Gartner Cuts PC Sales Forecast, Blames Tablets

5:50 PM - March 4, 2011 by Douglas Perry -
source: Gartner

The company now believes that PC sales will grow only 10.5% in 2011, which is down from a 15.9% prediction from November 29 and 18.1% prior to that.
Instead of the initial forecast of 417 million PCs, Gartner now estimates 2011 unit sales to be in the 388 million range.
The primary reason is apparently a major slowdown in notebook sales. Instead of the 40% growth rates we have seen over the past few years, notebook shipments may only climb by about 10% this year, Gartner said. The reason for that slowdown, according to the market research firm, is that consumers could be delaying new notebook purchases and spend their money on media tablets instead. Gartner expects 54.8 million tablets to be sold this year, up from 19.5 million in 2010.
“We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow home mobile PC sales, especially in mature markets,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner. “We once thought that mobile PC growth would continue to be sustained by consumers buying second and third mobile PCs as personal devices. However, we now believe that consumers are not only likely to forgo additional mobile PC buys but are also likely to extend the lifetimes of the mobile PCs they retain as they adopt media tablets and other mobile PC alternatives as their primary mobile device."
There is the obvious question how this trend, if the estimate is somewhat accurate, will affect especially Intel as the company's growth heavily relied on notebook processor sales in the past. We get the sense that the company is still betting on notebook processors as a growth engine, but it is clear that the overall opportunity for increased chip shipments - which is the fundamental business approach of Intel - may be in smartphones and tablets these days.

AMD to Build 153,000sqft Data Center in Georgia

7:10 PM - March 4, 2011 by Douglas Perry -
source: DCK

AMD filed a permit to build a data center in Suwanee, Georgia.

The building will provide about 153,000 sqft of space and include, initially only one building module in a 10 year plan.
AMD built a similar strategy for its fab in Luther Forest, which is now operated by the spun off GlobalFoundries: GlobalFoundries is expanding its fabs in a module strategy as well. The data center is substantially cheaper than AMD's billion dollar fabs of the past. According to the company, the initial construction cost is estimated to be about $25 to $30 million and part of a data center consolidation approach.
Including the IT equipment, the total cost is estimated to be in the $100 million neighborhood. There was no roadmap that details the future expansion of the site. However, AMD hopes that the new datacenter will be able to help AMD "leverage changes in the business environment in terms of cost."     

Sony Drops PSP Go Down to $150

8:40 PM - March 4, 2011 - By Marcus Yam -
Source : Tom's Guide US

Get the PSP slider for less now.
Late last month, Sony announced a price drop for the PSP-3000 moving it down to $129.99. That left a few wondering what would happen to the PSP Go, which at the time kept its same price. Now, however, we find out that the PSP Go has dropped down to $149.99.
It's official now on the U.S. PlayStation site here, so the price should be in effect everywhere.
Budgets aside, with the Nintendo 3DS just around the corner and the NGP/PSP2 already a sure thing, these older systems seem more like older, quick fixes for portable gaming.
We would still lean towards the $129.99 PSP-3000, thanks to its UMD slot that opens up the door for many more games at budget prices.

E-Type concept to be built

Jaguar ‘Growler’ rendering to become supercharged, 5.0-litre V8-powered reality

Posted by: Vijay Pattni,

Remember that rather delectable Jaguar E-Type concept we showed you last week?
Well, it's been scheduled for a limited production. And by limited, we mean very.

 Speaking to TopGear.com, Robert Palm of Swedish design studio Vizualtech, the chaps behind the car, said: "The first car will be ready in the summer of 2012 - if planning goes as expected."

See more pics of the Growler E concept car
Each ‘Growler' will be hand-built and is expected to take six months to assemble, with no more than three or four cars done simultaneously.
The car is based on the Jaguar XKR and will be built on a composite body glued to a carbon fibre chassis. Two tubular frames will then be bolted at the front and rear, which hold the steering, transmission, suspension and engine.
And that engine will be a remapped version of Jag's supercharged 5.0-litre V8 producing 600bhp. The Growler is expected to weigh around 1,550kg and, says Palm, should hit 62mph in under four seconds.
"If demand is overwhelming we might contract specialists like Steyr in Austria or Valmet in Finland," says Palm.
Pricing is tricky, but if small series production is started, expect to pay around £420,000. If only a few are made, expect to pay upwards of £850,000. Let's just hope it gets a better name...

