount of memory available or add maps from service providers such as TomTom and Garmin on the phone

We are not sure what Steve Ballmer would have to say when he finds out. We guess the person who tells him will have to beware of flying chairs

WD officially launches new VelociRaptors

Roundup: The next generation

Although they were detailed yesterday, Western Digital has officially launched its new VR200M VelociRaptors hard drives. Despite the fact that these 450GB and 600GB new VelociRaptors are quite an upgrade when compared to the previous generation, SSDs still retain the performance throne

The new VR200M VelociRaptors are still designed as a 2.5-inch drives with an optional 3.5-inch heatsink. WD has simply increased the platter density and has doubled the buffer size to 32MB

The rest of the specs include 0.4ms track to track seek, 8.5ms full stroke seek, transfer rate/buffer to disk of 145MB/s, 32MB buffer size, rotation speed of 10,000RPM and SATA 6Gbps interface. The aforementioned support for SATA 6Gbps interface that is kinda useless as there is no performance benefit. In fact, according to some reviews that are online, it is actually slower than 3Gbps SATA in some cases

Most reviews agree on same facts. With US $329 and US $299 price tags for the 600 and 450GB drives, and its performance gains of up to 5 to 10 percent for average user, these new VelociRaptors fit somewhere between the regular HDDs and pricey solid state drives 

  AnandTech
 HotHardware
 TheTechReport
 PCPerspective

Corsair shows its 16 and 24GB kits

Dual and triple-channel

Corsair has launched two new Dominator branded DDR3 kits for Intel P55 and X58 based systems. The dual-channel 16GB and triple-channel 24GB kits feature blue Dominator          DHX+ heatspreaders and are aimed at professional users, or applications that are very memory intensive

Both kits are based on 4GB modules that work at 1600MHz with CL 9-9-9-24 latencies at 1.65V

Corsair aims these kits specifically for programmers, scientists, videographers and other data-intensive users, and with 1600MHz 4GB modules, Corsair did certainly made their day

Both kits are already available at Corsair's online shop with a US $1,000 for the 16GB kit and US $1,450 for the 24GB one. You can find them here



 

Duke Nukem Forever gameplay video surfaces

Yup, we're still talking about it

Duke Nukem Forever, the longest running joke in the tech industry, is going strong a full decade after its planned launch. Mind you, when we say it's going strong, we mean it's still making us laugh

Gameplay footage from the "upcoming" game has shown up on YouTube and frankly we're not that impressed. It's not that it looks bad, well not too bad, but considering it took them 10+ years to make it, we expected quite a bit more

Be as it may, playing Duke for the graphics would be something like watching a porn flick for its plot, so graphics are not a priority. Blood, gore and Duke's enlightened comments are what matters

You can check out the video here

Asus U30jc shows up in the USA

Asus' 13.3-incher with Nvidia's Optimus sticker has finally showed up in the US of A. With an Intel Core i3 350M CPU and Nvidia Geforce GT 310M, the U30jc packs quite a punch considering its price

The full specifications include a 13.3-inch LED backlit screen with 1366x768 resolution, Intel's Core i3 350M CPU working at 2.26GHz, Nvidia Geforce 310M graphics card with 512MB of DDR3 memory, 4GB of DDR3-1066 system memory and a 320GB hard drive

The rest include a DVD Super Multi optical drive, 802.11bgn WiFi, Gigabit LAN, three USB ports VGA and HDMI outputs, card reader and a 0.3M webcam

It comes with an 8-cell battery which should provide a decent battery life and thanks to Optimus the GPU will be powered down unless you need it. The entire notebook weighs at just over 2.1kg (4.80 lbs), and is currently listed at Newegg.com with a US $899.99 price tag





 

Mozilla works on Direct2D for Firefox

Interacting with graphics cards

Mozilla Foundation is working on Direct2D accelleration which will mean that it s Firefox browser will be able to call upon the power of the GPU to speed itself up. While it certainly won’t turn a sluggish Internet connection into a speedy one it will help number crunch all those browser scripts a lot quicker

