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Gadget and Techno Updates
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 >
SD Association vows breakthrough 300MBps SD card speeds
Sep 5th
Following an announcement from Toshiba at IFA yesterday that it has developed SDHC memory cards based on the new UHS-1 standard, the SD Association today outlined its plans for its forthcoming SD 4.0 standard. The breakthrough means that SD 4.0 can support real-time HD video playback, whether from a media player or a camcorder. The new SD 4.0 standard is based on a dual-row pin memory design that achieves bus interface speeds of up to 300MBps, or nearly three times faster than UHS-1′s 105MBps.
Fully backwards compatible with any SD, SDHC and SDXC memory card capable device, the new high More >
Plex to integrate with LG TVs as “free” Apple TV alternative
Sep 5th
Plex at IFA has revealed that its media front end is being integrated into new LG TVs and Blu-ray players. Any Internet-capable devices made in 2011 will access an online version of Plex. Although they won’t have the usual local storage, they will recognize any Plex Media Servers on the local network and share their content much like the Mac and iOS clients.
The firm added that it saw Plex as a cheaper and possibly better alternative to an Apple TV. Although it requires the cost of LG hardware, Plex on these devices is effectively “free,” co-founder Elan Feingold said: More >
SageTV ships Mac- and PC-ready streaming media player
Sep 5th
SageTV is now shipping the SageTV HD Theater 300. The media player streams media files from the internet or a local network to the connected television and supports full 1080p. It will also play media files from USB storage devices.
The HD Theater 300 supports HDMI 1.3 and both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/MA audio output. The player comes with a remote but also the sometimes missing HDMI and component audio and video cables, and an Ethernet cable. It’s compatible with SageTV’s Media Center software, which allows any PC or Mac equipped with an HD tuner card to watch and record More >
LG’s 31-inch OLED TV spotted, priced at IFA
Sep 5th
LG as promised has been showing its 31-inch OLED TV at IFA today and has now detailed some of how it works and plans for a real launch. The organic 1080p screen is characterized as large and vivid but is also detachable from its stand. Unlike the XEL-1 and some conventional TVs, where a thin screen is permanently fixed to the stand, the LG set can be removed or rotated in place.
As an OLED screen, the total screen is far thinner at 2.9mm (0.11in) deep and puts most of the bulkier components in the stand. LG claimed an “infinite” More >
