Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Team Group Announces New USB 3.0 Flash Drives
As the digital life era arrives, more and more consumer demand for high-resolution multimedia. Limited by the transfer rate specifications, USB2.0 no longer can handle HD media processing. With this year’s kick off of USB3, Team Group Inc. released three mainstream energy-saving USB3.0 flash drives with ultra transfer speed to satisfy the consumer’s need for HD media files process.
C101
C101: Easy to use, never lose the cap
The surface was designed with link format matte etching; the push-and-pull extending design solves the cap-losing problem once and for all. It is the number one choice for busy workers.
Color Turn
Color Turn: Color rotation, fun and fashionable
The traditional design color rotation drive’s surface has a silver satin finish to avoid fingerprints; the ergonomic rotation mechanism makes it easy to store. It is a favorite among students.
F108
F108: The lightest in the industry
The compact colorful flash drive sports metal sandblasting and anodizing; it is currently the most compact USB3.0 flash drive available on the market.
Sparkle Goes PCI w 8500GT amp; 7300GT Cards
SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., a professional VGA card manufacturer andsupplier, today announced SPARKLE GeForce 8500 GT PCI and GeForce 7300 GT PCIGraphic Cards. SPARKLE GeForce 8500 GT PCI and GeForce 7300 GT PCI Graphic Cardsbring affordable upgrade solutions to special PCI platform and industrialapplications with lower prices.
Based on NVIDIA’s awarding G86 architecture, SPARKLE GeForce 8500 GT PCI GraphicCard adopts innovative unified architecture, dynamically allocates processingpower to geometry, vertex, physics, or pixel shading operations, delivering upto 2x the gaming performance of prior generation GPUs. Built upon technologiessuch as NVIDIA Lumenex Engine, providing support for DirectX 10 Shader Model4.0, NVIDIA Quantum Effects technology for physics computation and GigaThreadtechnology for extreme processing efficiency in advanced, next generation shaderprograms.
In order to provide aggressive price/performance ratio to special PCI platformusers, SPARKLE GeForce 8500 GT PCI Graphic Card features 450MHz core speed, 16stream processors at 900MHz shader clock and 512/256MB 128-bit DDR2 videomemory, delivering good upgrade capability.
Based on NVIDIA high performance G73 architecture, SPARKLE GeForce 7300 GT PCIGraphic Card is the best choice for special PCI user or industrial applicationsplatform to upgrade.Helped with 350MHz core speed and 512/256MB 128-bit DDR2video memory, SPARKLE GeForce 7300 GT PCI Graphic Card delivers rightperformance and price rate to special PCI or industrial applications platformusers. It offers Shader Model 3.0 support—including vertex texture fetch (VTF)—toensure max compatibility with all DirectX 9 applications.
"By introducing SPARKLE GeForce 8500 GT PCI and GeForce 7300 GT PCI GraphicCards, now special PCI platform and industrial applications platform users canget right products to upgrade. "said Kevin Wang, sales director of SPARKLEComputer Co., Ltd. "SPARKLE is proud of providing such a affordable upgradesolutions. Special PCI platform and industrial applications platform users cango on using their favorite machines with less expend on upgrading."
Shuttle launches mSATA supporting XPC SZ68R5 Mini-PC
While certainly not as popular these days as they were several years ago, Shuttle is still keeping its small form factor based XPC lineup refreshed with new models from time to time. A new model dubbed the XPC SZ68R5 has just been released which is based on Intels Z68 Express chipset, using the companys FZ68 motherboard.
This barebone PC is ready for your LGA-1155 CPU of choice and offers support for up to 32GB of DDR3 memory in the form of four physical slots. In terms of expansion options, it has a single PCI-E x16 v2.0 slot (with enough room to house a dual-slot graphics card) along with a PCI-E x4 slot and a mini-PCI-E x1 v2.0 slot.
A first for Shuttles barebone systems is the inclusion of an mSATA slot to be able to add in an mSATA SSD and take advantage of Smart Response Technology. Power wise, the XPC SZ68R5 comes with a 500W 80Plus certified mini-PSU that provides both 6 and 8-pin connectors for your graphics card of choice. Cooling of the system is handled by Shuttles I.C.E. (Integrated Cooling Engine) which features advanced I.C.E. heatpipe technology.
Running over the remaining features and forms of connectivity, the XPC SZ68R5 has two SATA 6Gbps ports and two SATA 3Gbps ports, one eSATA, four USB 3.0 ports (two in the front), six USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and DVI-I outputs (if using the built-in graphics support on a 2nd gen Intel Core CPU), Gigabit LAN and 8-channel HD audio.
