POV's Mobii 10.1-inch Tablet presented on video

Tegra does well with Android 2.2

Point of View has released a video showing some of the key features of its 10.1-inch Mobii Tablet with Nvidia Tegra. Although we are still waiting for it to hit retail/e-tail shelves, it's nice to see how it fares in certain scenarios

Just to remind you, Point of View's Mobii Tablet features 10.1-inch capacitive multi-touch screen (1024x600), 512MB of system memory and 512MB of NAND flash memory, support for microSD cards (up to 32GB) and perhaps the most important - it is based on Nvidia's Tegra 250 chip, a 1GHz dual-core Cortex A9. This means that Mobii Tablet is more than capable for hardware accelerated 3D/Video and features Adobe Flash support

Although we are still wondering about its multi-touch capabilities, the guys from POV made sure the video shows that this one runs on Android 2.2 Froyo OS and that the device is capable of playing 1080p video, as well as Flash

The 10.1-inch Mobii Tablet should appear in retail/e-tail pretty soon, or to be precise, sometime during this month. We'll surely keep an eye out for it

You can check out the video below

Sapphire preparing its own overclocking software

Get ready for TriXXX

According to a post over at Sapphire's website, we might see another software tweak utility pretty soon. The Sapphire TriXXX tweak utility should be appearing soon and Sapphire has posted first details as well as some screenshots of its upcoming software

According to the available details, the TriXXX will be able to, not only to monitor basic parameters of the graphics card, but also to tweak them in order to get a bit more juice from that Sapphire (and most probably other AMD) graphics cards. The feature list include options for overclocking the GPU core and memory clocks, voltage and fan parameters, monitor all the graphics card parameters including temperatures, fan settings, driver and BIOS version, support for Multi-GPU, Windows Sidebar Gadget option, profile settings and much more

As far as we can see from the screenshots, the software looks pretty simple, easy to use and it is designed pretty well. The software is still not available but according to the link it should show up pretty soon, at least with support for AMD's lates HD 6800 series graphics cards

You can check out more screenshots and details here

Logitech announces solar powered keyboard

K750 says no batteries ever again

 

While some may argue that the green movement is just a bunch of tree hugging hippie nonsense, Logitech's latest announcement is one of the more practical green(ish) things you might see. The company has announced a solar-powered wireless keyboard, which pretty much means good bye to batteries

The keyboard dubbed the Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 comes equipped with solar panels that collect and store energy. Logitech says that a fully charged keyboard is capable of running at least three months in total darkness

K750 boasts Logitech’s concave key cap design and runs on Logitech’s Advanced 2.4GHz wireless. It’s only ¼ inches thick and as you can see, it's pretty sleek. It supports XP, Vista and Windows 7 and to make things even more interesting, it uses Logitech’s Unifying receiver, which allows for adding up to six Logitech’s unifying-ready keyboards and mice

The Wireless Solar Keyboard K750 should hit US and EU markets sometime this month with a suggested retail price standing at $79.99. It comes with a 4-year limited hardware warranty and all it needs is some light. Hear that Duracell? Only light

First look at Cooltek Ultimate Case

Preview: All about cooling

Cooltek Ultimate Case is the latest case to come out from the company and you can get your hands on it via Cooltek’s online shop at €89.

This is a full tower case that, as you can see from the picture, is anything but ordinary looking. The case packs plenty of details and while this is mostly a matter of personal preference, we really liked the color scheme. Cooltek nicknamed this case CUC so we’ll use the name as well, but for now let’s look at Cooltek Ultimate Case

Packaging

Cooltek Ultimate Case packaging is a cardboard box – still it’s sturdy enough. Plenty of pictures and specs can be found on the box

All the details are written in English and German

We must admit that CUC is a fingerprint magnet and we realized that while unpacking it. This means that without cleaning, CUC won’t keep its good looks. Fortunately, Cooltek thought about everything and as we went on digging through the box we found a nice cleaning cloth and a couple of other things. As you can see from the picture below, Cooltek really thought of the little things – something we don’t see very often

The Looks

CUC isn’t lacking in details but it does seem somewhat “plasticky” and thus gives the impression of being cheap. It’s made of 0.8mm steel and plenty of plastic. The case measures 210 x 525 x 560mm (W x H x L).

