Gadget and Techno Updates
PC Technology
NVIDIA unwraps mid-range GeForce 400M notebook graphics
Sep 5th
NVIDIA kicked off the IFA show in earnest by unveiling the rest of the GeForce 400M lineup. Like the GTX 480M, the series is built on the Fermi architecture and supports full DirectX 11 (and OpenGL 4) features, but now in thin-and-light notebooks. The designs should be much faster for general-purpose computing like CUDA and OpenCL, and NVIDIA claims five times better performance for the relatively basic GT 420M versus Intel’s current Core iX integrated video.
The line includes two particularly high-end chips destined for desktop replacement notebooks and other larger models. The GTX 470M runs 288 visual processing cores, More >
AMD may scrap annoying Windows notebook logo stickers
Sep 3rd
AMD may finally end a chronic problem with logos on Windows notebooks using its hardware, the chip maker commented today. Having discovered that most buyers don’t like the stickers advertising processors, graphics and other parts, AMD hopes to now make the stickers easily removable sometime in 2011. It added to the New York Times that it was considering eliminating its share of stickers entirely, although it wouldn’t say how likely that was.
The stickers have been symbolic of one of the chronic problems of Windows notebooks as they have reflected the frequently intricate relationships between PC builders and their component suppliers. More >
Acer to show new Aspire Revo nettop at IFA
Sep 1st
PC maker Acer will bring a newly redesigned Aspire Revo nettop PC to the IFA show that begins on Friday. The first in the series will be the Revo RL100 that is even thinner than the original. It’s powered by a 1.3GHz dual-core AMD Athlon II Neo CPU along with NVIDIA’s Ion graphics processor and gets 2GB of RAM.
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit is preloaded onto the 160GB hard drive, and the nettop gets Wi-Fi, a DVD burner and an HDMI and optical audio output. Three USB ports and an Ethernet port round off the connections. A Revo Pad More >
Microsoft posts Bing app for Android
Aug 31st
Microsoft today posted one of its rare contributions to Android today with word of Bing for Android. The search app closely mirrors the iPhone version and supports images, maps, movie showtimes and other specialties. It likewise uses spoken search for hands-free requests, even for complex searches such as flight schedules.
The app is free and available in Android Market but is currently restricted to Verizon phones. More networks are likely in the future but weren’t confirmed today.
Despite Microsoft’s clear competition with Google, it has said it plans to develop Android apps whenever cross-platform reach is important and earlier this year put More >
Multi-robot command center built around Microsoft Surface (video)
Aug 30th
While we’ve given up on ever winning an online match of StarCraft II, that doesn’t mean top-down unit control schemes are only for nerds in their mom’s basement with their cheap rush tactics and Cheeto fingers and obscene triple digit APMs (we’re not bitter or anything). In fact, we kind of like the look of this robot control interface, developed at UMass Lowell by Mark Micire as part of his PhD research. The multitouch UI puts Microsoft Surface to good use, with gestures and contextual commands that make operating an unruly group of robots look easy, and a console-inspired touch More >
