IT News & Technology update

Intel's SCH specifications update

One of the main benefits of HP's Mini-Note netbook system is that, unlike all other Atomic-powered netbooks currently on the market, it can support a Windows Vista operating system. This is also one of the reasons for the higher price tag that will attach to the Mini-Note, especially when you compare it with most of its direct competitors. But it seems that some of these netbooks running Intel's Atomic CPU may soon be technically possible to make a Windows Vista operating system as well.

As most of you already know by now, run Vista eats up a large part of the system's resources, while the old Windows XP are less demanding. This means that run Windows Vista on a system with less than 2GB DDR2 memory may prove to be a really unpleasant experience.

Netbook system running on an Intel processor Atom can only be equipped with up to 1 GB of system memory. It is mainly because of Atom's System Controller Hub (SCH) specifications, which does not permit system to equip an Atom-driven entity with more than 1 GB of memory. Ultimately, this is the reason why there are no Vista-capable netbooks powered by Intel's Atomic processor.

Fortunately, according to a new PDF from Intel, an updated version of the System Controller HUB will include support for up 2GB of RAM. It is unclear whether this will happen in the next systems, or if it will be available to all other Atomic-powered netbooks through BIOS update.

One thing is certain, netbooks runs on Windows Vista will certainly be more expensive and, so far their performance is that things may not go as expected. On the other hand, a 2GB netbook would be very good at running a custom Linux-based operating system as well, which could ultimately increase customer interest in netbook market.

No Comment | Posted in » Atom, Intel, Processor, SCH, System Controller Hub, Technology News  

Canadians Dig Online Banking

It's easy to have control over your bank account from home or work. In the remote control of the accounts is the best performance, as the survey shows undertaken by ComScore, from Canadians. 67.1 percent of Internet users in this country have banked online in April 2008.

This percentage overpasses easy one against another English-speaking countries. While Britons are using online banking rate of 49.5%, 44.4% of Americans use this method, with the last spot was held by Australians, with a 41.7% rate of use. Annual growth is not that significant, with only 2%, but this does not change the international ranking. The average number per minute spent in this type of websites from one user is 46, while the number of visited pages per person is 121.

RBC Financial Group, the most visited Canadian banking site, represent one third of the market, closely followed by TD Bank Financial Group. National Bank of Montreal site that recorded the most impressive Ascension - 22%, came third in a survey.

45-54 segment is the age when most active online bankers in Canada are located. "Segment as the high penetration (73 percent), and the frequency of use of heavy (12 hits and 157 pages of visitors per month)," because the survey shows. This is consistent with the fact that people that age usually administrate the highest amount of money that could have an impact on their behavior online.

The survey also be taken into account item called "Light users," not making a habit of dealing with online banking sites. This is the most vulnerable categories of consumers because they are not set their preferences just yet. As to the data show that to attract more users light, banks must rely on rental cars, private finance, online commerce, career training and education. They are to the top pick of those who do not use online firing on a regular basis.

No Comment | Posted in » online banking, Technology News  

The organization announced 10 certifications, as well as plans for 100 more by the end of this year

The first licences for mobile-centric products, operating in the 2.5GHz range has been issued by the WiMax Forum on Tuesday. Also, some 3.5GHz products are advertised for certification later this year, along with a plan to have around 1000 products certified by the 2011 year.

In the WiMax Forum announced on Tuesday that ten mobile WiMax products have been given a "WiMax Forum Certified seal of approval". The certification is leaving for products, including four base stations from Alvarion, Samsung and Motorola, and some mobile modules from Samsung, Intel, Beceem, ZyXEL and Airspan.

The Organization said that more than 100 mobile WiMax products will also receive a certificate at the end of the year and that would probably be more than 1000 products certified by the 2011 year. The variety of products also includes those machines, designed to work in the frequency 3.5GHz, which will begin to receive WiMax Forum certification, starting with the third quarter of the year. The organization is optimistic about its actions and announced its plans to complete the certification of products, 3.5GHz, before the end of this year.