Side panels are made of steel but the front and top panels as well as the extrusions on the side panels are made of plastic. Of course, considering the price this is quite understandable. Cooltek sacrificed steel in order not to skimp on accessories and features – and we’re all for that course of action as long as the functional aspect is improved or at least left intact

The front panel houses five 5.25’’ bays, first two of which have movable lids. This is of course purely for aesthetic reasons

Mounting optical drives requires you to take the front panel off – a simple tug on the bottom will do. On top of the panel you’ll find a blue LED

The red stripes are made of fine mesh. Of course, the 5.25’’ bays are entirely closed but the mesh that holds Cooltek logo acts as an air inlet. Behind it is a thin dust filter protecting the 12cm blue LED fan

Control panel is neatly placed and packs plenty of connectors

The control panel houses four keys for turning preinstalled fans on and off. The fans run at fixed RPM and they’re quiet; all the fans except the one on the rear panel have a blue LED. The fans as well as the control panel keys come with 2-pin connectors

The panel has no hot-swap nor USB 3.0 connectors but it does come with one SATA power and one SATA data cable that can be used to connect SATA devices. Cooltek again seems to have thought of everything and ships the aforementioned cables with the case

The panel also houses one eSATA connector and four USB 2.0 connectors between. USB connectors are nicely spaced apart and you’ll find plenty of space for those thick USB sticks. Same goes for audio connectors. The final touch is the All-in-One card reader and the plastic cover which can be used to prevent the control panel from getting dusty

Behind the control panel is the red mesh again, hiding two 120mm fans

Cooltek used dust filters on top of the case as well. The fans also have blue LEDs

The left panel (picture below) has a plastic handle and also comes with a dust filter. However, Cooltek obviously didn’t intend to use a fan here

Cooltek made a special mechanism for opening the panels, making sure that the panel doesn’t open even when not fixed with screws. Pressing the mechanism and a light tug will make the side panel come off easily

Same procedure is valid for the right side panel

We’ve already shown you few pictures showing the rear of the case, where you can see 7 expansion slots. The PSU is on the bottom of the case. Unfortunately, we lost the rubber cap that’s supposed to cover the water-cooling holes

Judging by what we’ve seen so far, Cooltek’s case is promising – but we won’t get ahead of ourselves. We’ll soon have our full performance test results so stay tuned

Reference GTX 580 pixellized

Is it the final design

The guys from pcinlife.com have managed to score pictures of what appears to be a reference design of the upcoming Nvidia GTX 580 card. Although the specs are still quite blurry, we managed to find out that Nvidia did improve the original GF100 design, as we wrote earlier

There have been some previous rumours regarding the performance of the upcoming GTX 580 and most popular one is that this one should end up to be 20 percent faster than the GTX 480. Judging by the looks of the cooler, Nvidia appears to have done a pretty good job in tweaking the GPU, thus increasing the performance per watt. The cooler has a dual-slot design, blower fan and rear exhaust grill, something that worked quite well for Nvidia on last few cards

Bear in mind that we are still talking about a card that is in its development stage, and the pixellized cooler might not end up to be a final design. In any case, the card is just around the corner and should come before AMD's Cayman based cards. You can find the original post here

Nvidia driver lists new cards

GTX 580, GTS 455 and GT 555M

 

Let's keep it brief and with as much speculation as possible. Expreview has found several new cards listed in Nvidia's 261.00 driver

As expected, the GTX 580 is one of them and we're guessing you know by now that it's a high-end board slated to replace the largely unsuccessful GTX 480.

The GTS 455 was first mentioned a few months ago. We don't much about it and although it sounds like an improved GTS 450, which is based on the GF106 core, rumour has it that the GTS 455 is actually based on a somewhat crippled GF104. If this is the case, it might be a rather interesting mainstream card

The GT 555M is somewhat of a mystery as we've never heard of it up till now. It appears to be based on the GF108 core, but we still can't confirm anything about this upcoming mobile part

TSMC to post strong Q4 earnings

On the back of AMD GPU and APU orders

 

As we reported last week, TSMC is expected to report strong earnings for the fourth quarter thanks to large orders placed by AMD

