| LG Shows Off 3D Gaming Laptop Posted: 23 Aug 2011 03:00 PM PDT  LG is not really a name associated with laptops, but that isn't stopping the Korean company from taking its new LG A530 15-inch gaming laptop on a worldwide tour. Why take it on tour? This device has a high-resolution HD 3D screen, and that just doesn't come across in pictures. So what can you expect?
The A530 will come with your choice of Core i3, i5, or i7 CPUs. A Nvidia GeForce GT 555 mobile GPU will be pushing pixels around that 3D screen. Buyers can add up to 8GB of RAM if they like. There is even an option for dual webcams for 3D video capture. Storage is handled with a fast hybrid drive with 4GB of NAND flash. The screen is of the usual glasses-required variety. It will come with one pair of active shutter shades. LG was not forthcoming with the price. The 3D-packing PC will be out in Europe, Africa and the Middle East this month. American consumers will see it sometime later. If you think 3D is a gimmick, this is not the laptop for you. A certain subset of gamers might take note, though. |
| OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240GB Review Posted: 23 Aug 2011 02:46 PM PDT Any fears we had that the OCZ Vertex 3's speeds were due solely to some voodoo magic or secret deal with SandForce were unfounded. OWC's Mercury Extreme Pro 6G—a product name that contains three too many buzzwords—goes toe to toe with the Vertex 3 in nearly every benchmark, and exceeds it in some. Like the Vertex 3, the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G (and why not tack on "Enhanced Premium Plus" while you're at it, OWC?) utilizes 256GB of synchronous, 25nm NAND (Micron, in our review unit). As with other SandForce drives, 16GB are reserved for redundancy and overprovisioning; the rated capacity of the drive is 240GB. Unlike the Vertex 3, the Mercury Extreme Pro comes in a sparkly blue chassis. And that's about the only difference. 
OWC markets the Mercury Extreme Pro 6G to Mac users, but that doesn't mean we can't buy it.
In AS SSD's incompressible-data sequential read test, the Mercury averaged nearly 506MB/s—on par with the Vertex 3. Its sequential write speed, at 290MB/s, was 10MB/s higher than the Vertex's. In CrystalDiskMark, though the Mercury's sustained reads were 5MB/s slower than the Vertex 3's, both its sustained writes and 32QD 4KB read and write speeds exceeded the Vertex's. IOMeter's 32QD 4KB random-write test confirms it—the OWC drive is slightly faster at 4KB random writes. Now, the Mercury's performance is not significantly higher than the Vertex's, and its street price is around $10 more at the 240GB capacity—again, not significant. The Mercury is just as good a drive as the Vertex 3, if not slightly better, and we don't hesitate to recommend it. Plus, it's blue. $550, www.macsales.com |
| Hardware Hacks: 25 Awesome Console Mods Posted: 23 Aug 2011 12:37 PM PDT Let's face it, the reason we do what we do is that we're modders at heart. And though most of our time is taken up in the lab, finding ways to maximize PCs of all shapes and sizes, that doesn't mean we can't appreciate console mods too. To the contrary; after seeing what people have been able to fashion their trusty consoles into, we felt compelled to make a gallery featuring some of our favorite console mods of all time. We still think PC gaming is superior, but we respect a good hardware hack - and with these kick-ass mods, we're seeing a whole new side to consoles. |
| Fast Forward: Hybrid CrossFire for Fusion Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:42 AM PDT Ever since multicore processors appeared a few years ago, programmers have been complaining about them. Distributing a software workload among multiple CPUs isn't as easy as running a single-threaded program on a single CPU. Now AMD is doing something even more difficult—but it's the future of computer science. 
Image courtesy CNET As you've heard, AMD's new Fusion processors combine multiple CPUs and a GPU on one chip, like Intel's "Pineview" Atom processors. In some cases, programmers can distribute workloads across all the CPUs and the GPU, and those workloads needn't be graphics. This general technique is called asymmetric multiprocessing on a heterogeneous multicore processor. No doubt you're familiar with AMD's CrossFire technology, which boosts performance by linking multiple graphics cards together. Usually, this is symmetric multiprocessing on homogeneous processors (identical GPUs). But AMD's Hybrid CrossFire works with different graphics cards or even with a graphics card and an integrated-graphics chipset. Before, adding a graphics card usually bypassed the weaker integrated graphics. AMD derives Fusion graphics from ATI Radeon discrete graphics, so the latest integrated GPUs aren't the weaklings they used to be. Why waste the Fusion GPU if the user upgrades to a full-fledged graphics card? So AMD will allow Hybrid CrossFire configurations using Fusion graphics and discrete graphics. 
