TechLuver.com

Santa Clara, CA — NVIDIA on Monday, Feb 04, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire AGEIA Technologies, the industry leader in gaming physics technology. AGEIA’s PhysX software is widely adopted with more than 140 PhysX-based games shipping or in development on Sony Playstation3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii and Gaming PCs. AGEIA physics software is pervasive with over 10,000 registered and active users of the PhysX SDK.

Like graphics, physics processing is made up of millions of parallel computations. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT GPU, with its 112 processors, can process parallel applications up to two orders of magnitude faster than a dual or quad-core CPU. More at NVIDIA.

Taipei, Taiwan — Feb 04, `08 — AMD expects to launch its triple-core Phenom 8400 and 8600 at CeBIT 2008 along with its low-power quad-core Phenom 9100e, however the quad-core Phenom 9700 and 9900 CPUs, which were originally scheduled to launch at the same time, will be delayed for both launch and showcase to a later time, DigiTimes reports citing sources at motherboard makers.

DigiTimes further writes, “The delay of Phenom 9700 and 9900 is due to the TLB bug and AMD is still working to raise core frequencies. The company will launch Phenom 9550 and 9650 in the second quarter this year.

AMD will also delay the launch of its second wave triple-core Phenom 8700, 8650 and 8450 CPUs by a month, from their original schedule in early second quarter.” More at DigiTimes.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — AMD on Monday, Jan 28, announced the immediate availability of the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 graphics processor, expanding the visual boundaries of PC entertainment well beyond the 1080P High Definition (HD) threshold.

The industry’s first graphics processor to break the Teraflop (one trillion floating point operations per second) barrier, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 nearly doubles the performance of the award-winning ATI Radeon HD 3870 introduced in November 2007.

Through an elegant yet aggressive design, the 55 nanometer process-based ATI Radeon 3870 X2 combines two ATI Radeon HD 3870s on a single graphics board, connected through integrated CrossFire technology.

ATI Radeon 3870 X2 is also the first performance-leadership graphics product in the world to support Microsoft’s upcoming DirectX 10.1 technology. The ATI Radeon 3870 X2 delivers a new class of price and performance leadership with unbelievable enthusiast value at a suggested retail price of US $449.

This launch follows on the success of the recently released ATI Radeon HD 3400 and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series graphics products, completing a comprehensive portfolio of next-generation 55nm GPUs that deliver unparalleled price, performance and energy efficiency from entry-level to performance-leadership class products. More at AMD.

CES 2008 — Las Vegas — Jan 07, `08 — Intel unveiled 16 products today, including the company’s first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel Centrino Processor Technology based laptops.

With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will offer 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these innovations. Intel also announced continuing momentum in ultra mobile computing and WiMAX.

Mobility: Intel Announces Santa Rosa Refresh Product Line
Santa Rosa Refresh – Intel launched “Santa Rosa Refresh,” an update to Intel Centrino processor technology that includes the next-generation 45nm high-k (Hi-k) mobile processor (codenamed “Penryn”) and improved graphics capabilities.

• 45nm Hi-k Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor for Centrino — Taking advantage of the Hafnium-based, Hi-k metal gate reinvented transistors inside, Santa Rosa Refresh-based notebooks deliver improved platform performance and great battery life. Graphics improvement focuses on HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc support with an optional third-party decoder, as well as enhanced content and gaming capabilities.
• Santa Rosa Refresh for Desktop — Intel will also use this new mobile technology foundation with the energy-efficient performance of the 45nm Intel Core 2 Duo processor to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs.

