Microsoft has sued the computer mouse maker Primax over patent infringement. Apparently Primax has used Microsoft patent for the U2, Tilt Wheel, and magnifier features in some of the mouses.
This all would have been avoided if Primax would contact Microsoft because Microsoft contacted Primax several time to sign a licensing agreement for the features.
Apple will supposedly be switching over to Nvidia chipsets according to
NordicHardware. Apple made big news when it first switched over from AMD to Intel because of Integrated graphics.
Also over at
PC Perspective , they made a list of possible reason the Apple would want to switch over to Nvidia chipsets. Here they are:
"1. NVIDIA has been developing an answer to Intel’s Montevina chip for a while and has not been shy about it 2. That same MCP79 chip has the ability to scale from ultra-low power versions to small-form-factor machines fitting in with Apple’s range of products 3. A new refresh on mobility discrete GPUs for the fall (and support for HybridPower and HybridSLI) combines with MCP79 for a very impressive mobile lineup 4.Insiders pointing at a switch in Apple’s MacBook hardware"
Apple has shown no interest in Intel's new Centrino 2 platform, which falls into the hands of Nvidia being very quiet about their mobile platfom and chipset.
This is the next big thing to hit Microsoft. They have a 360 globe that has a multi-touch inference. This is how Microsoft explained there new technology:
"Our prototype device builds on a commercially available globe projection system (Global Imagination’s Magic Planet). We have added touch-sensing capabilities with an infrared camera that shares the optical path with the projector. This novel configuration permits us to enclose both the projection and the sensing mechanism in the base of the device and allows for easy 360 degrees access to the device and high degree of interactivity without shadowing or occlusion problems. We have also developed a custom graphics projection pipeline that solves the distortion problems and enables projected data to be correctly visualized on the curved surface.
The applications developed for Sphere currently include a picture and video browser, interactive globe visualization, finger painting, globe visualization, and an omni-directional video-conferencing application (360 degree panoramic video from Microsoft RoundTable device). These applications are designed for highly interactive public space environments (e.g., museums, lobbies, information booths) and highlight the appeal of the device as well as its visualization and interaction capabilities."
We can now see the design of the Diamond 4870X2 and how it preforms in Futuremark Vantage. From what I am searching and seeing, it beats the GTX by a far margin. We are still waiting to have a confirmed launch date, but even if that happens ATI/AMD will find something to make them delay the video card.
According to
NodicHardware Nvidia is planning a big bang like when SLI first came out. Nvidia did not say what, but it is not going to be the GT200B, that is supposed to spoile the 4870X2 debut. The bang might be a very good up-scaling SLI capability almost to the point where two cards would be 2X instead of 1.4X.
Hexus has the first review up for the Shapphire 4850 TOXIC card. The card comes with higher clocks then the stock 4850. As far as the test results, the TOXIC only beats the stock 4850 by around 5-6% of the performance. The only test where it seems to not beat the stock 4850 was with Crysis @ 1680X1050 DX10.
The main difference from the looks of the stock 4850, is Shapphire has added a custom cooler the the TOXIC 4850. With an ambient temperature between 22 C and 21 C the Shapphire 4850 TOXIC averaged 30C lower on idle and load temperatures were 16 C lower. That is a huge difference from the stock cooler.
The highly anticipate MacBook Touch is supposedly set to release in October. This new MacBook is fully interactive with a touch screen, hints the name "Touch."
This thing look so nice and sleek to the eye and it will be on my to buy list as soon as it comes out! Reports say that it cost Apple a lot of money to put this new technology together, but they are going to sell it at a very low starting price for the technology it uses. The price was not released, but expect it to be around $2000.
It the reports it states that it will come with Mac OS X, Slot-loading Superdrive,Accelerometer and GPS.
This is a very nice MacBook that every body will be waiting for it they can afford it!