"We are one industry precedent by holding a certification in a way that has never been done before," WiMax Forum president said Ron Resnick. "To ensure global interoperability for operators and consumers, WiMax Forum supports to the end process of certification of the development of equipment for testing equipment validation (to), finally, product certification. WiMax Forum is the only consortium to certify base station equipment, which is essential to ensure true interoperability of networks and high quality of service among consumer devices and network equipment. "

In announcements made by the forum on Tuesday to get on the road to improving mobile WiMax lead over its main competitors, long-Evolution (LTE) of 3G. NXP announced last week that would have LTE-compliant modem for interoperability testings in the first half of next year, even if LTE is not standardized yet.

Clearwire and Sprint of WiMax network in the United States must allow the use of 2.5GHz products. As for the United Kingdom, the chances of mobile WiMax depend much on the results of the auction, which will be held by telecommunications regulator Ofcom in that range ever near the end of this summer.

No Comment | Posted in » mobile WiMax, News, Technology News, WiMax, WiMax Forum  

IBM to cool chips with H20

Technology are always improve day after day, and now is possible to cool the computer chip with water. As reported ad ZDnet.com, Scientists at IBM Zurich Research Lab and the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin working on a microchip that uses micro tubes of water to cool, IBM announced this just yesterday. In electronic components are built in three-dimensional stack instead of parallel silicon water.

Water pumped a container refrigeration (purple in the image above) through the layers of a chip through the spaces directly integrated within the chips' structure (orange, above). Chips, developed in three-dimensional stack formation offer more paths for info to be processed and can shorten the distance electronic information must travel by as much as 1000 times, according to Thomas Brunschwiler, senior engineer at Advanced Thermal Packaging group at IBM Zurich Research Lab who is Chip work for almost two years.

The trouble, of course, is that this kind of experimental chip structure also generates a large amount of heat. To address the problem, the team has developed a system for cooling, consisting of micro water pipes as narrow as 50 microns - about as thin as a strand of human hair - these are interspersed between each chip layer. To prevent an electrical short, hair, as water pipes are hermetically sealed from other electronic components, first with silicon wall and then a layer of silicon oxide, said Brunschwiler.

Scientists have used alloys consisting of a mixture of gold and tin, which has a low melting point, to bond holders of individual tubes from layer to layer, not disrupt other electronic components. For use in supercomputers, the chip is five to ten years away were not available. It should be noted that this is not the first time water is preparing to come on board for cooling.

As many of you are aware, companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard sells server racks with liquid cooling systems. Researchers from the Tyndall Institute in Cork and Limerick University announced in March that they work in a liquid included in the cooling system of packaging that encases chips. And in April IBM supercomputer announced, which uses water along with its processors to cool them.

No Comment | Posted in » Advanced Semiconductor, IBM, News, Technology News  

VIA Rolls out Mini-ITX 2.0 Platform, Can Handle Crysis

After having recently announced the introduction of its Nano processor, Via has once again taken center stage in today Computex, with the launch of its new standard for mini-ITX boards. This design from a leading producer of x86 processor power efficient platforms, is intended to ensure optimized and multimedia computer experience in small form factor desktop PC.

In the company recently announced an effective power Nano x86 processor is at the heart of the new mini-ITX platform. The small processor, running at one of these mini-ITX boards, says, to be able to supply all the necessary horsepower to run the latest applications and operating systems, in a small desktop computer. In the mini-ITX 2,0 is a set of specifications for the next generation VIA mini-ITX boards, which should allow system integrators and end users, so to freely choose their own pattern of mini-PC or home media centers.

"With the Mini-ITX, Via determine the de facto standard for small form factor x86 platform for integration, triggering industry-wide innovation in the mini-PC systems," said Timothy Chen, special assistant to the president, Via Technologies, Inc "through the introduction of mini - ITX 2,0, we have to determine the mini PC platform of the future, paving the way for the emergence of a new generation of high systems that deliver optimized experiences in today's increasingly rich media environment. "He added.

As part of the message, Via also announced its cooperation with leading graphics card manufacturer NVIDIA, to provide consumers who want acquire a mini desktop PC with support for high-quality graphics for 2,0 mini-ITX standard.