Image courtesy Legit Reviews It's logical but nontrivial. The graphics driver must balance the workload across an integrated GPU and a discrete GPU that are related like cousins but not identical like twins. The GPUs use different memory and different I/O buses. In addition, some programs will try to use the GPUs and the multiple CPUs! If you just heard a scream, it was probably a programmer. Buy the poor soul a Jolt cola. Asymmetric multiprocessing on heterogeneous multicore processors is a tough challenge, but it's the future of computing. I'm confident the programmers are ready. Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report. |
| Chinese Documentary Proves State Military University Is Hacking US Targets Posted: 23 Aug 2011 11:27 AM PDT There's more news from the China front today, but this tidbit is a little more sinister than a dry piece on PC sales numbers. For a long time, the Chinese government has been rumored to be the hidden hand behind cyber attacks across the world. They've always denied any wrongdoing. But now, it appears that a Chinese military propaganda documentary has inadvertently (or not) tipped China's hand and shown proof of the nation's role in hack attacks. 
The military documentary aired in mid-July, according to Geek.com and the Epoch Times. The footage in question lasts approximately six seconds. It seems to show a piece of custom software whipped up by the Electrical Engineering University of China's People's Liberation Army being used to conduct an attack against Minghui.org, a website maintained by the Falun Gong spiritual group. China's government has repeatedly cracked down on the organization in the past. Minghui.org was selected from a drop-down menu titled "Choose Attack Target" that contained a list called "Falun Gong website list." As if that weren't damning enough, the attack is carried out against a US-based IP address, which is clearly visible in the video. The IP address, 138.26.72.17, belongs to the University of Alabama at Birmingham – a US school. After the IP address and attack target are entered, a big button labeled "Attack" is clicked before the screen fades away. This seems to be direct evidence (or a well-placed, if odd, bluff) that a top Chinese military university is engaging in cyber warfare against political dissidents and US-based civil websites. You can check out a clip of the software in question on YouTube. |
| Google Fiber Delivering Face-Melting Speeds Near Stanford Posted: 23 Aug 2011 10:49 AM PDT  The mythical speeds of Google Fiber have been just that until now – mythical. Like the leprechaun's fabled pot of gold, the service's high speed riches have existed only in lore, but as of late last week it now has a basis in reality. Even though the Goog's still busy laying the fiber groundwork in Kansas Cities, a limited Beta apparently launched in a Stanford residential neighborhood recently.
According to Reddit user "TheTeam," Google just rolled out the service in his neighborhood and its engineers even gave local residents free wireless N routers. TheTeam reports speeds of around 150 Mbps down and 90 Mbps up. So what did he/she do with all that speed? 
"The first thing I did was download a movie. 10 minutes :D" Not bad for a 1.6GB file, not bad at all. We can already see the hysterical "GOOGLE ENABLING MOVIE PIRACY!!!1!" headlines in our heads, especially when TheTeam told Reddit readers "I'm going to go on a movie downloading spree." There's no monthly bandwidth cap, either. That kind of free Internet has us seriously considering moving out to the old college town. Keep in mind that this lone Reddit user and his SpeedTest.net results are the only murmurs we've heard that the Google Fiber Beta is live; Google itself has been mum on the topic.
Thanks to Anandtech for pointing this out! |
| Federal Judge Rules in Favor of Cloud Music Lockers Posted: 23 Aug 2011 10:33 AM PDT  Both EMI and MP3tunes are claiming victory in a court case brought on by the former against the latter over claims that MP3tunes ran afoul of copyright law by failing to remove illegally obtained songs from its storage lockers. A federal judge in New York partially agreed with EMI and found MP3tunes liable for infringing on roughly 350 songs, which is 99 percent less than EMI claimed the service was responsible for, but there's another reason why MP3tunes came out ahead.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley III granted MP3tunes safe haven under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), ultimately ruling that record labels will have to accept that cloud music lockers are on the right side of the law. "If enabling a party to download infringing material was sufficient to create liability, then even search engines like Google or Yahoo! would be without DMCA protection," the judge wrote in his ruling. "In that case, the DMCA's purpose -- innovation and growth of Internet services -- would be undermined." The judge further ruled that "the DMCA does not place the burden of investigation on the Internet service provider," essentially granting MP3tunes the same protection as an ISP, and by extension, other cloud music locker services like the ones offered by Amazon and Google. You can read the full ruling here. Image Credit: hitechanalogy.com |
| China Overtakes US In PC Sales And Shipments Posted: 23 Aug 2011 10:21 AM PDT  For as long as PCs have been around, Americans have been the ones buying them. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the old Stars n' Stripes dominated the PC salescape when you remember that the field was pioneered by US-based companies like Apple and IBM. Now, that streak has come to an end; a new report says that China surpassed the US in both PC shipments and sales in the second quarter of 2011.