Mobile Internet Devices:
• Intel confirms “Menlow” platform shipments in the first half of 2008: Intel is getting ready to ship its first-generation low-power platform, codenamed “Menlow,” in the first half of the year. The Menlow platform is comprised of the “Silverthorne” processor and the “Poulsbo” chipset, both being designed from the ground up for MIDs and UMPCs. At CES, Intel provided a sneak peek of some of the upcoming “Menlow”-based devices and applications that are being optimized for this platform.
• Intel unveils customers planning to launch Menlow-based platforms at CES: In a sign of growing momentum behind MIDs and UMPCs, Intel is showcasing a range of Menlow-based devices from customers who expect to ship these products later this year. In its technology showcase, Intel has Menlow-based MIDs and UMPCs from Aigo, Asus, BenQ, Clarion, Compal, Digifriends, EB, Gigabyte, Lenovo, LG-E, LiteOn, Quanta, Toshiba, USI, and Willcom.
• Skype announces support for Intel-based MIDs: Skype announced a collaboration with Intel to develop a mobile Skype experience for MIDs based on Intel low power processors and chipsets. Mobile users will be able to make Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages on the move while harnessing the PC-like performance of Intel’s MIDs. This new category of small, truly mobile consumer devices with WiMAX and Wi-Fi capabilities will enable free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and cheap SkypeOut calls to be made on open wireless networks.

WiMAX: Mobile WiMAX Takes the Stage in 2008
Intel’s integrated Wi-Fi/WiMAX module (codenamed “Echo Peak”) will debut in certain next-generation Intel Centrino processor-based laptops (codenamed “Montevina”) beginning in the middle of the year. The company’s low-power mobile WiMAX silicon specifically designed for mobile Internet and consumer electronic devices (codenamed “Baxter Peal”) will also be available this year.

Consumer Desktop PCs: 45nm Goes Mainstream this Quarter
• “Penryn” family of processors comes to mainstream desktop PCs – Intel announced three quad-core and four dual-core 45nm-based processors for consumer desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year. The new 45nm Intel Core 2 Quad and Intel Core 2 Duo processors have a range of speeds and feature large L2 caches and Intel HD Boost, which delivers increased performance on such multimedia applications as video editing and encoding.
• Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology – Intel will also extend the performance and energy efficiency of the new 45nm processors with Intel HD Boost to the Intel Core 2 Processor with Viiv technology platform. The company will also focus future plans on delivering silicon-driven capabilities that support the areas of better connecting, protecting and managing digital content – as well as delivering the performance required to view, share and enjoy it.

• Later this quarter:
– The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor (3.2 GHz/1600 MHz system bus 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor formerly codenamed “Yorkfield”) and Intel X48 Express Chipset targeted at high-end PC users and enthusiasts. The Intel X48 Express Chipset continues to push the performance envelope with native support for XMP 1600 DDR3 memory.
– “Skulltrail” is a new dual processor-based platform that will provide extreme high-end enthusiasts with a fantastic professional media creation and gaming experience. The platform will feature two quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processors for 8-core performance and 4 PCI Express x16 Gen 1.1 slots with planned support for up to 4 graphics cards. More at Intel (in pdf).

LAS VEGAS, Dec 24, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Harrah’s Entertainment today announced that the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) notified Harrah’s that it will allow the consummation of the proposed acquisition of Harrah’s by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, L.P. and TPG Capital to proceed while the NIGC finalizes its review.

There are no remaining regulatory approvals needed to close the transaction.

Harrah’s and the buyers received the go-ahead for the deal last week from the Nevada Gaming Commission, capping a 10-week campaign to obtain approvals from state gambling regulators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Mississippi.

Harrah’s, which had nearly $10 billion in revenue last year, operates more than 50 casinos including Caesars and the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas and Bally’s in Atlantic City. Indian Gaming Commission approval is needed because Harrah’s operates several tribal casinos as well. More at Harrah’s.

Dec 25, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD adjusting its triple-core CPU model numbers and launch dates, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“AMD will launch two B2 stepping triple-core CPUs, Phenom 8600 and 8400 in March of next year, while in the second quarter, the company will launch three more models, Phenom 8700, 8650 and 8450.

The Phenom 8400 and 8600 will feature core frequencies of 2.1GHz and 2.3GHz, respectively, while the Phenom 8700 will clock at 2.4GHz. Phenom 8650 and 8450 will be based on B3 stepping cores, and will have frequencies of 2.3GHz and 2.1GHz, respectively. All five CPUs will have a 95W TDP.