Source: TopGear

The Hottest Apps of 2011, Week 9!

1:20 PM - March 2, 2011 by Rico Mossesgeld -
source: Tom's Hardware US

 

Looking for useful or fun programs? Here are some recommendations from the Tom's Guide community for the ninth week of 2011.
ZoomHot apps is a weekly rundown of the most popular apps according to our sister site, Tom's Guide. The following software are ranked from first to tenth by total downloads over the last week, making them community picks.
Unless otherwise specified, all featured apps are free, and run on Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, and XP.
Capture Fox. Here's a Firefox add-on that turns the web browser into a screencast tool. Capture Fox is great for recording video tutorials on websites, other Firefox add-ons, and even other programs. No updates for this beta app have been forthcoming since 2009 however, and it only works on Windows XP, Vista, and 7. New entry.
Horoscope. The astrology-driven app stays near the top of the list. This desktop gadget for Windows Vista and 7 provides regular updates on possible futures, based on what the user's Zodiac sign is. Remains at #2.
SkipScreen. A useful Firefox add-on designed for services like RapidShare and Megaupload, SkipScreen does as its named. It bypasses ad-filled web pages that file-sharing sites force their users to wait through. Great for surfers who are tired of seeing how a monthly fee leads to faster downloads. New entry.
WoW Explorer. Another desktop gadget for Windows Vista and 7, WoW Explorer keeps World of Warcraft players updated on the status of the different game servers they can log into and play their virtual character. Remains at #4.
FoxyTunes. At the very least, FoxyTunes lets you control music playback right from your web browser (Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox) or Yahoo Messenger. Supporting features include easy one-click access to lyrics, album covers, music videos, and artist bios. Users can also easily tell everyone else what they're listening to through Twitter or email. New entry.
UNetbootin. Need to create a flash drive or CD that can boot with a free OS or recovery environment like Ubuntu or Kaspersky's Rescue Disk? UNetbootin takes care of everything. A good internet connection is recommended for those who don't want to wait too long. Down from #5.
Evernote. This is the iPad client for the Evernote service. It lets users sync their notes and annotations—whether written or typed out—with an online database for easy access later on, and from other devices. Down from #6.
Omega Messenger. This app lets users manage multiple instant messaging accounts. Supported services include AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and even ICQ. Down from #7.
Angry Birds HD. The popular game is also available on the iPad. A bunch of colorful birds seek revenge on pigs who've stolen their eggs. Players launch the birds like catapult projectiles, so that the pig's fortresses come crashing down like a house of cards. Down from #8.
PstPassword. A utility designed to unlock Outlook PST (personal storage table) files, PstPassword is designed for forgetful users who've let their Outlook password slip away. Down from #9.
Staff Picks: Paint.NET is a worthy free Photoshop replacement. Foxit PDF Reader takes up minimal system resources. BurnAware Free is a burning app that's fully compatible with Blu-Ray burners and Windows 7. And of course, who wouldn't want to download the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird?
 

Battlefield 3 Shows Up At GDC, Looks Great

8:20 PM - March 2, 2011 by Tuan Mai -
source: PCGamer

Next major installment of the Battlefield series shows up.
Tuesday night, at the Game Developer's Conference of 2011, a select few members of the press were given a sneak peak at the highly anticipated Battlefield 3.
EA revealed a bit of the single player campaign along with an in depth analysis and preview of the game's incredible engine. The Frostbite Engine 2, unlike the console-limited engine of the CoD franchise, is designed for PCs which makes Battlefield 3 a force to be reckoned with. Look out Crysis.