The downside is that Direct2D is currently slated for an alpha build, so it probably won’t make it into the release schedule of Gecko 1.9.3. At this rate it will be a year or so before it makes it onto a proper build

Microsoft has indicated that its forthcoming versions of Internet Exploder will also look to using more of the computer's hardware to speed itself up

Windows 7 passes ten per cent usage

A year faster than Vista

Windows 7 reached the 10 per cent usage milestone, according to beancounters at Web analytics company Net Applications, as the OS has crossed the 10 per cent figure more than a year earlier than Vista

However the gleam of Window's 7 appears to be the only brightness for Microsoft in the Net Applications figures. Redmond's overall share of the operating system market, which returned to its usual downward trend last month after a one-month advance

True the control of the market is still obscene. Microsoft dropped to a 91.6% share, down half a percentage point from February. It looks like Windows 7 is taking away customers from both Windows XP and Vista. Vista is losing market share faster than XP

Windows XP slid to 64.5 per cent, down a full point, while Vista lost one-half of a percentage point to end at 16 per cent. Vista is dropping faster than a team of free falling elephants and will only be on one in ten machines by the end of the year

Perhaps what is more worrying for Microsoft is that Windows XP is still on 70 per cent of the world's computers. The operating system will only be alive for three more years so if people have not upgraded to Windows 7 the question is what they are going to do when support runs out. It is possible that many plan to hang on until their current PC's die and then upgrade

Mac OS X's share of the operating system market rebounded by three-tenths of a percentage point last month, with Jobs' Mob's operating system ending the month with a 5.3% share

Can Natal deliver on what has been shown?

Some think Microsoft has gone too far in demos

Some interesting chatter has been taking place over the last couple of weeks about Natal. Speaking with some of our development and studio sources, many of them are questioning if Microsoft has already gone too far in its demos to show examples of what kind of experience Natal can deliver

The biggest example, of course, is the much talked about “skateboard sequence” where a teenager comes in with a skateboard and Natal magically scans the skateboard and incorporates it into the skateboarding game. That sequence has been described to us secretly by one of our sources as, “a lot of Star Trek Holodeck sci-fi wishful thinking” at this point.  The source we spoke with said that it certainly can’t be ruled out as possible with the right equipment and hardware, it would appear to be impossible with what Natal is today

With Microsoft expecting to be able to move millions and millions of the Natal hardware, the focus has to be on the software that is going to drive the buying. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Microsoft has been able to get 70 percent of their stable of developers to commit to developing for Natal. This, of course, is good news; but expect the majority of developers to deliver a dual experience, meaning that released titles will have both controller and Natal support to start with. Don’t expect to see many exclusive Natal-only titles to start with

While Microsoft will answer a lot of questions when they officially launch Natal prior to E3 in June, like many we will be very interested to see what kind of experience the release product will provide. Our sources tell us not to expect too much, as it will not be the kind of ‘way out’ sci-fi experience that you may have thought you were going to get

Intel puts new ultrathin CPUs on hold

Plenty of old CULVs to go around

According to Digitimes, Intel has decided to postpone full scale introduction of new mobile processors aimed at ultrathin notebooks. The CPUs were scheduled to appear over the next few weeks, but Intel will probably put them on hold until the third quarter

It appears that demand for affordable ultrahins is somewhat weaker than originally expected, so there are still plenty of 45nm parts to go around. Notebook makers obviously have a vested interest in emptying their inventories before introducing new products and lackluster sales are not helping, either

In 2009, ultrathin sales accounted for 10 to 15 percent of total shipments, well below the forecasted 20 to 30 percent. One of the upsides of Intel's decision and the rush to clear inventories is the fact that vendors will try to clear their inventories by dropping prices. Digitimes estimates ultrathin prices will be reduced anywhere from $32 to $95, so bargain hunters should be on the lookout for dirt cheap CULVs

