General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

AMD's New Direction For 2012: Heterogenous Computing, Trinity, and Hondo

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 03:35 PM PST

 

AMD emphasizes Trinity and introduces new "Hondo" ultra low power chip

Despite major layoffs last year, AMD is stepping forward with an impressive portfolio of initiatives and products for the next few years. Perhaps the most exciting initiative is the company's Heterogeneous System Architecture plan.

For an in-depth look at AMD's new roadmap, see the gallery at the bottom of this page

HSA will eventually erase the line between the CPU and GPU and remove such painful tasks for programmers as juggling data between the CPU and GPU. That will happen by first allowing the GPU to access the CPU's main memory. Eventually the CPU and GPU will use the same address space for memory too, making it easier still. That's is the key promise behind HSA though—making it easier for programmers to access the parallel capabilities of a GPU. Another interesting aspect of HSA will be the ability to add third-party intellectual property or accelerators on an APU with HSA. AMD will try to garner industry support for HSA by making it an open standard and is inviting is competitors to adopt it as well.

Fusion a hit

AMD said its Brazos and Llano APUs were smash hits with 20 million Brazos chips and 10 million Llano chips shipping last year. The company says Brazos has been its most successful mobile processor to date.  As such, the company has high expectations for its Brazos 2.0 and Trinity chips.

Brazos 2.0 will bring native USB 3.0 and improved performance-per-watt. E-series Brazos will come in at 18 TDP, C-series at 9 TDP and a new ultra low power chip called "Hondo" consuming 4.5 watts.

Trinity will use the company's new Piledriver cores and is expected to increase performance 25 percent over an equivalent Llano processor with a new graphics core offering a 50 percent performance increase. AMD says Trinity will offer twice the performance-per-watt and promises "all day" use with more than 12 hours of battery life. It is a mobile versions of the Trinity that AMD is pushing for its Ultrathin initative – an alternative to Intel's Ultrabooks. AMD says Trinity will allow notebook makers to push out quad-core APUs with 50 percent better graphics and better battery life than even Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processor in a notebook just 18mm thick. To do that, AMD is now introducing a ball grid array or BGA version, instead of the traditional socket and pin design.

If you've wondered what AMD was doing pushing an alterantive to Intel and Apple's Thunderbolt, the company made it clear with a demonstration of Lightning bolt. A Trinity-equipped notebook will let you plug in multiple monitors using a single DisplayPort 1.2 interface and play a Blu-ray movie across the integrated USB 3.0 interface.

Next year, AMD will introduce its "Sea Islands" GPU lineup. Fusion APU's will see "Kaveri" on the performance segment with new Steamroller cores. We'll also see low power "Kabini" using a new Jaguar core and a sequel to Hondo codenamed "TemasH' will also be introduced. All will be based on a 28nm process. All of APU's except Temash will feature HSA as well.

Notably absent was any announcements over the traditional meat-and-potatoes performance desktop processors. Officials mostly ignored AM3+ chips but did casually add that performance desktops will be fulfilled by Opteron. That means performance AMD fans will likely see the Opteron's Piledriver, Steamroller and Excavator cores over time but it's clear where AMD is putting its focus these days: APUs.

 

Google Reveals "Bouncer" Malware Filter for Android Apps

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 03:08 PM PST

amGoogle's Android OS often takes a beating from security companies for it's occasional malware scares. Google has not been silent on the matter in the past, but the OS maker revealed today that it is taking action to combat Android malware. In fact, it has been taking action for the last few months without telling us. Google's Bouncer project is an automated security scanner that will apparently filter malware from the Market.

Google allows anyone to pay the $25 to become a developer, and start uploading apps to the Android Market. Unlike Apple, Google does not review apps by hand. That has led to some embarrassing malware outbreaks, but that's what Bouncer is supposed to stop. Bouncer simulates the app in the cloud to look for suspicious behavior. It also looks for patterns in developer accounts to make sure that the bad guys can't keep signing up after being given the boot.

The makers of antivirus software love to publicize malware outbreaks, and can sometimes get ahead of themselves. Case in point, Symantec had to retract its assertion last week that millions of Android devices had been infected with malware in the Market. Turns out the apps simply had aggressive ads. Google says that malicious apps in the Market have dropped 40% since Bouncer was deployed. Do you still find malware in the Market?

Peek Offering Leftover Devices to Hackers

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 02:51 PM PST

peekThe Peek was a bizarre device from the start. In an age when devices are converging and the smartphone rules the pocket, the Peek was a single use email device. Now that the Peek service has been killed, CEO Amol Sarva has let it be known that the company is planning to unload a few thousand of the devices on hardware modders and hackers. You just have to drop him a line.