The high price/performance ratio of the triple-core CPUs could force Intel to cut prices of its quad-core products which could cause higher-end models to cut into sales of lower-end CPUs, noted the sources. However, AMD could also face the same problem, they added.” More at DigiTimes.

Dec 25, `07 — Nvidia will launch the mid-range part for its GeForce 9600 GPU series, codenamed D9P or G94, in February 2008, DigiTimes is reporting citing graphics cards makers.

“The G94, the first mid-range GPU to feature a 256bit memory interface, is expected to pose a strong challenge to AMD’s Radeon HD 3850 (RV670PRO) of the same class, the sources commented.

The sources revealed that while Nvidia’s latest entry-level G98 (D8M) GPU, made at the 65nm process, has started shipping since early December, the G94 will make its debut on February 14. The G94 will also be made on a 65nm process at TSMC, the sources added.

The G94, with its official price temporarily set at US$169, features 64 stream processors and supports PureVideo Gen 2, the sources said.” More at DigiTimes.

Dec 24, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on AMD notifying its partners that the launch of higher-end quad-core Phenom processors, including the 9700 and 9900, will be postponed to the second quarter of 2008 from the original schedule of early 2008, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“However, whether AMD’s triple-core Toliman series CPUs will also see delay will be the key decision for the company, since Toliman offers a high price/performance ratio compared with Intel’s quad-core CPUs. A delay for Toliman will hurt AMD the most, noted the sources.

The sources commented that the reason for the delay of 9700 and 9900 is because AMD has not yet been able to solve the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) erratum found in the chips.” More at DigiTimes.

On December 19, 2007, AMD released a new AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition quad-core processor with Clock Multiplier Control for tunable performance. The newest Black Edition processor can improve platform performance by unlocking the potential of AMD OverDrive– the industry’s most powerful Windows-based performance tuning utility. More at AMD.

As per the headline, AMD press release ( click on the thumbnail for a screen shot) has NO mention of any kind of specs / clock speed.

OK! after a little bit Googling, found some specs at X-bit Labs:

“Quad-core AMD Phenom processor 9600 Black Edition will operate at 2.30GHz clock-speed, 2MB shared L3 cache and 512KB dedicated L2 cache per core and will have support for dual-channel PC2-8500 (DDR2 1066MHz), just like the typical AMD Phenom 9600 chip. However, the Black Edition processor has unlocked clock multiplier, which allows enthusiasts to clock the new chip higher than 2.30GHz without any issues that are associated with overclocking.”  More at X-bit Labs.

LOUISVILLE, Colo –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 19, `07 — In a major milestone for the cable industry, CableLabs has awarded qualification status for Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0.

DOCSIS 3.0 specifications enable downstream data rates of 160 Mbps or higher and upstream data rates of 120 Mbps or higher.

Casa Systems received “silver” qualification while Arris and Cisco received “bronze” qualification for their cable modem termination systems (CMTS) headend gear. The announcement comes at the conclusion of the recent test wave in which the first products built based on the DOCSIS 3.0 specifications were formally evaluated.

The headends were tested under a tiered program that was created as a way to encourage CMTS makers to submit gear for testing earlier than they otherwise might. CableLabs also offered suppliers numerous informal interoperability events where vendors work together in CableLabs’ facilities to test and evaluate their implementations of the specifications.

“This technological achievement is a great step for our industry,” said Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast Corp., and Chairman of the CableLabs Board of Directors. “CableLabs rapid certification effort will enable companies to begin to develop products that will support the rapid deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 services in 2008.”

To achieve these higher data rates DOCSIS 3.0 describes a methodology for channel bonding in both the upstream and downstream directions. A minimum of four channels, each with throughput of 40 Mbps, is specified. DOCSIS 3.0 also incorporates support for the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol and greatly expands the number of Internet addresses that cable operators may use, allowing them to provide consumers with more IP-based services. In addition, DOCSIS 3.0 is backward compatible with all existing DOCSIS products.