However, it's worth noting that AMD has placed orders for Ontario and Zacate APUs alongside HD 6000 GPUs. Both Ontario and Zacate are reportedly already in production, on TSMCs 40nm node. The Ontario will take on Intel's Atom processors in the netbook market and judging by the specs it should have no trouble wiping the floor with any Atom SKU

Although AMD contracted Globalfoundries to produce the 32nm Llano APU, the company decided to go with TSMC's tried and tested 40nm process for Ontario and Zacate in order to mitigate production risks. All APUs produced by TSMC will be tested and packaged by Siliconware Precision Industries

Intel opens $1bn Vietnam plant

We love you long time

 

Intel CEO Paul Otellini has opened yet another plant in East Asia. Following the opening of a $2.5 billion fab in China on Tuesday, Otellini cut the ribbon on $1 billion assembly and test facility in Ho Chi Minh City

Otellini told reporters that the new plant was the largest and most advanced test facility in Intel's global manufacturing network. He stressed that the plant would generate thousands of jobs and boost Vietnam's exports

The 46,000 square meter is twice as large as Intel's other assembly test facilities and it's housed inside Saigon Hi Tech Park, in District 9. We're not sure how the Vietnamese authorities dealt with the aliens though. Intel also made a commitment to assist Vietnam's plans to modernize its education system and foster local innovation

Of course, it is also worth noting that Otellini has been an outspoken critic of the current US administration and that he, spoken as a true patriot, called for more investment in the US tech industry and the creation of a more business friendly environment in the US. It would appear that Otellini is more at ease doing business in single party states than in the United States

At least he's not investing in North Korea. Yet

Geforce GTX 580 to launch in November

Better, improved, hot and fast

We came across some interesting information regarding Nvidia's response to Cayman. The new chip from Nvidia, codenamed GF110 is going to launch in November, most likely before Cayman. AMD set its launch date around November 20 and Nvidia is likely to launch the GF110 a bit earlier

It is not only that the chip will have more than 480 cores, we dare not say 512, but all these cores will be improved. Nvidia had more than a year to work on this mid-life kicker, something that can compete with AMD's Cayman and could likely end up as the fastest GPU on the market

First reports indicate that it will get available for around $499 but this will very much depend on Cayman performance and pricing

The cards are in production as we speak, almost ready to ship at launch. Now its all a matter of politics and deciding when to launch them. As the winter in the northern hemisphere draws near the Cayman and the GF110 will come in quite handy, as both will generate enough heat to keep gamers cozy at sub-zero temperatures

Intel creates league to standardise SSD PCIe interface

IBM, Dell, EMC and Fujitsu all sign up

 

Chipmaker Intel has formed a league of 12 outfits which want to standardise SSD Pcie interfaces

The names that have signed up include IBM, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu Amphenol, Emulex, Fusion-io, IDT, Marvel Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Molex, PLX, QLogic, STEC, SandForce and Smart Modular Technology. The cunning plan of the SSD Form Factor Working Group group is to promote PCIe as the standard connector to SSD

Since PCIe is a serial interface format, every device connected to the motherboard using PCIe has its own dedicated connection. These connections are also called lanes and are controlled by a switch. Due to this architecture connected  devices do not have to use the same bandwidth passing through a single bus unlike a parallel architecture, which makes data transfer faster. The group hopes to give the technology a kick in the pants through standardization

The PCIe SSD approach works rather well with Google style architecture where applications infrastructure uses a large number of servers which are equal in processing power, while the traditional FC-SCAN SSD suits a hierarchical architecture. Intel thinks that the PCIe SSD market has low entry barriers

Google bans app for control freaks

Privacy breach

 

A mobile phone application which helps people monitor their partners' sms messages has been banned by Google

The app secretly forwards texts so that control freak partners can find out what their lover is doing. Google has decided that the software violated its terms of use for Android phones. Once installed on the unwitting victim's phone, the Android phone app, called SMS Secret Replicator, automatically creates blind carbon copies of incoming text messages and forwards them to a selected number. Of course you have to sneak the password-protected app onto your partners' phones and set it to forward text messages to their own. But once it is installed it will continue to monitor without revealing itself

The app was created by developer, DLP Mobile. Its chief executive, Zak Tanjeloff, said the app was "certainly controversial but can be helpful to people in relationships where this type of monitoring can be useful". We would have thought that once you were in such a relationship, the desire to spy on your partner would be a good indication that you should be out of it, or at the very least they should be ending it themselves