The Peek is a portrait QWERTY device with a small QVGA screen, sluggish ARMv7 processor, and a GSM cellular radio. By no means is this a super-device, but it might just be perfect for a determined hacker. Sarva said Peek might even throw in some development tools to help people make something cool out of the Peek. Apparently they will need all the help they can get, because even Sarva admits the OS "sucks." 

Interested parties should email Sarva at amol@peek.ly to express interest. A developer will get in touch with you later. It's not clear if the company is looking to sell the units cheap, or just give them away. Anyone going to try getting one?

More Domain Seizures By Feds Just in Time for Super Bowl

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 02:37 PM PST

dojThe Department of Justice and Homeland Security ICE division are at it again, and have this time seized more than 300 domains in advance of the Super Bowl. The overwhelming majority of the domains shut down today were selling counterfeit NFL merchandise, but 16 were linking to copyrighted content or video streams. The proprietor of several of those sites had been arrested in Michigan.

"We are grateful for Homeland Security Investigations' tireless efforts in combating intellectual property theft," said the NFL's VP of legal affairs. The streaming domains had names like firstrow.tv, and sports95.org. Now all that users will get when visiting those domains is the now familiar DOJ/ICE warning banner. These controversial seizures have thus far resulted in 669 domains disappearing from the net. 

Several sites seem to have slipped past law enforcement, and have set up shop at other domain names. This is not the first time sports streamers and counterfeiters have been targeted at this time of year, and it probably won't be the last.

WD TV Live Vs. NetGear NeoTV: Streamer Showdown

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 01:23 PM PST

One of these things is not like the other

Media streamers like the Western Digital WD TV Live and Netgear NeoTV make just a little less sense than they did a couple of years ago. In those days, they were the perfect alternative to stuffing a home theater PC into your entertainment center. These days, you can get nearly all the same functionality from a new Blu-ray player or a Smart TV.

On the other hand, the latest incarnations of these two products cost less than a new Blu-ray player, and they're several orders of magnitude cheaper than a new HDTV (or a home theater PC, for that matter). And while they do have some features in common, the NeoTV delivers far fewer features than the WD TV Live and is priced accordingly, so we're not making a direct head-to-head comparison between the two here.

Western Digital WD TV Live

For a company whose primary business is manufacturing hard drives, Western Digital sure knows a lot about digital media and how to stream it over a network. Each succeeding generation of the company's WD TV Live product has led the market in terms of features, price, and performance, and this one is no different.

With this incarnation, WD adds several new services (including Hulu Plus and Spotify), a collection of simple online games, an integrated Wi-Fi adapter, and even the ability to decode Dolby TrueHD. Unlike the pricier WD TV Live Hub, which remains in Western Digital's lineup, this product does not include any local storage. But it is equipped with two USB 2.0 ports, so you can easily connect a portable drive. You can also connect a USB keyboard, which makes initial setup (entering Wi-Fi and network user IDs and passwords, for instance) considerably easier than hunting and pecking using the remote and the onscreen keyboard.


The third-generation WD TV Live is thinner and more capable than previous models, and the remote is significantly better.

Most people will connect the WD TV Live to their entertainment system using the HDMI 1.4 port (you'll need to provide your own cable), but the device will happily accommodate older equipment with its analog A/V and digital S/PDIF outputs. There's also an Ethernet port in the back panel, but the integrated 802.11b/g/n wireless client adapter proved plenty fast for streaming video at 720p—an impressive achievement, considering that we tested the box in a room-within-a-room home theater at Maximum PC Lab North. We needed a hardwired connection to stream video at 1080p. Image quality was excellent.

The remote is easily the best that WD has come up with so far, with a molded grip that feels very natural in either hand. We needed to bend our thumb to reach the alpha-numeric keypad on the bottom half the device, but we seldom use those buttons, anyway. We used the home, arrow, mute, and transport (play/pause, stop, fast forward/rewind, and skip forward/back) buttons far more frequently, and those are all within easy reach. The remote also has four shortcut buttons—labeled A, B, C, and D—that can be custom programmed.


Plenty of device support here, with both analog and digital audio and video outputs.