More here

Zapak Digital buys into Codemasters

Indian firm now owns 50 percent of the publisher

The future of Codemasters now seems secure. As sources predicted, Zapak Digital Entertainment (which is owned by Reliance Big Entertainment) has purchased a fifty percent stake in the U.K. company, Codemasters, which is best known for the DiRT, Ashes Cricket, and Grid franchises.  Codemasters has received a large infusion of cash, which has to make Big Entertainment backer Balderton Capital happy

Zapak will bring with it a number of resources, which should prove to be very good for Codemasters; the biggest is perhaps the mobile development experience and group which the company is known for.  Working with Zapak, it is expected that we will see a number of Codemasters titles move into the mobile realm

Codemasters has had an up and down time over the past two years. The company enjoyed success with the release of Dirt 2, but were not as successful with Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and Damnation, which just didn’t generate the revenue numbers that the publisher was expecting. With the recent expansion plans that the publisher had on the agenda when the economic downturn hit, the publisher was financially pinched hard. This was most recently shown by their decision to drop Heist, which was in development by InXile studios

The future does seem to be a bit brighter with this news and the recent talk about the upcoming FPS title, Body count, and new racing title based on the Formula 1 license. Bodycount, as we have explained previously, could have exceptional potential as it is being guided by Stuart Black formerly of Criterion Studios, where he quarterbacked the title simply called Black for the first generation Xbox console

In addition to Zapak overseeing their investment in Codemasters, it is believed that Zapak’s recourses will also be leveraged on the development side; and it is expected that their teams will be involved in building upcoming Codemasters releases

AMD wants to eat Intel's notebook lunch

Even the peanut butter sandwich

It is starting to look as if Intel's dream of protecting its notebook market from netbooks is going to fall flat on its face. Intel has resisted moves to make netbooks bigger and more useful but now it is starting to look as if it is failing. AMD, VIA and ARM seem to be targeting Intel's prize jewels and the world on the street is that they might just get away with it

Arvind Chandrasekhar, general manager for business development at the India unit of AMD said that the idea of a seperate “netbook” is something that was a bit silly anyway. Flogging a half price notebook is something it can do and it makes sense. He said that there is a need for thin and light notebooks, but we are not sure whether they need to be put in a category called netbooks

Intel of course wants to limit the use of netbooks to computers of a certain size. That way a bigger screen means a more expensive chip. Intel will lose shedloads if big netbooks takes off

A netbook traditionally comes with a $40 Atom chip while a regular one will have $200 chips

 AMD's Congo already has four manufacturers signed up to use it in bigger than average netbooks. Our bet is that Intel will have its clock cleaned if it does not allow its chips to be used in big netbooks

However Intel is in a damned if we do, damned if we don't position. The only thing it has on its side is that Microsoft is also not keen on big netbooks either. Big netbooks still require a cut down version of Windows 7. Redmond has agreed with Intel that it will only allow full versions of Windows 7 to appear in large screen netbooks. This alliance could stop things going AMD's way but it is also possible that other things can be done to prevent it having too much impact

Microsoft is likely to be more flexible than Intel if AMD can prove that it is a good idea to release a “netbook version” of Windows 7 for, example

Computer games are bad for your teeth

Brush after Counterstrike

New research shows that playing computer games is bad for your teeth

Among other things. sub.ed

New research, penned by Jordon Poss at the University of Iowa and presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in Washington suggests snacking while playing computer and video games could be responsible for poor levels of oral health among young teenagers. The report said that gamers who spend substantial amounts of time at the screen are more than twice as likely to develop tooth decay and caries as those with more active lifestyles

Apparently teens are more likely to snack on sugary foods while absorbed in computer games. It is estimated half of teenagers in the UK have a video console in their bedroom and 97 per cent of all teens play video games regularly. The study is one of the first to suggest dietary habits leading to decay are associated with screen activities and that computer games, if associated with increased snacking are associated with decay experience

Kids who had parental rules regarding screen time and diet were less likely to eat or drink while watching television and playing video games than subjects without parental rules. Participants without structured eating patterns were more than a third more likely to have caries than subjects with structured patterns