IPv6 also will allow cable operators to effectively manage the proliferation of devices that are capturing consumer interest, including portable media players, cellular phones, gaming consoles, PDAs and others. More at CableLabs.

NEW YORK, Dec 19, `07 /PRNewswire/ — MTV Games, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks, today announced an exclusive deal with internationally renowned motion picture and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer to develop and create new and original video games, marking his first official foray into the gaming world.

As part of this landmark agreement, Bruckheimer will build a game incubation studio with MTV Games, where a team of experienced video game experts, artists and storytellers will seek out and deliver new game concepts and intellectual property.

By joining MTV Games with Bruckheimer’s blockbuster track record for creating successful entertainment properties in film and television, both new and experienced gamers can expect what promises to be some of the most entertaining, challenging, and unique games.

MTV Networks will support this venture across all its broadcast and digital platforms including CMT, MTV, Spike and VH1. Gaming is a focal point of MTV Networks’ overall vertical entertainment strategy of super-serving its core audiences with engaging experiences across multiple platforms.

In August of 2007, the company announced that it will invest more than $500 million over the next two years in the development and distribution of its Interactive Entertainment and Video Game business. MTV Games’ recently released Rock Band from developers, Harmonix, which MTV Networks acquired in 2006. More at Viacom.

Companies sign landmark multi-year deal to collaborate on content distribution, advertising, event promotions and gaming

Microsoft’s Atlas to become exclusive ad serving platform for Viacom US web sites

NEW YORK and REDMOND, Wash — Dec 19, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Viacom and Microsoft today announced a broad-based, strategic alliance under which major divisions of both companies will collaborate on advertising, content distribution, event promotions and games over the next several years.

The comprehensive agreement spans across the two companies and includes a number of significant components. Among them:

– Microsoft will license, on a non-exclusive basis, long and short-form television and theatrical content from across Viacom’s cable network
and motion picture businesses, including MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Paramount Pictures for use on Microsoft properties such as MSN and Xbox 360.

– Microsoft’s Atlas division will become the ad server for Viacom’s US websites and Microsoft will have the exclusive right to sell remnant
display advertising inventory on Viacom’s US websites.

– Microsoft will buy advertising on Viacom broadcast and online networks over a five-year period and the companies will work together on
promotions and sponsorships for MTV Networks and BET Networks award shows;

– Viacom will work with Microsoft on opportunities to become a preferred publishing partner across Microsoft’s casual gaming platforms.

Detailed financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal has a projected base value of approximately $500 million in financial considerations and business services between the two companies over the initial five-year length of the agreement.

The deal includes a combination of revenue sharing provisions, guarantees and content licensing agreements.More at Viacom.

Taipei, Taiwan — On Dec 17, Micro-Star International (MSI) announced that it has already prepared P7N Diamond and P7N SLI Platinum mainboards to support the 45nm Intel processor at the same time when new nForce chipset launches.

P7N Diamond utilizes nForce780i chipset together with top performance specifications and supports 3-way SLI technology. While, P7N SLI Platinum utilizes nForce750i chipset, making this mainboard cost-effective.

Highly Efficient Circu-Pipe and GreenPower Design
The use of selected high-grade components is the common characteristic of the P7N series mainboards. Although the two mainboards have different market segments, they both come with MSI’s exclusive Circu-Pipe design. Circu-pipe can effectively reduce the high temperature from the chipset and MOSFET.

Selected high-quality solid capacitors and POSCAP!
The all capacitors on these two mainboards are high-quality solid capacitors that are made in Japan. These capacitors with low impedance and high ripple current and other characteristics provide better filtering effect. To further highlight P7N Diamond products, the PWM capacitors on this mainboard are based on POSCAP. POSCAP (Polymerized Organic Semiconductor Capacitor) is a high grade product recently developed by Sanyo.