Western Digital offers a strong collection of online movie and music services in addition to the new ones mentioned earlier. You'll find all the old standbys here, including Netflix, YouTube, and Pandora; but you'll also get CinemaNow, Blockbuster on Demand, Live365, and several others. Unfortunately, you won't be able to tap what we consider to be the best online, on-demand movie service of them all: Vudu. Western Digital does deserve praise for its broad media file and container file support, which includes the video standards AVI, MKV, MPEG-1/2/4, h.264, VOB, and M2TS (the container for Blu-ray movies); the audio formats AAC, FLAC, OGG, and MP3 (including 24-bit/48kHz FLAC); and the digital photo formats BMP, JPEG, and PNG. The device supports playlists and subtitles, too.

The WD TV Live is the best full-featured media streamer you can buy today, but we'd like it even more if it included Vudu.

score:9ka
Western Digital WD TV Live
$120 street
www.wdc.com

Netgear NeoTV NTV200

Craving a spot at the commercial online media buffet, but not at all interested in ripping your own media? Netgear has just the right dish. The NeoTV taps your broadband connection to serve up Netflix, Vudu, Pandora, YouTube, Picasa, and plenty of other online services; but it can't tap media stored on your own network, and it doesn't have any USB ports to access local storage.

We initially considered this to be a major disappointment: If you own a late-model Blu-ray player or a Smart TV, the NeoTV has very little to offer. But plenty of us haven't made such investments, and if online entertainment is all you're looking for, Netgear's device costs $40 less than Western Digital's. You're not getting as many features, but you're  also not being forced to pay for features you won't utilize.


Anyone considering buying one of Roku's streaming boxes should take a long look at what Netgear has to offer with the NeoTV NTV200.

The NeoTV's built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi adapter performed just as well as the one inside the WD TV Live—we had no problem streaming Netflix and Vudu movies without wires (although we were once again limited to 720p resolution; we needed to plug in a CAT5 cable to enjoy Vudu movies at 1080p). The only other connectivity features on the box are HDMI and S/PDIF—there's no support for analog audio or video devices at all.

Netgear provides a very basic remote control with the NeoTV. We have no complaint with the button layout, and we like the clicky, tactile feel it provides much better than the mushy buttons on Western Digital's controller; but there's no alpha-numeric keypad for typing search queries (you must use the arrow buttons to navigate an onscreen keyboard), and there's no mute button. But Netgear redeems itself with a free app that will turn your iPhone or Android phone into a compatible remote. That's sure to come in handy when the regular remote's two coin batteries crap out late one evening.


Netgear's app lets you use your smartphone as a remote.

There's also a very good collection of streaming media services on tap. While Western Digital scores a big win with its support for Spotify, Netgear can deliver movies in HD and in surround sound on demand via Vudu. And if you're a Napster subscriber, you can listen to your tunes on the NeoTV, but not on the WD TV Live. There's a long list of other less interesting services, including a host of video podcasts (does anyone actually watch those?) and some very basic online games (the same ones that Western Digital offers, including Black Jack Royale, Kaboom, Sudoku, and Texas Hold 'Em).

Enthusiasts will want more than what the NeoTV delivers, but this is a good product to recommend to friends and family who just want an easy way to stream media from the Internet to their entertainment center.

score:8
Netgear NeoTV NTV200
$80
www.netgear.com

If You Have Comcast Email, You Could Be A Terrorist

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 11:23 AM PST

Hey, are you "overly concerned about privacy" online or use anonymizers and Web portals? Do you like to check your ISP-provided email account on the road? How about talking to your cohorts in PC games? Yeah? Well, here's some bad news: according to the FBI and DoJ, there's a good chance that you're a terrorist if you do any of that in an Internet café -- and they encourage others to track your license plate, ethnicity, name  and more if you exhibit any of those "potential indicators."

Slashdot pointed us towards the Public Intelligence website, which first reported on the issue. Public Intelligence hosts a copy of the cyber-terrorist flyer that the DoJ/FBI created (PDF) as part of their "Communities Against Terrorism" initiative. (We recommend hitting the flyer link and checking it out.) Checking Google Maps or paying in cash means you're probably a terrorist, too, by the way, so you might consider switching to plastic to keep The Man from breathing down your neck.

Actually, even the FBI/DOJ admits that you might not be an full-blown terrorist if you check your AOL email at a cyber café, but it encourages readers to let the authorities make that call. "Some of the activities, taken individually, could be innocent and must be examined by law enforcement professionals in a larger context to determine whether there is a basis to investigate."

Whew! At least us normal folks don't have to think for ourselves.