"Via introduced the first small form factor PCs, in contrast to the competitive sealed designs. VIA new solution allows customers to play today's latest PC games and gained a new video and photo applications available to NVIDIA with DX10 GPUs," said Henry drew , General manager, NVIDIA MCP business.

Technical specifications of mini-ITX 2,0 Standard includes support for high-performance, efficient power x86 processor, as VIA Nano processor; least 2GB of DDR2; integrated graphics that is DirectX 9,0 support and comes with a VGA port. By adding a card, mini-ITX 2,0 The system can also provide support for DirectX 10 applications and possibly an HDMI port. The platform is at least 4 USB 2,0 ports, two serial ATA II slots, but also one IDE slot. It also features support for HD audio and one Gigabit LAN port.

And just to prove a platform for new opportunities, put together by a demonstration during a press conference held on Computex, where mini-ITX platform running a 1.8GHz processor with Nano CN896 chipset and discrete graphics from NVIDIA 8600 graphics card, was able to flawlessly run Crysis PC video game.

See the video of Mini-ITX demonstration

No Comment | Posted in » Hardware, nano, News, Nvidia, Technology News, Via  

Intel’s smallest flash drives

Data on your fingertip
Disk will offer the best $ / GB system for years to come. Flash drives have to offer something else. A case in point: Intel's new flash drives.

Tinier than disks
How tiny are they? The Z-P140 measures 12 x 18 x 1.8 mm and weighs 0.6 grams - 400 times smaller and 75 times lighter than a 1.8″ hard disk drive. 12 mm is about half an inch.

The Z-P140’s big brother, the Z-P230 PATA SSD, is only 1/4 the size and weight of a 1.8″ drive. Much of that is due to the size of the PATA connector.

How small are they? Z-P140 measures 12 x 18 x 1.8 mm and weighs 0.6 grams - 400 times smaller and 75 times more light than 1.8 "hard disk. 12 mm is about half inches.

Z-P140 of Big Brother, the Z-P230 PATA SSD, is only 1 / 4 of the size and weight of 1.8 "disk. Much of that is due to the size of PATA connector.

Intel provided pictures:

This is the PATA drive - taken at a different scale.

Tiny capacity too
In the devices are available in 2, 4, 8 and 16 GB capacity. They are aimed at people who manufacture cellphones, media players, EEE class laptops and the like.

2 part niche
Intel is part of the font size. The other is price. They are valued below discs, where discs may be due to the unavoidable costs of hardware such as heads and motors.

In 1000 the prices of units available on Q3 2008 for 4GB is $ 25 and 8GB part is $ 45. In 16GB will be available in Q4 2008. I suspect, more than the presence of 16 GB part is more related to obtaining prices lower prices than disk production capacity.

The Storage Bits take
Notebook flash drives are expensive and offer GB of mediocre performance and battery life minimal improvement in the disks. So sellers should go where discs can not be because of the size, power and price.

I hope this means that the announcement of low-end flash drive vendors will stop making promises they do not support the products. Instead, they should focus on applications, since Intel is when drives can not compete directly.

This article was previously write by Robin Harris, click here for detail

No Comment | Posted in » Flash memory, Hardware, News, Solid State Disk, Technology News  

Asustek Complains Against Gigabyte

Asustek Computer seems determined to make a stand against the charges made by its competitor, Gigabyte Technology, EPU against companies. The company filed a formal complaint to the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against its rival, iztakvayki that Gigabyte have made false accusations regarding Asustek EPU of saving energy, technology and quality of their products. On the other hand, Asustek also filed a suit against Gigabyte, accused the producer of "defamatory actions."

On 22 May, Asustek went about reporting Gigabyte FTC for false accusations means that the company was exaggerating or misrepresenting the capabilities of its EPU technology. According to Asustek, these accusations harm its reputation.

-- Early this month, during a media event, Gigabyte made a presentation in which the company compared DES its own technology with Asustek of EPU, questioning the truth about the effectiveness of the data published by Asustek, also claimed that some companies without hardware functions and Asustek, that it misled customers. Shortly after this event, Asustek said in a press release that the charges are false and Gigabyte, that does not fully understand its design and engineering methods. We have already published information about the allegations and response to them.