The XPC SZ68R5 from Shuttle has been given a suggested price tag of €301.00 (ex. VAT).
Source: Shuttle
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Intel unveils dual-core Itanium 2 processor
After being delayed and seeing its front side bus and power management features cut down, Intel's dual-core Itanium 2 processor has finally been released into the wild. Code-named Montecito, the new Itanium 2 is launching in six denominations as follows:
SpeedCacheCoresFSBPriceItanium 2 9050 1.6Ghz24 MB 2400/533Mhz$ 3692Itanium 2 9040 1.6Ghz18 MB 2400/533Mhz$ 1980Itanium 2 90301.6Ghz8 MB 2400/533Mhz$ 1552Itanium 2 90201.42Ghz12 MB 2400/533Mhz$ 910Itanium 2 90151.4Ghz12MB2400Mhz$ 749Itanium 2 90101.6Ghz6 MB 1400/533Mhz$ 696Compared with the previous Itanium 2 flagship, the new Itanium 2 9050 sports an extra core and three times as much cache. Rated thermal design power is 104W for all dual-core Itanium 2 9000-series chips, down from a ceiling of 130W for the previous lineup. Altogether, Intel says Montecito pumps up performance per watt by 2.5 times over its predecessors (it doesn't clarify exactly how this value was computed, however.) To top it off, the new Itanium 2s also introduce hardware virtualization features like those seen in many of Intel's other recent processors.
According to Intel, Itanium 2 9000 processors are already shipping, and machines based on the new processors should show up in late August and throughout the remainder of this year.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Lenovo and Intel launch the Classmate+ PC
Intel has been moving from partner to partner with its various iterations of the Classmate PC and now the company have signed up Lenovo as its partner for the latest model, the Classmate+ PC. Its still a very basic machine without a lot of bells and whistles, but as its intended as an educational computer for schools, this isnt exactly expected.
At least Lenovo has managed to come up with a more attractive design for the Classmate+ PC than seen in the previous generations, if somewhat industrial in terms of looks. The carry handle is still firmly in place at the back of the Classmate+ PC and its of course still powered by one of Intels Atom processors, in this case a single core 1.6GHz Atom N455 which is paired with Intels NM10 chipset.
It will also come with up to 2GB of RAM, a standard netbook style 10.1-inch LCD screen, an option of either an 8 or 16GB SSD or a 160 or 250GB hard drive. Other features include 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 10/100Mbit Ethernet, a 1.3Megapixel webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, a memory card reader, a D-sub connector and a pair of audio jacks.
Lenovo will supply three different battery packs for the Classmate+ PC, a standard 3-cell unit which is said to deliver 3-3.5h battery life depending on whether its configured with a hard drive or SSD, a 4400mAh 6-cell pack good for between 7-7.5h and finally a 5200mAh high density 6-cell battery pack good for up to 8.5-9h of usage. The Classmate+ PC will only be available to qualified education and government customers through Lenovo or its channel partners.
Source: Intel
Monday, September 16, 2013
New technologies help robots make inroads on daily life
But these weren't student athletes on the gridiron in a spring scrimmage in late April. Eight robots about the size of big printers slugged it out for each side in the world's first intercollegiate football game with robots on Notre Dame's campus in South Bend, Ind.
Organizers are comparing the historical significance of the so-called Mechatronic Football Game with the first
The student-designed robots performed well on the basketball court-size field, and organizers hope to create an intercollegiate mechatronic football league that accelerates innovation in robotics in the same way that the DARPA Grand Challenge accelerated self-driving vehicles for the military, or the
The mechanical march is gaining steam. To date, robots have mostly been used by automakers and semiconductor firms to produce goods in high volume. They're also in vogue at some warehouses. Amazon.com in March plunked down $775 million to acquire Kiva Systems, a maker of squat, cube-shape robots that move products around shipping centers.
But that was just the start. Cheap, powerful cameras, advanced sensors and other electronics now form the basis of robotics projects. In the 1990s, technology was pricey and limited to industrial settings where large companies could afford to make the necessary investments.
"It sounds like 'Star Wars,' but it's coming," said Bill Vass, a former Sun Microsystems executive who is CEO of Liquid Robotics, maker of a surfboard-like device for underwater research.
