computers and playstation

Light Peak to enter mass production early 2010

2009-10-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

During last month's IDF, Intel showcased a high-speed optical cable interface for PCs. With a 10Gb/s transfer rate -- or twice the speed of USB 3.0 -- Light Peak's potential application is pretty broad. The technology could effectively consolidate the plethora of modern interface standards, including USB, FireWire, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet and so forth. At the time, Intel said Light Peak-enabled devices could be ready to ship as soon as next year, but there weren't many details beyond that.

CNET is reporting that Foci, a Taiwanese optical networking company, is well on its way to selling Light Peak cables and other fiber-optic gear. According to Foci vice president of business development Janpu Hou, the company will have a pilot run ready by the end of November 2009, and will be ready to mass-produce at the start of 2010.

Foci's cables use USB connectors, and Hou said the cables themselves are flexible and strong, able to be bent in a loop just over an inch in diameter. Cost is still up in the air, though. While the company is trying to bring it down to an acceptable level for consumers, its attempts to reduce cost by using plastic fiber has produced poor results.

Intel is also continuing its push to roll out the technology, confirming Wednesday that it is working with the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) to standardize Light Peak.

HIS Radeon HD 5850 Review

2009-10-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

Having just recently reviewed the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and bearing witness to its power, cut-down version known as the Radeon HD 5850. Though both cards were announced last September 23rd, AMD waited an extra week until the Radeon HD 5850 could be showcased. And now - admittedly a bit late -the have finally dug up a production model from HIS to put to the test.

The more affordable HD 5850 shares the same technological advances as its higher-end sibling. That includes support for DirectX 11, HDMI bitstreaming, Eyefinity, angle-independent anisotropic filtering, and supersample anti-aliasing. A slightly toned down configuration, however, allows it to sell for just $260.

At this price the Radeon HD 5850 is not much more expensive than the HD 4890 or Nvidia's GeForce GTX 275, and it is considerably cheaper than the GeForce GTX 285. It's also about $120 more affordable than the Radeon HD 5870, which currently holds the fastest single-GPU graphics card crown.

3ality Digital showed off its double-barreled videocamera for capturing live 3D video

2009-09-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

3ality Digital showed off its double-barreled video camera for capturing live 3D video. The company supplies technology that keeps the two Sony cameras aligned precisely to sub-pixel accuracy even when the cameras are panning, zooming, and refocusing, said 3ality Digital CTO Howard Postley

Sony to release new PS3 motion controller next spring

2009-09-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sony announced late Wednesday night from the Tokyo Game Show that it plans to release a new motion-sensitive controller for its PlayStation 3 video game console sometime during spring of 2010. The news came just hours after Nintendo's own announcement that it was cutting the price of its Wii console from $250 to $200.

The company originally announced that it was working on a new controller at E3 last June. That news seemed, at the time, to indicate that Sony was aiming at taking on the Nintendo Wii and its intuitive Wii-mote. Microsoft, too, unveiled a hot new controller system, code-named Natal, but revealed no substantial details about how it would be used, what it would cost or when it would be available.

As for Sony, it didn't say last June when its new device would hit the market. So Wednesday night's announcement marks the first time it has given any specificity about the date.

"The newly announced Motion Controller is equipped with two motion sensors, three axes gyroscope and three axes accelerometer that can detect the controller's angle and movement held in the user's hand," Sony said in a release. "Together with the PlayStation Eye camera for PS3 which can accurately track the absolute position of the controller, the controller can detect the natural and intuitive movement of the hand and reflect the precise movement on to the game."

Earlier Wednesday evening, Nintendo said it was slashing the price of the Wii from $250 to $200. Although both announcements were made during the Tokyo Game Show, the timing is notable given that with Sony's announcement, PS3 users and fans now have a better sense of when their favorite console will take on some additional Wii-like functionality. Nintendo may well have decided it couldn't waste any time in making its own move to protect its console.

AMD PHENOM II X4 is a nightmare for INTEL

2009-09-06T13:53:00.000-07:00

the AMD PHENOM II X4 995 BLACK EDITION processor run with 4 core system each with 3.2GHz with 2MB L2 cache memory can be over-clocked for 4.0GHz as safe over-clocking without any problem with overheating
this processor is a nightmare for INTEL because it is sell at a low price while INTEL CORE i7 price is triple this cpu so u can get a very decent power from this cpu to run the 3rd generation games without any problem with awesome fps(frame per second)

the best desktop can build with low price ever see the chart at the top it will cost almost 478$ for this desktop to be hand build.