While American PC sales languish, the Chinese market is booming. The IDC research group says Chinese PC shipments increased by 14.3 percent to 18.5 million units, while a 4.8 percent slump in the US brought shipment totals to just 17.7 million. That shipment shift corresponded with sales numbers, Computerworld reports. China's PC sales topped $11.9 billion; the US clocked in just under that number at $11.7 billion. China's unexpected rise came from a surprising number of enterprise purchases, whereas the poor American PC sales are being blamed on a strong showing by tablets. |
| Corsair Announces DDR3 Upgrade for Macs, Doesn't Assume Apple Users Know How to Upgrade Posted: 23 Aug 2011 09:22 AM PDT  Corsair today introduced a couple of DDR3 SODIMM kits for Apple Mac desktop and laptop PCs, serving as further proof that you can actually upgrade an Apple computer, or at least parts of it. The new kits are guaranteed to work with any Mac desktop or notebook PC that supports 4GB DDR3 SODIMMs, which covers just about every model in the past two years.
The new RAM is available in 4GB (1x4GB) and 8GB (2x4GB) capacities. They're clocked at 1066MHz with 7-7-7-20 latencies and rated at 1.5V. In other words, nothing glamorous like you might find on the Windows PC side. For Mac users frightened at the prospect of cracking open their MacBook Pro and swapping out the RAM, Corsair has put together a step-by-step guide on the process in a blog post here. The 4GB (CMSA4GX3M1A1066C7) and 8GB (CMSA8GX3M2A1066C7) kits are available now for $45 and $85, respectively. What's interesting about the price points is that they're less than half the price of Corsair's 4GB (CM3X4GSDKIT1066) and 8GB (CM3X8GSDKIT1066) kits designed for all Intel and AMD SODIMM platforms, which run $95 and $190, respectively. What a topsy turvy world we live in... Image Credit: Corsair |
| Hewlett Packard's Market Value Plummets, Oracle in for the Kill? Posted: 23 Aug 2011 08:45 AM PDT  There's a whirlwind of uncertainty surrounding Hewlett Packard right now. Still the largest PC firm in the world, HP's inadvertently drove its market value down by billions of dollars when it opened its mouth last week and didn't stop talking until it announced plans to spin off its PC business, abandon webOS hardware, and spend over $10 billion on an enterprise software firm. Now HP could be ripe for a full takeover.
According to Bloomberg's number crunching, HP's market value went into a downward skid of epic proportions following the flurry of restructuring announcements and is now worth $10 billion less than what it was the moment before it revealed its future direction. That amounts to a 20 percent nosedive, and HP's valuation is now five times its estimated profit, which is 70 percent below the industry average for technology firms, Bloomberg says. "The value right now looks extremely attractive," Michael Mullaney, vice president of Fiduciary Trust, told Bloomberg during a telephone interview. "For the right company, it probably would make sense for someone to come in and scoop it up. Someone could come and at least buy pieces of the firm." HP has said it's only interested in selling off its PC division, but that was before it's market value fell like a skydiver without a parachute. One of the rumors out there is that Oracle could end up buying HP. Citing a "source close to the situation," the New York Post says Oracle's Larry Ellison is ready to make a move. It's not unfathomable, especially with former HP CEO Mark Hurd now with Oracle. Even if HP doesn't sell its entire operations to Oracle, the source believes the OEM could be in for a hostile takeover. "Perhaps in three years [the Autonomy acquisition] will turn out to be a smart acquisition. But the reality is in nine months HP will likely be defending itself in an Oracle fight," the source said. |
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