WD developing new Velociraptors

Bigger and faster, believe it or not

Western Digital is apparently working on an entirely new series of Velociraptor enthusiast hard drives

According to a leaked PDF, the new drives will be available in 150GB, 300GB, 400GB and 600GB capacities. They will run at 10,000RPM and consume up to 6.5W of power

Seek times are impressive, between 3.6 and 4.2 milliseconds, and the new Velociraptors should be able to achieve read speeds of up to 145MB/s. They will feature SATA 6Gbps support and 32MB of cache. Although they won't be able to match SSDs in terms of performance, the new Velociraptors will come close and they will probably end up quite a bit cheaper

April Fool's hoax might end up an actual product

iCade retro arcade cabinet for iPad

Some guys can’t take a joke, but apparently – some take it and make a product on it. Namely ThinkGeek’s iCade retro arcade cabinet attracted serious interest regardless of the fact that most realized it was an April Fool’s prank

After being pestered enough by retro-loving gamers, ThinkGeek admitted to a possibility of making a real product but also said how there are some technical obstacles in the way

As you might already know, the fruit company isn’t quite famous for its flexibility and the company would most likely ban a MAME based emulator for the iPad, which means more programming and workarounds. Unfortunately, such a move would limit the games available and render the entire device pretty unmarketable

Just like the iPad, you mean? Sub.ed

ThinkGeek has already thought of practical improvements to the device, as the hoax wasn’t really thought out to the details, but they’ll probably find out just how “funny” Apple thinks they are

 Sad as it might be, we somehow doubt we’ll ever see this device on the market, but at least you have to admit it looks seriously retro-cool
 

DRAM maker shifts to 50nm

Inotera will have converted by Christmas

DRAM maker Inotera has started shifting its entire production to the 50nm stack process

According to Digitimes the outfit is planning to start with producing 10,000 wafers a month at its 12-inch fab from April. If the supply of coffee holds out, it will convert all of its capacity (130,000 wafers/month) to the more advanced node by Christmas

Inotera is a big fan of Micron Technology's 50nm design. It has already increased production of  1Gb DDR2 chips based on the technology.  It has sent samples of 50nm-made 2Gb DDR3 to customers for verification

It is keen to shift to the technology which means that it should be able to slash its production costs by half. The bonus to this is that DRAM prices are on the up so Inotera can coin in the profits

Cooler Master's NotePal ErgoStand reviewed

Review: Keep you notebook cool throughout the summer

It will soon be summer time, meaning abundance of hot days and this is probably a wise time to purchase a laptop cooler. The latest model to come from CoolerMaster’s offer is dubbed the NotePal ErgoStand, and today we’ll play with it to see what it has to offer. Note that this model was designed by Choiix, CoolerMaster’s peripheral device brand

While laptops in general come with appropriate cooling, this works only in scenarios when you keep them on flat and solid surfaces. Naturally, most users tend to keep and/or use their laptops in their laps when sitting around the room or lying in bed, which usually results in key outlets getting blocked and might even lead to equipment overheating and failure. In order to prevent this, you can resort to various passive or active laptop coolers that at the same time serve as platforms

NotePal ErgoStand is a universal cooler that functions as both a notebook stand and a cooling pad and is aimed at laptops from 9” to 17". Cooling is performed by one 14cm fan with rpm regulation, which means that you can choose whether you want quiet operation or optimum cooling performance. Furthermore, you can easily set the angle and to top it off – the device features a 4-port USB hub

NotePal ErgoStand comes in a sturdy cardboard box featuring a few pictures of the device. Within the box you’ll find the NotePal ErgoStand, together with the USB power cable and adjustable anti-slip holders for 9’’ to 17’’ notebooks