"A perfect storm of technology is occurring" for robotics, he said, ticking off the convergence of technologies such as GPS, advances in cell and wireless communications, nanotechnology, Wi-Fi, satellite technology, open-source software and new ARM processors on smartphones.
It's hard to gauge the commercial potential for robotics, as the technology is in its infancy and, once ready, the bots could do just about anything. What's certain, though, is that bots will be ubiquitous in all shapes and sizes for:
-Industrial use. Factory robots, once confined to cages so as not to harm humans with an inadvertent swing of a steel arm, are now commingling with people because of cheaper and more advanced sensor technology.
Japan's Kawada Industries, Switzerland's ABB and other companies are developing dexterous robots capable of assembling smartphones and working safely in close proximity to people. Kawada's $90,000 NextAge bot, which could pass for the robot character WALL-E in the animated film of the same name, is one such model. ABB is designing a humanoid-like robot with "dual-arm" that can assemble consumer-electronic products.
Heartland Robotics, run by iRobot co-founder Rodney Brooks, plans to introduce affordable robots for small manufacturers.
At Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, researchers are working on software that enables a robot to determine which parts to choose and assemble properly. These more efficient tools for repetitive tasks could slice labor costs of consumer-electronic products makers, and free up humans for other jobs.
-Military use. Within 10 years, squadrons of unmanned planes will swarm enemy sites like killer bees, launching missiles and avoiding detection with sophisticated jamming devices.
Self-programmed submarines will replace dolphins to detect and disarm mines. Robotic mules the size of pickups will haul ammunition, medical supplies and food. Drone ambulances will load wounded soldiers and cart them to hospitals. Crablike robots will crawl into buildings to sniff out chemical stashes.
The transition to mechanized weaponry is key to the military's transformation from heavy ground forces to smaller human units fortified with robotic weapons.
-Search-and-rescue missions. The palm-size winged schematic sitting on a table at Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab isn't from the forthcoming "The Dark Knight Rises," but a "vampire bat" bot for above-the-fray surveillance of action scenes, and search and rescue. The 100-gram, foot-wide bot, made of inexpensive molding, is propelled from the ground by an internal spring.
Once airborne, it glides with the wind and would be part of a "swarm" of bots that communicate with each other. The devices are cheap to produce - $40 each - even cheaper if mass produced. They're loaded with a motor, camera, sensors and battery. "Think of the swarm of bats as the equivalent of an (expensive) satellite," said Matthew Woodward, a doctoral student in Carnegie Mellon's nanorobotics lab who developed the mechanical vampire bat.
A few feet away, the wings of "the flapper," a bee-size bot that can get into small crevices such as a mine shaft, beat 45 times a second.
-Research. Liquid Robotics makes a surfboard-shape device for collecting data underwater, such as ocean depth, post-hurricane damage, fish density populations, weather forecasting and shark surveillance. The service would be sold to researchers. Wave Glider is its first marine robot. "It operates in environments where you don't want to send people," Vass said. "Our bots go out in 35-foot waves and 100-mph winds."
David Hanson has been pushing the frontiers of android making for years. The chief scientist at Hanson Robotics helped design an android replica of the head of science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick ("Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", "The Minority Report"), which answers questions as the author would. "We think we can change the face of entertainment," Hanson said. "Facial expression technology is very life-like, and we can advance socially intelligent, compassionate computers (androids) as characters."
America's fascination and, occasionally, guarded fear toward robots runs deep. It dates to 322 BC, when Aristotle alluded to the "need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords." In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical device that looks like an armored knight.
"A robot is the interface between the information world and physical world," said Richard Mahoney, director of the Robotics Program at think-tank SRI International.
Though robots have been portrayed as sinister, as in the movie "Terminator," they have also sparked delight in the guise of C-3PO and R2-D2 in "Star Wars," Optimus Prime in "Transformers," WALL-E and other famous mechanical creations.
"People like robots; it's in our psyche and culture," said Skaff, whose company hopes to offer a $5,000 robot within a few years. "The canvas is there. It is our opportunity to paint on it."
"It was amazing how people gravitated to it," said Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio, which used Titan at a cloud-computing conference in London in May and drew 1,000 people. "It was our biggest event of the year."
Robots are becoming de rigueur as populations age and working couples look for help while at work. Toyota and Honda (maker of the Asimo) are building robo-servants to help Japan's aging population. IRobot's Roomba vacuum already does some of that. And experts expect dog-walking bots and driverless cars in the near future.