45nm Processor and 3-way SLI ready!
P7N series mainboards are Intel 45nm processor and 3-way SLI ready. The 45nm Quad Core CPU support brings more benefits to multimedia and multitasking by enhancing the performance and reducing the waiting time for any kind of applications. It provides extremely high definition audio/video stream editing and offers higher performance on 3D gaming and professional graphic rendering.

MSI design quad PCI-E VGA slot on P7N Diamond for more than the new Nvidia 3-way SLI technology, also comes with PCI-E Gen2 to offer wider bandwidth. This will bring higher 3D gaming resolutions with more detail DX10 effects. More at Micro-Star International.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 19, `07 — DigiTimes brings us another Intel launch-delay news, just 2 days after Intel’s X48 chipset postponement.

DigiTimes reports on Intel adjusting its product strategy and delaying three 45nm quad-core CPUs, Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550, that were originally scheduled to launch in January next year, citing sources at motherboard makers.

“Intel has already notified its partners that it will push back the launch of the three CPUs to February or March next year, depending on AMD’s schedule for triple-core and the upcoming Phenom CPUs.

Launching the CPUs now will not benefit Intel much in its battle with AMD, while they could cause damage to Intel’s 65nm quad-core CPUs, therefore the company has decided it is in no rush to release new products until AMD is able to present more of a threat.” More at DigiTimes.

New-Generation XSPAN Delivers 11n Performance at Price Points To Enable Broad Deployment of Triple-Play Gateways.

SANTA CLARA, Calif — Dec 17, `07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Atheros today announced two single-chip 802.11n solutions developed expressly for the carrier gateway market.

The new dual-band, 2.4GHz/5GHz, AR9220 and single-band, 2.4GHz AR9223 PCI designs join the comprehensive Atheros XSPAN family, the world’s most widely adopted draft 802.11n Wi-Fi solutions.

These latest 802.11n designs provide reliable, market-proven performance at price points that allow carriers to broadly deploy home gateways capable of supporting data, voice and video on a single wireless network.

The AR9220 dual-band, 2×2 MIMO, PCI design is ideal for high-end, multiplay gateways and set-top boxes, which must robustly support multimedia applications requiring uninterrupted throughput — IPTV, HD video streaming, VoIP calls and multi-player online gaming on the 5GHz channel-while using the 2.4GHz band for simple data networking.

This solution provides leading 802.11a/g/n performance, supporting up to 300 Mbps physical data rates and 200 Mbps of actual user throughput on both the uplink and the downlink. With the dual-band design, users will enjoy universal connectivity to any 802.11 device through their gateway or set-top box. More at Atheros.

Taipei, Taiwan — Dec 17, `07 — DigiTimes is reporting on Intel delaying the launch of its X48 Chipset by 1-2 months because one of the first-tier motherboard makers still holds a large volume of X38 chipset inventory, citing sources at motherboard makers.

DigiTimes further reports, “The motherboard maker fears that the X48 chipset will slow down clearance of its X38 chipset inventory and has negotiated with Intel to delay the launch of its X48 chipset. However the delay is expected to hurt makers who do not have an overstock X38 chipsets.” More at DigiTimes.

Still Q1-08 launch seems very likely as Intel confirms the X48 Chipset launch along with Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor in Q1 of next year in its ‘News Fact Sheet’ dated Dec 14, `07.

“• In the first quarter of 2008, Intel will continue its progression of leading-edge technology products:
-  The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Processor (3.2 GHz/1600 MHz system bus 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor formerly codenamed “Yorkfield”) and Intel X48 Express Chipset targeted at high-end PC users and enthusiasts. The Intel X48 Express Chipset continues to push the performance envelope with native support for XMP 1600 DDR3 memory.” More at Intel (in pdf).

SANTA CLARA, CA— Extreme gaming just got a whole lot better. On Dec 13, NVIDIA extended its SLI technology, which enables the use of multiple graphics processing units (GPUs) on a single computer, allowing up to three GeForce graphics cards to be used in a single machine.