You Don’t Know Jack finally confirmed

Multiple platforms get it January 25th

 

Finally, after a wait that seemed forever, THQ has confirmed that the Jellyvision classic, You Don’t Know Jack, will finally be arriving for console systems on January 25th, 2011. That’s right:  Jack is back, and you will be able to play it on Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. Rumors of a possible PC version still remain unconfirmed at this point

The latest version of You Don’t Know Jack will feature pop culture questions in a quiz show format along with the irreverent humor and caustic announcer that made the franchise such a success with its past PC releases. One new feature that is sure to grab a lot of attention is the online play that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners will be able to enjoy. Online play is a first for the franchise

When it arrives, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version will retail for $39.99 while the Nintendo DS and Wii versions will only set you back $29.99. THQ is expecting the YDKJ franchise to be quite successful on the console platform and could possibility set new sales records for the franchise in its first appearance on the console platforms, according to sources

This might be the best way to play YDKJ yet, one source told us, as the game has been crying for years to be played on consoles in living rooms

Exceleram shows its new DDR3 kits

Dual-channel     Blue Culvert

Recently taken by the guys that were making Mushkin kits for quite some time, the Germany-based Exceleram has rolled out a new pair of low-voltage DDR3 kits. These 4GB kits are rated to wor at 1.35V and should draw less power and better overclocking potential compared to the standard 1.5V kits

The ELV001A kit, features two 2GB modules clocked at 1333MHz with 7-7-7-21 latencies, all at 1.35V, while the ELV002A works at 1600MHz with 9-9-9-24 at the same voltage. Both kits are cooled by Exceleram's Blue Culvert heatspreaders that should be enough to keep those modules at reasonable temperatures

Although the price or the availability date haven't been announced, the quick glance at our price search engine shows that the 1333MHz kit is already listed at €68,46.

Galaxy shows its GTS 450 Hall of Fame card

Fastest with 1GHz GPU

Galaxy has announced a rather unique card that puts all other announced factory overclocked cards to shame, the GTS 450 Hall of Fame Edition. Featuring the highest factory overclock on the GTS 450, the new Galaxy GTS 450 HOF also uses a rather large dual-slot, dual fan cooling solution

The card ended up clocked at 1000MHz for the GPU, 2000MHz for those 192 CUDA Cores and 4100MHz for 1GB of GDDR5 memory. The card features 3+1-phase power design and has a 128-bit memory interface. The dual-slot cooler has two PWM fans and four heatpipes that should hopefully be enough to keep this behemoth well cooled. The GTS 450 features two DVI and an HDMI output

Unfortunately, the price or the availability date haven't been announced

Nvidia chips power fastest supercomputer

Someone has to buy them

 

Chips made by the Green Goblin are powering a supercomputer that the graphics chip supplier claims has achieved the fastest speeds to date

The Chinese "Tianhe-1A" has hit 2.507 petaflops, using 7168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 Intel Xeon CPUs. It beats another Chinese supercomputer also using Nvidia chips called Nebulae, which can manage 1.271 petaflops when the wind is behind it and it is going downhill. Nebulae is the second fastest in the world based on the Top500 June list

Nvidia said that the "Tianhe-1A" will not only be the fastest but will also be greener. It only consumes only 4.04 megawatts, making it three times more power efficient than a CPU-only system

Tesla chip marketing manager Sumit Gupta said applications of the "open science project" will include astrophysics, material science, and bio-chemistry. Nvidia is also working with laboratories and universities in the U.S

Putin wants to dump Windows

Might shift to Linux

 

The Russian state plans to revamp its computer services using Linux in a bid to reduce its dependence on Microsoft and better monitor computer security. According to AFP the Russians will spend about 3.5 million eurosto develop a national software system based on Linux

Russian deputy Ilia Ponomarev warned that the devil was in the details which are still to be worked out in a December meeting headed by vice-prime minister Sergei Ivanov. The idea is that the country will become independent of Windows ... but it risks becoming an unthinking implantation of Linux, he warned

Similar concerns about achieving technological independence prompted the Russian military to create the GLONASS satellite navigation system in the 1980s, to compete with the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and competition in the future from Europe's Galileo