Full Specifications

Dimension - 370x265x33~58mm   WxHxD
Weight - 1.05 kg
Color - Black
Material - Metal mesh, Plastic and Rubber
Operation degree - 6.5 ~ 45 degree
Power - USB 5V DC
USB Port - USB 2.0/1.1 x4, Mini-USB x1    for power in
Compatibility - Supports all 9" to 17" notebooks
Fan Dimension - 140x140x15mm   WxHxD
Fan Speed - 700 ~ 1400 RPM
Bearing Type -  Rifle bearing
Fan Noise Level - 15dBA   Min
Fan Life Expectancy - 40,000 hours
Cable Length - 600mm

NotePal ErgoStand is manufactured using a combination of metal mesh and plastic. The mesh functions as a platform whereas the plastic acts as a base for the cooling pad 


 
The fan is pretty large (140mm in diameter) and is placed in the center so that cooling is equally good for both smaller and bigger laptops. You can regulate the rpm via the wheel on the left side (top). Minimum rpm is at about 700-rpm, whereas maximum rpm hangs around 1400-rpm

 Apart from rubber pucks on the mesh which keep the laptop from sliding, the two holders on the bottom will further make sure your laptop doesn’t slide off of the ErgoPad. You can set the holders so that they work for smaller laptops as well 



As you can see from the following picture, the device also features the On/Off key, which will work well if you don’t need the fan. As we already said, the flat and solid surface of the cooling pad is enough of a prerequisite for the laptop to cool itself. The fan, however, will really come in handy when your CPU and/or GPU, which are usually the hottest components, get more demanding tasks and start heating up more seriously



Fan is powered via the provided USB cable, which is 60cm long. One end of the cable goes into the laptop’s USB port and the other, mini USB connector, goes into the ErgoStand. Choiix also implemented a 4-port USB hub, and if you use all the ports at the same time, the 1A from your notebook has to be shared equally among components, so AC power connection is advised

 Unfortunately, a 5V AC power adapter is not included in the packaging. Power connector is also on the left side. The same row features a LED that glows whenever the ErgoStand is connected to your laptop. The On/Off key is used only for the fan, and the LED goes off only when the power to the NotePal ErgoStand is interrupted

Moving to the other side you will find all of your inputs; that’s where the miniUSB connection for power and 4-port USB hub are located



The USB is placed a bit awkwardly, but we got used to it in no time. In fact, the mechanism for setting the angle will come in pretty handy in feeling your way towards the USBs



Although the USB ports are pretty close to each other, the problem is not in the thickness of the stick, but rather the width. Our Kingston Data Traveler 200 could only fit in the two upper USB ports, whereas the access to the lower two is blocked by the angle mechanism. Note however that this is only a problem when the NotePal ErgoStand is not in one of the four allowed angles

 This is not a big problem though, as the lower two ports can be used for USB cables, smaller sticks or similar 



Although NotePal ErgoStand has been designed to keep your laptop at a lower angle, the mechanism allows for much more extreme angles. This means that setting the height and angle allows for anyone’s and everyone’s preferred position, and will come in handy for those who use a real keyboard with the laptop, as the angle can easily be adjusted to suit your position





It’s worth noting that NotePal ErgoStand weighs in at 1kg, which makes carrying all the more difficult. Fortunately, Choiix designed the small handles on the sides which make carrying with a laptop onboard pretty easy



You can also use the handles for cable-management, and you’ll find additional cable holders in the back. This can come in handy if you don‘t carry your NotePal ErgoStand around much, but rather keep it on your desk as a fixed setup
 


NotePal ErgoStand is aimed at laptops from 9’’ to 18’’, and while the versatility is appreciated, we’re sure that it will suit those with bigger and thus usually hotter laptops. The device comes with fan speed regulation, which means users have full control over how fast their fan spins. The fan’s minimum rpm stands at 700 whereas the maximum is 1400 rpm. We’re talking about a fan with a rifle bearing mechanism, which is often used on fans that sit in horizontal position

At minimum rpm, the fan is very quiet but not inaudible. The airflow through the metal mesh is almost inaudible, but our test sample had a slight buzzing sound which could get on your nerves, especially if the room is quiet. Fortunately, CoolerMaster assured us that this issue is due to our test sample, and that the buzzing will not occur in the final version. In case you require total silence, you can always turn the fan off and still retain superior airflow that your lap, bedcover or similar would definitely hinder. It’s well worth noting that the fan noise is acceptable when running at 1400 rpm, and you can bet that the airflow will be great