Sony's 3D PlayStation 3: Hands-on photos

2009-09-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

BERLIN--We heard Sony was showing off a 3D PlayStation 3 here at IFA. Curious, we headed to the enormous Sony stand where we discovered a young boy--DualShock controller in-hand, 3D glasses mounted on his visibly excited face--playing the PS3's Wipeout racing game on a massive 3D television.

Naturally, we had to kick him off so we could have a play. For the next five minutes we blazed through the game's futuristic raceways with a perception of depth we've never experienced before, all presented in 1080p high-definition and vivid color. And in just more than a year, Sony told us, it expects to be selling the same experience in European stores.

Today, our experience involved a regular PS3. All the three-dimensional horsepower comes not from a modified PlayStation, or even special versions of its games--it's all down to some ingenious picture-processing technology inside a new Bravia TV (currently a prototype). This means it should work with all existing PlayStation 3 games. At least, that's the intention.

At the end of 2010, Sony plans to release this 3D Bravia for use with its games console. But over the following two or three years, we were told, it wants to build the picture-processing technology into the PlayStation itself. That way, gamers will be able to enjoy 3D gaming on any high-def TV. Plans to incorporate the system into Blu-ray players, and even Vaio laptops, also exist.

The downside is that the picture-processing technology will only work for games--it requires computer-generated imagery to function, so can't currently be applied to movies and TV shows.

But would that stop you investing? Does a PlayStation 3D sound like your idea of gaming nirvana? Leave your thoughts below.

PS3 Firmware 3.00 Released; Open Remote Play Working!

2009-09-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Update: Woot woot… Just got word from Dashhacker… You will notice a new option for Mobile Phones under Settings -> Remote Play Settings -> Register Device. With that said, Dashhacker has ORP working again. Those changes are being committed to SVN right now. If you feel inclined to compile from source, go nuts. Otherwise wait for an official release, which will happen sooner rather than later.

Update: Oooh… New start-up screen. New particles floating in the background; I’m guessing animated themes are supported now. Bigger fonts & icons. New ticker in the top right corner: shows the number of friends online, the number of unread messages, and the date/time with some scrolling news below. If you have a long list of media, a progress indicator is shown to the left when holding up/down to scroll through it all. Many new settings under each of the sub-setting menus. Open Remote Play: no more video at all. Still exploring…

Get it now — System Update

Posted by greg

QUANTUM COMPUTERS ARE THE NEW GENERATION OF COMPUTERS

2008-09-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

The massive amount of processing power generated by computer manufacturers has not yet been able to quench our thirst for speed and computing capacity. In 1947, American computer engineer Howard Aiken said that just six electronic digital computers would satisfy the computing needs of the United States. Others have made similar errant predictions about the amount of computing power that would support our growing technological needs. Of course, Aiken didn't count on the large amounts of data generated by scientific research, the proliferation of personal computers or the emergence of the Internet, which have only fueled our need for more, more and more computing power.

Will we ever have the amount of computing power we need or want? If, as Moore's Law states, the number of transistors on a microprocessor continues to double every 18 months, the year 2020 or 2030 will find the circuits on a microprocessor measured on an atomic scale. And the logical next step will be to create quantum computers, which will harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations significantly faster than any silicon-based computer.

Scientists have already built basic quantum computers that can perform certain calculations; but a practical quantum computer is still years away. In this article, you'll learn what a quantum computer is and just what it'll be used for in the next era of computing.

You don't have to go back too far to find the origins of quantum computing. While computers have been around for the majority of the 20th century, quantum computing was first theorized less than 30 years ago, by a physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory. Paul Benioff is credited with first applying quantum theory to computers in 1981. Benioff theorized about creating a quantum Turing machine. Most digital computers, like the one you are using to read this article, are based on the Turing Theory.

How to choose your laptop?

2008-09-09T00:25:00.001-07:00

How to choose your laptop?

The market for laptop is very much alive, updates are frequent and performance are increasing while prices, weight and decrease congestion.

The key points to choose

Congestion

Transportable
Portable
Mini portable

Specifications

Processor
RAM
Storage space
Graphics Card
Connections

Screen

Size
Brilliance

Autonomy
Operating System
Noise and heat
Guarantee

Congestion

Transportable

If you do not really need mobility, ie that you do not move without stopping with your machine, you do not work in places unlikely, there is no need to buy a small portable . Choose a model a little more imposing but with a large screen and a large battery is then a good choice in terms of ease of use.