Now hot, new, graphics-intensive titles, such as Call of Duty 4, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, and Unreal Tournament 3, can be played at the highest resolution possible, with all the graphics settings cranked to the max, and antialiasing applied for the first time.

NVIDIA’s new 3-way SLI delivers up to a 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU system, giving high-end gamers 60 frames per second at resolutions as high as 2560×1600 and with 8x antialiasing. 3-way SLI technology means you no longer have to dial back the image quality settings on the newest PC games. For example, gamers with 3-way SLI can play Crysis at high resolutions such as 1920×1200 with all the advanced DirectX 10 effects such as motion blur, ambient occlusion, and soft shadows turned on.

The heart of a 3-way SLI system is an NVIDIA nForce 680 SLI MCP motherboard and three GeForce 8800 GTX or GeForce 8800 Ultra graphics cards. With 3-way SLI, gamers can harness the power of 384 stream processors, a 110+ gigatexel per second texture fill rate, and over two gigabytes of graphics memory for no-compromise gaming performance.

3-way SLI gives gamers the flexibility to scale their graphics processing power with one, two, or three GeForce GPUs, depending on their desired price and system configuration. 3-way SLI systems are available from leading gaming PC system builders and the components needed to build your own 3-way SLI system are available from leading retailers. More at SLI Zone, nVIDIA.

On Wednesday, Dec 12, Albatron announced the 8800GTS-512X, a new “Enthusiast” GeForce 8 Series VGA card that will give top-of-the-line cards something to take notice of because consumers are going to get a nice surprise when they catch a peek at the price tag.

The board features 65 nm process technology, which was first introduced with the Albatron 8800GT-512X in October 2007. But there’s no comparison: the 8800GTS-512X is, quite simply, big brother.

Specs:
- Fast and Cool: 65nm Process Technology plus 650 MHz Core
- Fast just got faster: PCI 2.0 and 1940 MHz GDDR3 memory
- PureVideo HD
- 8800GTS-512X include two DVI connectors and a 7-pin HDTV-out connector
- Supports Dual-Link HDCP and is SLI ready
- The board is 4.376″ by 9″, is dual-slot in width and has a PCI Express x16 connector (PCIe 2.0)
- “Several hundred’s of dollars less than $700″ (don’t know how much that would be!)

More at Albatron.

Boise, Idaho — Micron Technology on Wednesday, Dec 12, announced production sampling of its new 1Gb DDR2 device fabricated on 68-nanometer DRAM process technology.

The new process, coupled with Micron’s 6F² technology, has enabled the world’s smallest production 1Gb DDR2 memory with a die size of just 56mm². Mass production of its new 68nm 1 Gb DDR2 products is expected to begin early next year, with DDR3 and other low-power DRAM products expected to follow in the second half of the year.

This new advanced memory technology will be targeted at server, mobile and other computing applications where the benefits of reduced die size, faster speeds and lower power consumption are most critical.

Upcoming DDR3 products developed on the new process will allow for speeds up to 1600 megabits per second (Mbps). The 68nm process also provides approximately 20 percent lower power consumption when compared to previous process generations.

Future DDR3 chips designed on the 68nm process will join Micron’s Aspen Memory family of energy-efficient products, which are specifically designed for applications where power reduction is desired such as data center servers and notebook computers. More at Micron.

Dec 13, ‘07 — Intel is challenging modders to show off their creative skills in building Intel processor-based mods for an online competition. Intel delivers the unrivaled performance and energy efficient processors that modders can then build just about anything from, including an 18-wheeler Mac truck.

Get a glimpse at these creations and vote on your favorite one by visiting the Intel Modding Competition Group on Channel Intel. Check out the contest and see why modders Demand Intel.

Excerpts from IntelModder Group’s welcome message:

“Now, just join the group, upload a video of your Intel processor-based mod, and start voting! Click more to learn about the contest details.

Why submit? In addition to bragging rights, we’ll be giving away some pretty sweet prizes to the top 3 submissions.