Here's a snippet from PCGamer's coverage of the revealing:

The demo opened with a precis of the tech. Frostbite 2 uses animation systems developed for sports games to give characters heft and weight. As the soldiers turn into doorways, you can see the weight shift on their feet. The destructability of the old Frostbite engine has been ramped up; bullets can chip away at masonry and concrete, while full bore explosives can tear down entire buildings. And when buildings collapse, they don’t vanish in a cloud of smoke and magically transform into burning husks – the destruction is more complex – signage wobbles and shakes, concrete awnings tumble down. The sound is as violent and deafening as Bad Company 2; bullets echo and snap with nightmarish cracks.
But it’s the sheer visual quality that’s the real star. I think it’s down to the lighting – the bright sunshine of the Iraq level was extremely impressive. When the demo transitioned to the indoors, shafts of sunlight shone through any open windows, creating gorgeous pillars of dust. It absolutely looked a step ahead of last year’s big shooters.

And if the screenshots aren't enough to give you chills, check out some video of in-game footage:

Battlefield 3 Footage

Battlefield 3 comes out in the fall and if you ask us, not nearly soon enough.

New Samsung DRAM Boasts of 12.8GB/s Transfers

2:30 AM - February 23, 2011 by Jane McEntegart -
source: via V3.co.uk

Samsung’s been pretty busy with its successful Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets, along with the Nexus S, but the company this morning reminded us all that it’s not been resting on its laurels when it comes to hardware.

Samsung today revealed that it’s developed a 1GB DRAM for mobile devices that boasts a wide I/O interface and low power consumption to boot. The new mobile DRAM is capable of transmitting data at 12.8GB per second, an eightfold increase in bandwidth when compared to mobile DDR DRAM, and it’s made possible by the use of 512 pins for data input and output compared to the last-gen mobile DRAMs’ 32 pins. All this comes with a reduction in power consumption amounting to roughly 87 percent.

"Following the development of 4Gb LPDDR2 DRAM (low-power DDR2 dynamic random access memory) last year, our new mobile DRAM solution with a wide I/O interface represents a significant contribution to the advancement of high-performance mobile products," said Byungse So, senior VP of memory product planning and application engineering at Samsung Electronics. 
"We will continue to aggressively expand our high-performance mobile memory product line to further propel the growth of the mobile industry," he continued.

Samsung’s next move is to provide 20nm-class 4Gb wide I/O mobile DRAM sometime in 2013.

Windows 7 SP1 Released, Available for Download

9:20 PM - February 22, 2011 by Marcus Yam -

source: Tom's Hardware US

Ready for 7601?
It's been talked about since the very original release of Windows 7 and now it's finally here. That's right, if you've been holding off on Windows 7 until the first Service Pack, today is the day that you can finally step up.
Now available for direct download from Microsoft are Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1. You can grab it from Microsoft at the links here, but if you're only updating one machine, then you are probably better off just running Windows Update.

"Smart Plane" Technology Could Help Damaged Craft Fly Right

John Roach
for National Geographic News

May 23, 2007

Airplane technology under development at NASA could bring a whole new meaning to the term "autopilot."

Called the Intelligent Flight Control System, the futuristic software is meant to help keep damaged planes flying right even in the face of catastrophic failure.

Fighter pilots could return to safety with a shot-up wing, for example, or a commercial jetliner could land with a busted stabilizer.
The software knows how the airplane should fly, said James Smolka, a test pilot at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, who has been working on the project.
If the plane starts to fly differently than it should, the system will adjust controls such as rudders, flaps, and engines to get it back on track.
"It measures the actual [flight patterns] and it knows what it prefers to have, and it tries to change the actual to fly more like the desired," Smolka said.
(Related news: "Self-Healing Spacecraft? Tiny Tubes Ooze Epoxy" [January 27, 2006].)
With this technology, even pilots who lack special training on how to make those adjustments themselves could stay in control of the plane, he added.
Crash Prevention
One example of where such technology could have been useful is Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which lost control of its horizontal stabilizer and spun into the Pacific Ocean off California on January 21, 2000.