It's probably not surprising, then, that people increasingly are more comfortable with walking, talking machines, said Eric Schweikardt, design director of Modular Robotics, which makes robot-construction kits for use in gaming and education. He points to newfangled dishwashers and refrigerators as entry-level household robots powered by microprocessors.
"Robots will be bigger than the PC in 10 to 20 years, but it will be linked to your computing device either in the cloud or on your person," said Paul Berberian, CEO of Orbotix, which makes Sphero, a robot ball controlled by smartphones.
Like others in the industry, Berberian envisions affordable toy robots for the mass market first, followed by larger devices. "While specific-task home robots are cool, the big play will be entertainment," he said.
"Tons of technology starts out in the game/entertainment sector and then migrates to performing common tasks."
Friday, September 13, 2013
JEDEC To Standardize Solid State Drive
Thursday, September 12, 2013
New Indiegogo project KUBI turns tablets into telepresence devices
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
LG Launches New Mini Phone
Seoul April 07, 2010 -- LG Electronicshas launched its new LG Mini (LG GD880), a pocket-size communication hub that maximizesyoumobile web experience.
LG Mini claims to be the first phone to use the proprietary HTML 5-compatible Phantom Browser, which offers a much faster and more stable ir nternet experience. Mini also includes special internet applications and social network connection features that make keeping in touch with online friends easier than ever.
LG Mini is a 3.2-inch full touchscreen phone that feels solid in the hand and is small enough to fit into any pocket. A button-free face contributes to Mini’s simple and sleek personality while textured metal accents on the sides add to the phone’s visual appeal without detracting from its clean look.
Online Applications provide access to late-breaking information and entertainment in real-time. Applications from BBC News and AccuWeather are pre-installed and content from partners Amazon, CNN International, The New York Times, eBay and Fox News will be available through the LG Widget Gallery.
LG Mini also offers push email, 5.0 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, FM radio and 7.2 Mbps HDSPA.
The LG Mini will be available in April starting in Europe followed by other regions. Prices will vary country-to-country.
Source: Korea Newswire
Thursday, September 5, 2013
LG's peculiar Optimus Vu teased
Its tough differentiating yourself as a mobile phone manufacturer these days, but LGs upcoming Optimus Vu seems to be a pretty good attempt at creating something slightly difference in the hybrid smartphone/tablet space. The Optimus Vu is a rather large 5-inch black slab of a touch screen smartphone with the main differentiator being its 4:3 aspect ratio.
LG Korea has a teaser website up for the new device and the company is suggesting that a large device like this is somehow meant to be more comfortable to hold in a 4:3 form factor, a reasoning that seems a bit hard to follow. The Optimus Vu is also rumoured to be shipping with a stylus, which should operate in a similar fashion to Samsungs Galaxy Note. This is about as much as one can make out from the video, besides the fact that theres a micro USB port hidden behind a cover and the fact that theres a headphone jack and a couple of buttons on the top, but some alleged specifications have also turned up online alongside with an actual photograph of what should be the Optimus Vu.
We wouldnt bet our farm on these specifications, but the Optimus Vu is said to feature a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, most likely the APQ8060 due to the fact that we should be looking at an LTE equipped device here. There should also be 8GB of internal storage memory, potentially 1GB of RAM and a micro SD card slot present. An 8Megapixel camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi of some kind and NFC are all also said to be part of the package.
A couple of oddities include the screen resolution which is expected to be 1024x768, the same as Apples iPad, but lower than many competing devices and the fact that were apparently looking at an Android 2.3 device here as it still has touch buttons below the display, something Android 4.0 devices wont be having. Then theres what appears to be a beam of light coming out of the Optimus Vu in the video which has sparked some rumours suggesting that it might have an integrated pico projector, something LG has tried once before, albeit only as an accessory for a single smartphone model in the US. Well let you draw your own conclusions, but as the device is rumoured to launch this month, we shouldnt have to wait too long to find out the facts.
Source: LG Mobile Korea, IT Tong
Thursday, August 29, 2013
M1 To Launch iPhone 4 In quot;Coming Months quot;
The good folks from M1 have sent us a press email hinting they are goingto launch the iPhone 4 in the "coming months"
Now, where are the other telcos ?
SINGAPORE,8 June 2010 - M1will launch iPhone 4, the thinnest smartphone in the world with thehighestresolution display ever built into a phone, inSingapore in the coming months.Wondering what iPhone 4 will feature, you may check out our quick roundup here
The official page for iPhone4 can be found here