Arctic Cooling Announces New AMD Trinity APU-Powered HTPCs

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 10:53 AM PST

Arctic Cooling may have earned its reputation on the back of its cooling products -- hence its name -- but late last year, it introduced a line of home theater PCs based on Intel's Atom chip.  It must have been pretty well-received, because Arctic recently announced it was launching a new line of HTPCs. Why is that notable? Because the Arctic MC101 line will be powered by AMD's next-gen Trinity APU, combination CPU/GPU chips that haven't even hit the streets yet.

Looking at the spec list below, it looks like the MC101 would be able to handle itself well as an everyday computer, much less a HTPC: options include 4GB to 8GB of 1600MHz RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium, the aforementioned Trinity A8/A10 processors and a 1TB HDD.

Most of the expected connectivity options are onboard, too, including HDMI, SPDIF, USB 3.0, Mic and audio in/out jacks and both Ethernet and Wi-Fi support. One major thing missing from the advertised bills: an optical drive. Mac mini owners might not mind ditching physical discs, but a lot of HTPC freaks have extensive Blu-ray collections, dammit! Of course, Arctic's Atom-powered MC001 line includes DVD/Blu-ray-packing models, so maybe upgraded versions just haven't been announced yet.

So when can you expect to see Arctic's MC101 line for sale? That's the tricky part about including an as-yet-unreleased APU. From the press release: "ARCTIC's MC101 Series will follow closely after the official release of the AMD APU Trinity so that you will never have to wait for something as wonderful as this!" Concrete, eh?

Spec list image credit:TechPowerUp.com

Vizio's CinemaWide 58-inch 21:9 HDTV Shipping in March for $3,500

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 10:39 AM PST

Vizio will take a step towards ditching its reputation as strictly a value driven brand when it launches its upcoming CinemaWide 58-inch HDTV with Theater 3D technology next month. It's due in stores just in time for the NCAA's March Madness college basketball tournament and will set shoppers back a cool $3,500, about three times more expensive than some regular 55-inch HDTVs on the market.

Unlike those sets, however, the CinemaWide will be the first to market with a 21:9 aspect ratio. That will inevitably lead to black bars, though Vizio promises to fill the 2560x1080 resolution by stretching the picture and letting viewers load up Internet apps to do things like check Facebook and Twitter while simultaneously watching TV.

Other features include an edge lit LED, 120Hz refresh rate, 400 nits brightness, 5.5ms response time, 178-degree viewing angle, Picture-in-Picture (PIP), 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi, and a pair of 15W built-in speakers. The set will also ship with four pairs of Theater 3D glasses.

Image Credit: Vizio

Cooler Master Celebrates 20th Anniversary By Slashing Price of CM Storm Trooper Case

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 10:23 AM PST

If Cooler Master was a person rather than a company that provides PC supplies, it'd almost be old enough to drink: this year marks its 20th anniversary of existence. And rather than just patting itself on its imaginary back and sending out press releases touting its own awesomeness, Cooler Master's tossing a little something back to the community. The company just announced that for a short time, it's shaving nearly a quarter off the price of LAN-friendly CM Storm Trooper full-tower case, bringing it down from $190 to $150.

As we mentioned back when the case was first announced, the Storm Trooper was designed with portability in mind; it includes "extremely sturdy carrying handles" and a damage-resistant rubberized coating over its steel frame -- smart moves, seeing as how a packed full-tower gaming case can get pretty friggin' heavy.

Reviews of the case have been pretty positive overall around the 'Net, including a 4-star review over at TechRadar. Check out the specs for yourself if you're interested in possibly picking one up while the getting's good. Sorry, overseas Cooler Master fans; this one's good for U.S. and Canadian customers only.

PlayStation Network Yanked Offline Again for More "Routine" Maintenance

Posted: 02 Feb 2012 10:11 AM PST

Say what you want about the Titanic, at least it only went down once. Sony's PlayStation Network? At times it feels like that ship sinks more than it swims. That isn't actually the case, of course, but frequent maintenance following the high-profile hack job last year means more periods of downtime than gamers would like, including today. If all goes to schedule, PSN will turn back on at midnight PST.

Sony pulled PSN offline at 6AM this morning for routine maintenance, and while "most online play will be unaffected," the following services are out of commission until late tonight:

  • PlayStation Store on PS3, PSP, and Media Go
  • PlayStation Network Account Management
  • PlayStation Account Registration
  • PlayStation HomeMusic Unlimited & Video Unlimited services

You also won't be able to sign in to PSN from u.playstation.com or the PlayStation Blog, Sony says. As always, you'll still be able to collect in-game Trophies while PSN is offline.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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