As you can see from the results, cooling performance is pretty good. Fujitsu Siemens Amilo MS2243 in idle mode ran up to 7°C cooler with NotePal ErgoStand and up to 4°C during the intensive Prime95 CPU test



As far as portability goes, NotePal ErgoStand is not quite a small device – it measures 140x140x15mm (WxHxD). This means that you’ll need a pretty large backpack if you want to carry it around. Thanks to the side-handles, carrying the NotePal ErgoStand with laptop onboard will be a piece of cake, regardless of whether the entire setup weighs 1kg or 5kg 

In cooperation with Choiix, CoolerMaster devised its NotePal ErgoStand laptop cooler that can be used practically anywhere. Apart from good performance, the device brings a few more functions than classic laptop coolers and can be used for laptops up to 17’’

As you can see from the tests, the device is more than up to the task of cooling. You can regulate the fan speed in order to draw maximum performance or make it quieter for when typing in bed for instance. Our test sample emitted a slight buzzing sound, which could get on your nerves, but CoolerMaster assured us that this is an issue with our sample only and that production samples will not do that. Note that unlike NotePal ErgoStand, many similar devices on the market use two smaller (80 or 92mm) fans, which further increases noise and in comparison doesn’t quite improve airflow

NotePal ErgoStand allows for setting angles and can be used as a laptop stand, which will be a blessing for those who use classic keyboards for typing. CoolerMaster also added a 4-port USB hub, which is a nice touch and can be used to connect a keyboard, mouse or other external devices

All in all, NotePal ErgoStand is a pretty attractive device which combines good looks and functionality. Priced at around €35 or €29 without tax, which is the usual price for laptop coolers, NotePal will surely end up being your laptop’s best pal

Microsoft loses Word patent battle

No pay, no play

The US court has wrapped up the appeals process which meant that a tiny Canadian company    i4i won a huge legal battle and $290 million in fines against Microsoft

I4i claimed that Microsoft had nicked some of its software which it used in Word. The court agreed and decided that the compontant was worth more than $80 of Office's price. The outfit won another round Thursday when US federal appeals court turned down Microsoft's plea for hearing of the case by a full bench

However the patent pertains to the use of technology that can open documents using the XML computer programming language. The Canadian software company had said Microsoft stole this technology when it created Word 2003 and Word 2007 software

Microsoft has complying with the ruling, the software giant had stopped selling the infringing Word 2007 and Office 2007 from January 11. Instead it had introduced a Word 2007 software patch removing infringing custom XML markup when a document is opened.
Not surprisingly 4i chairman Loudon Owen is happy with the ruling saying that this has been a long and arduous process, but this decision is a powerful reinforcement of the message that smaller enterprises and inventors who own intellectual property can and will be protected

So this is a David and Goliath story right? Possibly. However in this case one has to wonder if Redmond is being treated that fairly by the courts. $80 for using XML is a large chunk of Office's price tag and the fact it has been deleted suggests that it was never that important in the first place

Gnome 2.30 out

Last gasp before 3.0 out

The open source desktop GUI GNOME has just got itself another incarnation

GNOME is one of the more popular Linux GUIs so when a new one is released it ends up on a lot of computers, and as you would expect there are new features that aim to make it easier to connect to social notworking sites such as Facebook

Other improvements to the Empathy instant messaging application to enable users to more easily connect with contacts. The Empathy update also includes support for Facebook chat as well as new IRC support for commonly used commands. GNOME 2.30 also includes updates for the Tomboy notebook application with support for synchronization over multiple systems

The new release also includes preview technology of the GNOME Shell, which will become a standard component in GNOME 3 which is expected to be out in six months

GNOME Executive Director Stormy Peters noted that end users will continue to get support for GNOME 2.x through their Linux distributions, most of which will support releases for longer than six months