Portable

Your computer must be able to follow you everywhere, but you need a minimum of comfort. A screen 15.4 "and just is not so cumbersome. The weight is reasonable and comfortable keyboard.

Mini portable

The mini laptops are very small computers. Miniaturization, better still, components used to make powerful computers with less than 1 kg offering all the features you would expect of a PC. You can store these machines in a small bag and use them anywhere. Of interest to a great need for mobility, frequent travel or work anywhere.

Specifications

Processor

This is the heart of the computer. The performance of a machine are greatly conditioned by the performance of the processor. The more you want to run many software and powerful applications using different media more you will need a powerful processor. However, for an office or Internet use, we can afford to choose a processor mid-range. They are indeed powerful enough for a fluid use of the computer.

RAM

Also known as RAM, this memory stores data temporarily at their treatment by the processor. More capacity of the RAM is more important processor will prompt access to data that must be addressed. 1 GB of RAM seems to be today a large minimum. Microsoft also recommends 2GB to use Vista effectively. For portable minis can be content with 512 MB since applications will not use too greedy.

Storage space

The laptops today have hard drives with a capacity Right Honourable up 200GO. This information is important and should be before buying to determine the storage space that will be required. But the size is not everything and we must take into account the speed of access to stored data. A hard drive running at 7200 rpm minutes will be more powerful than 5400 trs / min. Some computers now offer a flash memory or SDRAM. In contrast to the hard drive, this storage method does not work in mechanical element and is therefore less fragile. However, it is more expensive, does not yet offer a very large (up to about 16 GO) and have a limited duration of use.

Graphics Card

It is a key element if you do video games or 3D animation very greedy in this matter. We must not hesitate to take a powerful graphics card because they become obsolete relatively quickly. It is recommended to provide a card with 512 MB RAM dedicated.

Otherwise, it may be interesting to have a TV out on his laptop but the high-performance graphics card may not be necessary. By the way, minivans and some portable models offer entry-level fair graphics (a chip built into the motherboard) ample.

Connections

We must try to consider all uses that one is likely to make his machine and see what will need connections. The firewire particular is increasingly used for its performance (much faster than USB data exchange). Similarly, we should not skimp on your USB ports, always useful (though remember to check whether enough apart to accommodate several peripherals). To watch your films on TV, remember to check the HDMI connector. A multipurpose card reader is also sometimes useful for transferring data from his camera or his cell phone.

Screen

Size

There are laptops with screens ranging from 7 to 17 inches. The screen size depends on the use you want to make your machine. A large screen will pleasantly watch films, work comfortably, or to play. However, congestion will be more important as weight. Instead a small screen at least 12''and allows a machine handy to carry.

Brilliance

As for the photos on paper we must choose the matte or gloss. The brilliant promotes watching videos with a reported near a TV. The mat it is certainly less enjoyable to watch but is less sensitive to glare. Again, the choice depends on your usage.

Autonomy

It is 2 to 8 hours in office use. It is a key point in choosing a laptop. It is good to know that the more a battery is more efficient it is heavy. We must take this into consideration if you must carry your PC anywhere. It can therefore play on the quality of the battery but also on consumption. There are now low consumption processors that allow machines to operate much longer in total autonomy. Look well data manufacturers (knowing they are a bit optimistic).

Operating System

That is certainly the most important. If everyone is accustomed to Microsoft OS, more and more laptops in emerging low cost Linux distribution in order to make savings on licensing Windows. The Linux system is fairly simple to use, but we must still provide for a certain period of adaptation if it is your first trip outside Microsoft. Likewise, all applications are not compatible with Linux.

Noise and heat

It is often forgotten these parameters in choosing a laptop. Yet in practice, they are often dominant in terms of ease of use. The computers heat and why they are broken. Sometimes ventilation can be very noisy. Similarly, there are times when some machines heat more than others. Check these parameters before buying is often difficult, especially if you order online. One can nevertheless say that the more one goes up in range least these problems are important.

Guarantee

Depending on your level of experience in information technology, it may be interesting or not to sign a contract includes a warranty repair on site or assistance by phone. Generally speaking, we can not change any part on a laptop, take a long warranty therefore seems sensible. Unless you change often to be always the top.