Then, Asustek said that Gigabyte, presented at the event referred to a reproduction of part of the hardware impaired capacitors. Asustek said that Gigabyte questions the validity of the company to trade through the use of this picture, stressing that they are not used "100 percent all high polymer capacitors help. According to Asustek, the product in the image were not produced by the company, but by another operator, and Gigabyte act is a serious distortion and deformation.

The issue will be solved, the initiation of formal procedures are only the first step in this direction, and the long road is ahead. The marketing departments of the two manufacturers will be carried on the war in the meantime. "Computex 2008 will be interesting," said spokesman of Gigabyte.

As relations between the two companies became less tense, some may find it curious that less than two years, they are about to join forces under the brand Gigabyte United States for sale to companies and graphic cards.

No Comment | Posted in » Asustek, News, Technology News  

Intel SSDs

Intel, the world's leading manufacturer of processors, intends to enter the market of storage with the publication of his readers Flash SSD. But it seems that the strategy Intel is slightly different than planned, according to Digi Times. First, they have the intention of their products by the end of this year in the third quarter. Secondly, the DBVARIANZ will in the next Centrino platform 2, also known under the name Monte Vina.

The SSD hard drives should be the industry standard to the next, as the technology develops and prices fall. SSD Drives gaining popularity among users of computers, mainly because they are the best features of the current SATA. Most of today are with SATA moving parts, which are reflected in the performance reduced as the latency period of movement and rotation of the head. They also have a bad habit, your data is lost because the shock of the breach and the failure of the various parties.

Intel new SSD Drives are designed for notebook users a reliable alternative to the current SATA. The new product range is on the market in two versions, under the names of customers M-X25 and X18 client or M. The first version has a size of 2.5 inches, while the later of 1.8 inches. The two DBVARIANZ will provide users with a storage capacity of 80 GB, for a laptop that is more acceptable.

The storage capacity is planned to increase that Intel plans to the capacity up to 160 GB to the end of the fourth quarter. In 2009, users are able to acquire, Intel DBVARIANZ with capacities of 250 and more. Intel disks should be based on its platform Monte Vina, which means that we do not see a large part of the Intel DBVARIANZ until the release of the second Centrino platform.

No Comment | Posted in » Hardware, Intel, News, Technology News  

CrossFireX Technology will become available really soon

Advanced Micro Devices' CrossfireX technology seems to be the best solution after Intel's 45-nanometer quad-core CPU. However, it is folded in a sort of veil of secrecy, because the technology exists, but It is not currently available because it is not yet covered by the driver.

However, as the version 8.3 of ATI Catalyst driver package moves, the more details about the technology CrossFireX flee, lovers of pleasure. The photo is, as you would have expected: the four GPUs, which can be mixed, in some strange kind of "GPU salad." Of course, there is a disadvantage, but we discuss the bad things further down in this article.

CorssFireX will be very soon, in March, that the minors on the version of Catalyst shows (part 03). Today is an important date for AMD's Graphics Division, as the version of the driver package 8.02 launched. It is the last distribution, which will come without a quad-GPU support. Moreover, the availability of March falls strangely with the next CeBIT.

The new technology allows users, 2, 3 and 4 GPU links to right on the level of graphics. The most important part is the fact that all the graphics processors are the same as in the dual-channel memory configurations. But the fastest GPU of the transmitter frequency of the lowest CrossFireX GPU in the configuration, but a speed of the memory. Anyway, wait a few salvos SFP, given the fact that the second card will be forced to wait, from time to time due to the diversity of remembrance, but it is not so disturbing that may seem.

One of the main target groups R680/3870X2 double taxation of the chip. Yes, the dual chip card allows the user to mix in other GPU setup CrossFireX, taking into account the fact that the system detects the card X2 as 2x 3870 graphics cards. Add another 3870 GPU, and you have a triple-3870 link to work three times, the hours of a single GPU 3870th

The bad news is that if you use Windows XP, you can check the X-wave technology Crossfire. AMD has CrossFireX zero, in order to the Windows XP, but it is not sure that XP is its gradual.

No Comment | Posted in » Amd, CrossFireX, Radeon HD 3870 X2, Technology News