Some LED lights are bad for the eyes

So don't stick them in your eyes kids

 

A French health agency is warning that some types of LED lights are really bad for your eyes

The National Health Security agency warns that the light scattered by the blue LEDs, used to give a white light, pose risks to the retina and may alter the pigments of retinal cells. In addition, this type of light would also have consequences on AMD, the macular degeneration age-related illness not the chipmaker and aggravating effects on other eye conditions

The agency has warned consumers about three types of diodes and LEDs which it thinks are riskier than conventional lighting should be withdrawn. The agency also asked manufacturers to develop a labelling system on products using diodes to better inform consumers

Not all LEDs are evil. All have advantages, including a low cost, low power consumption and long life and some do not make you blind, the watchdog barked

Medal of Honor to get Hot Zone DLC

Will not be free, as Clean Sweep will be

 

We told you about the additional DLC pack that Electronic Arts was giving away to Medal of Honor fans called Clean Sweep that is set to arrive on November 2nd. What we also are able to confirm now is that EA will be releasing another DLC pack called Hot Zone, but this one will cost 800 Microsoft Points or $9.99 for PlayStation 3 and PC owners

Hot Zone is a new type of gameplay where teams fight for control of a location on the map. It is sort of a king of the hill game, if you will. The team that controls the position the longest wins. The Hot Zone gameplay mode will be playable on two new maps, which are called Hindukush Pass and Korengal Outpost, as well as on Shahikot Valley and Helmand Valley

The Hot Zone DLC pack will arrive on November 2nd as well. It really isn’t clear why EA has elected to sell Hot Zone and give Clean Sweep away for free. Still, the best news is that MOH is getting additional content and it would appear that EA has not yet given up on the sales of the title

Radeon HD 6870 widely available

For some €198+ EU, $249 US

 

Many times over the last few years a company would launch a new chip and would sell it out in a matter of hours. Sometimes they would blame the huge demand but most time the real reason would be a small amount of chips

This time around, several days after the official launch Radeon HD 6870 is widely available and you can get them at many places for around €200 + shipping costs

You can find them listed over here and we are quite sure that your local etailer should have some in stock, if not, we are quite sure that big companies listed below won’t mind shipping the cards to you, at long as you are in Europe

The cards are also available in the US at the usual suspect places

Point of View shows its 10-inch Tegra tablet

Android 2.2 and Tegra 250

After releasing quite a few netbooks, some based on Nvidia's ION chipset, Point of View decided that it is time to take a piece of that tablet market as well. Point of View has announced two tablets, both based on Android. The 7-inch Android 2.1 and the Tegra based 10-inch Android 2.2 tablet should both be available in November and they look quite good

The 10.1-inch Mobii Tegra Tablet is a quite interesting one, as although some have been announced, this is the first one that has actually showed up. It is based on Nvidia's Tegra 250 chip, dual core 1GHz Cortex A9 and thanks to it it supports hardware accelerated 3D/Video and Adobe Flash support. This means that those YouTube and 1080p videos are actually going to work on this little piece of tablet heaven

The rest of the specs include a 10.1-inch capacitive multi-touch screen in 1024x600 resolution, 512MB of system memory and 512MB of NAND flash memory, support for microSD cards (up to 32GB), has 802.11bg WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, optional 3G adapter, integrated front-facing 1.3M webcam, integrated microphone and speakers, USB, HDMI and headphones connectors. As noted, this one runs Android 2.2 Froyo OS and although it doesn't have support for Android Market it does come with AndroidPit. It features 3300mAh battery, but the actual battery life hasn't been announced

The 7-inch is a bit less interesting as this one is based on AMD 9 Rockchip 2808 working at 600MHz and comes with Android 2.1 operating system. The 7-inch screen is detailed as Advanced resistive touch screen with 800x480 resolution. It has 256MB of system memory and either 4, 8 or 16GB of NAND flash memory. It supports micro SD cards of up to 32GB, has a 1500mAh battery and features integrated webcam, microphone and integrated display stand

The most surprising thing is the actual price tag, as the 10.1-incher should be available for around €320, depending on the region, which is a decent price tag for such device. Unfortunately, we don't have a price for the smaller one but we are sure that both should show up pretty soon as they are scheduled to launch in November