-The Grand Prize Winner receives their choice of any Intel desktop or notebook processor, their choice of Intel motherboard, an Intel backpack stuffed with Marriott Bucks ($200), a gift certificate for Ubisoft ($50) games, specialty coffee bucks ($15), 20 free Wi-Fi sessions and 3 months free broadband TV from AT&T.

The contest requires two things:
1- Your mod needs to be based on any Intel processor and
2- You must submit a video shorter than 1 minute to the ‘mod contest site that shows the how cool your ‘mod is.

The official rules and all the details can be viewed in the Intel Modding Competition video on the site. We’re going to be running this contest through the New Year and will be accepting video submissions until 11:59:59 pm on January 14th.”

More at IntelModder Group.

SCiB, a Safe, long-life, rapid charge battery to come to market in March 2008.

TOKYO, Japan — Toshiba Corporation on Tuesday, Dec 11, announced the commercial launch of the SCiB the Super Charge ion Battery a breakthrough rechargeable battery primarily targeting the industrial systems market that can recharge to 90% of full capacity in less than five minutes.

The battery offers excellent safety and a long-life cycle of over 10 years, even under conditions of constant rapid charging. Toshiba aims to make this high potential battery a mainstay of its industrial systems and automotive products businesses, with global sales of 100 billion yen targeted for fiscal year 2015. The first SCiB will be shipped from March 2008.

In order to realize the outstanding characteristics of the SCiB, Toshiba adopted a new negative electrode material, new separators, a new electrolyte, and new manufacturing technology. The result is a highly reliable rechargeable battery with well-balanced performance, offering excellent safety, a long-life cycle and a rapid charge-discharge capability.

The SCiB is housed in the SCiB Standard Module ten 4.2 ampere-hour (Ah) SCiB cells aligned in series connection which maximizes the battery characteristics with a battery management system function (BMS) that monitors voltage and temperature in order to protect the cells in case of emergency, and that balances the state of charge in each cell.

In addition to applications that include battery-powered bicycles, motorcycles, automated guided vehicles, electric forklift trucks and construction machinery, which already use rechargeable batteries, the SCiB is also a promising candidate for emergency power sources, electric power regeneration in wind power systems and stabilization of electric power supply.

Application in hybrid cars is also planned, with the intent of extending application to electric cars in the future, after advancing development of a high-performance SCiB cell. More at Toshiba.

TOKYO, Japan — On Monday, Dec 10, Toshiba announced its entry into the emerging market for NAND-flash-based solid state drive (SSD) with a series of products featuring multilevel-cell NAND flash memories.

Offered in a range of form factors and densities, Toshiba’s solid state drives are designed primarily for notebook PCs. They will be showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, from January 7th to 10th. Samples and mass production will follow from the first quarter (January to March) of next year.

Moving NAND-based storage architecture forward, Toshiba’s first solid state drives offer three densities: 32 gigabytes (GB), 64GB and 128GB. SSD realize low power consumption, a fast boot time, and lightweight, but market penetration has been held back by low densities and high prices.

Toshiba’s new SSD integrate an original MLC controller supporting fast read-write speeds, parallel data transfers and wear leveling, and achieve performance levels comparable to those of single-level NAND flash SSD. By applying MLC technology, Toshiba has realized a 128GB density in a 1.8 inch form factor. Toshiba expects the launch of its SSD line-up to speed up acceptance of solid state memory in laptops and digital consumer products, and to widen the horizons of the NAND flash market.

The new products utilize NAND flash memory fabricated with 56nm process technology, along with controller chips and DRAM, on a 70.6mm (L) x 53.6mm (W) x 3.0mm (H) platform. The maximum read speed is 100MB a second, and the maximum write speed of 40MB a second with the SATA2 interface (transfer rate of 3Gbps), which is compliant with high speed serial interface. The operating life is 1,000,000 hours. More at Toshiba.