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Demystifying the memristor:

Proof of fourth basic circuit element could transform computing

By Jamie Beckett, April 2008 Researchers at HP Labs have solved a decades-old mystery by proving the existence of a fourth basic element in integrated circuits that could make it possible to develop computers that turn on and off like an electric light. The memristor — short for memory resistor - could make it possible to develop far more energy-efficient computing systems with memories that retain information even after the power is off, so there's no wait for the system to boot up after turning the computer on. It may even be possible to create systems with some of the pattern-matching abilities of the human brain. A mathematical model and a physical example that prove the memristor's existence appear in a paper published in the April 30 issue of the journal Nature. "To find something new and yet so fundamental in the very mature field of electrical engineering is a big surprise," said R. Stanley Williams, an HP Senior Fellow and director of the Information and Quantum Systems Lab (IQSL). Fundamental circuit element The memristor first appeared in a 1971 paper published by Professor Leon Chua, a distinguished faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department of the University of California Berkeley. Chua described and named the memristor, arguing that it should be included along with the resistor, capacitor and inductor as the fourth fundamental circuit element. The memristor has properties that cannot be duplicated by any combination of the other three elements. Although researchers had observed instances of memristance for more than 50 years, the proof of its existence remained elusive - in part because memristance is much more noticeable in nanoscale devices. The crucial issue for memristance is that the device' atoms need to change location when voltage is applied, and that happens much more easily at the nanoscale. Proving memristor in the lab   Williams and co-authors Dmitri B. Strukov, Gregory S. Snider and Duncan R. Stewart were able to formulate a physics-based model of a memristor and build nanoscale devices in their lab that demonstrate all of the necessary operating characteristics to prove that the memristor was real. "This is an amazing development," Chua says. "It took someone like Stan Williams with a multi-disciplinary background and deep insights to conceive of such a tiny memristor only a few atoms in thickness." Williams has a background in physical chemistry. Strukov is a theoretical physicist, Snider is a computer architect and Stewart is an experimental physicist.   Possible replacement for D-RAM By providing a mathematical model for the physics of a memristor, the team makes possible for engineers to develop integrated circuit designs that take advantage of its ability to retain information. "This opens up a whole new door in thinking about how chips could be designed and operated," Williams says. Engineers could, for example, develop a new kind of computer memory that would supplement and eventually replace today's commonly used dynamic random access memory (D-RAM). Computers using conventional D-RAM lack the ability to retain information once they are turned off. When power is restored to a D-RAM-based computer, a slow, energy-consuming "boot-up" process is necessary to retrieve data stored on a magnetic disk required to run the system. Memristor-based computers wouldn't require that process, using less power and possibly increasing system resiliency and reliability. Chua believes the memristor could have applications for computing, cell phones, video games - anything that requires a lot of memory without a lot of battery-power drain. Brain-like systems?   As for the human brain-like characteristics, memristor technology could one day lead to computer systems that can remember and associate patterns in a way similar to how people do. This could be used to substantially improve facial recognition technology or to provide more complex biometric recognition systems that could more effectively restrict access to personal information. These same pattern-matching capabilities could enable appliances that learn from experience and computers that can make decisions. Nanoscale electronics experience   In the memristor work, the researchers built on their extensive experience - Williams founded the precursor lab to IQSL in 1995 - in building and studying nanoscale electronics and architectures. One goal of this work has been to move computing beyond the physical and fiscal limits of conventional silicon chips. For decades, increases in chip performance have come about largely by putting more and more transistors on a circuit. Higher densities, however, increase the problems of heat generation and defects and affect the basic physics of the devices. "Instead of increasing the number of transistors on a circuit, we could create a hybrid circuit with fewer transistors but the addition of memristors - and more functionality," Williams says. Alternately, memristor technologies could enable more energy-efficient high-density circuits. In 2007, the team developed an architecture for such a hybrid chip using conventional CMOS technology and nanoscale switching devices. "What we now know," Williams says, "is that these switches have a name - memristor." Source: HP