Taipei, Taiwan — December 06, ‘07 — ASUS today released the world´s first EN8800GT graphics card model with 1GB graphics memory with Qimonda – the new EN8800GT/HTDP/1G.

This powerful graphics card features the latest generation of NVIDIA GPUs; and with an unparalleled large onboard memory size, is designed to provide feature-rich DirectX 10 gaming and the best multimedia playback at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings. Moreover, with the integrated new SmartDoctor feature, users will have the option to overclock the Shader Clock for more than 10% graphical performance boosts, while the unique Glaciator Fansink design keeps the GPU temperature 7ºC cooler than reference designed boards.

Unprecedented 1GB GDDR3 Onboard Memory from Qimonda for Best Graphical Output
“The ASUS EN8800GT/HTDP/1G is the first EN8800GT model in the world to leverage the Qimonda DRAM that comes equipped with 8pcs of 1GB GDDR3 graphics memory,” said C.P. Wu, General Manager of ASUS Graphics and Multimedia Business.

More at ASUSTeK.

Dec 04, ‘07 — Dell has teamed up with the folks at Blizzard Entertainment to create a product that allows fans of World of Warcraft (WoW) to immerse themselves in the game and today unveiled XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition.

Every system comes pre-loaded with the games themselves: World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion pack. Dell will also install all the major client patches for both games as well and will continue to test and ship future patches pre-installed as they are released by Blizzard.

Everyone who orders this system will get three things: a Quest Envelope, a WoW backpack full of stuff and the system itself.

XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition

* 17″ HD widescreen notebook complete with World of Warcraft backpack
* Illuminated speaker grills and faction specific Honor Badges
* Back-lit keyboard stays awake as long as you can
* Track your stats with the world’s first built-in notebook Logitech GamePanel LCD
* Pre-loaded with World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and all major game patches
* Golden Ticket for a custom FigurePrint of your actual in-game World of Warcraft character with your actual armor and weapons
* World of Warcraft Beta Club Key Card with a key to future World of Warcraft beta tests
* World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade Collector’s Edition Account Upgrade Certificates
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
* Speed: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
* CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
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Paris, France — Dec 02, ‘07 — The French and US companies behind the hugely popular video games “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty” announced Sunday that they are merging in an 18.9 billion dollar deal, which could shake up the global video games industry.

Vivendi, the French media and entertainment conglomerate, said Sunday that it planned to acquire a controlling stake in the US video game publisher Activision in a deal aimed at taking advantage of booming video game markets like South Korea and China.

Under the agreement, which values Activision at $18.9 billion, Vivendi would combine its game division with Activision, creating the largest video game company in the world that is not owned by a maker of game consoles.

Vivendi and Activision executives said that by combining the two game businesses, they could help Activision, which has developed popular games for consoles like the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, move more strongly into online “massively multiplayer” games, which have legions of devoted fans in Asia and elsewhere.

Vivendi has specialized in multiplayer games like “World of Warcraft,” which has more than nine million players worldwide, including millions of paying subscribers in China and South Korea, making them some of the only successful Western entertainment exports in a region ravaged by piracy.

Blizzard is the biggest player in online gaming and Warcraft is the global market leader of what are known as massively multi-player online role-playing games, or MMORPGs.

It is currently owned by the French media group Vivendi. As part of the merger plan, Blizzard will invest $2bn in the new company, while Activision is putting up $1bn.

The merged business will be called Activision Blizzard and its chief executive will be Activision’s current CEO Bobby Kotick. Vivendi will be the biggest shareholder in the group.

Jean-Bernard Levy, Vivendi chief executive, said: “This alliance is a major strategic step for Vivendi and is another illustration of our drive to extend our presence in the entertainment sector. “By combining Vivendi’s games business with Activision, we are creating a worldwide leader in a high-growth industry.”

Meanwhile, as news of the merger reached the ears of videogamers Sunday morning, many of them began to wonder if they should be getting ready to play a merged game called “World of Guitarcraft.”

More at Vivendi. (in pdf)