A source close to Nvidia found out that they will be releasing that anticipated GTX280 55nm! It will be launched at NVISION 08 in San Jose, California. NVISION goes from August 25th-27th. With the shrinkage of the die from 65nm to 55nm you can expect that the Core clock, shader, and memory will be set higher.
The 55nm core basically lets the companies run a cooler card and let the costumers overclock the card better and stay cooler.
Guru3D has there ATI 4870X2 preview up and so far so good! It is like all of the other previews and almost all of the same games. The 4870X2 was paired up with an:
E8400 @3.0ghz
2gig of DDR3 memory
1000 watt Enermax power supply
Windows Vista 32 bit and XP 32 bit.
The games that were tested were:
Call of Duty 4
Race Driver: GRID
Mass Effect
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
3DMark Vantage
In all of those tests the 4870X2 and 4870 crossfire beat out the GTX280 in all of the tests. As far as overclocking, the 4870X2 does not overclock very well and Guru 3D put this on the overclocking page
"All in all... do it at your own risk."
TC Magazine has news of the Q6600 has just had a 14% price drop over the last couple of days. Along with a price drop ion the Quad Cores there was also a price drop in the 45nm dual core compartment. The E8500 got a substantial reduction by 31% bringing it from $266 to $183. Also the E8400 and the E7200 went down 11% and 13%.
An Israeli website by the name of NGOHQ.com reported that they have successfully run Nvidia's PhysX on an ATI 3800 video card. The site did not get a hold of the 4800 card because AMD was in short supply of the card and parts and especially short in Israel. This is good news for ATI to take advantage of Nvidia's PhysX.
The new Intel Blomfield processors, which are scheduled for release in Q4, are the newest quad core processors based on the Nehalem architecture. There will be three different versions of the processors, Extreme, performance, and upper mainstream. The prices will be $990, $555 and $285 respectively.
Over one year old now, Windows Vista has crossed over the 140 million copies sold. In the first couple of moths Bill Gates announced that Microsoft sold over 40 million. Since then they have sold over 100 million! These numbers come as great news to Microsoft because the have reached their 60 billion annual revenue goal.
Consider that even the Great Windows XP took 51 months the reach the 400 million mark and vista hit 140 million in 18 months!
All of these new cards have been bench marked head to head against each other. With the ATI 4870 preforming 75% of the GTX280, and the 4850 preforming within 1-2 fps of the GTX260. In this review they will be testing both Crossfire 4850 &4870.
Being that the 4870 is half the price of the GTX280 and 75% of the performance, It should be interesting how one card preforms as well as a single card.
Nvidia is still trying to get more sales of there new cards, so that is why the had a 30% drop in prices for the GTX280 and 260. The GTX280 will now be around $499 and the 260 will be around $299.
All in all the 4870CF setup beats them all in all of the test except for Crysis at 2560X1600.
Microsoft has confirmed that they will be selling the 20gb Xbox 360 for $299. This price cut comes to no suprise as Microsoft is set to release a 60gb model of the Xbox 360. Microsoft is still trying to sell more units than Sony and the PS3. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think I read somewhere that Sony is selling more units that the Xbox 360. I also do not think that sony can afford to have another price cut on the PS3. They have already tried to match Microsoft's cuts, but just connot keep up on the price.
TweakTown has confirmed that the new Nehlam X58 motherboards will indeed support both SLI and Crossfire video cards. This is great news for everybody in the technology business because we no longer have to decided to get Nvidia video cards and
SLIthem or get ATI cards and Crossifre them. Now we can just get what ever we want and use the best motherboard available.
ATI said that this card has everything to be be "the worlds fastest card." Although they do not want full reviews out because they have not mastered the drivers. They have in fact released the final stats of the ATI 4870X2. The stats go as followed:
Codename: R700;
GPU: 2 x 55nm RV770, 750/750 MHz (core/shaders);
2 x 10 SIMD cores that include 2 x 800 scalar ALUs;
2 x 10 larger texture units; 2 x 40 texture addressing units;
2 x 160 texture fetch units; 2 x 40 bilinear filtering units;
2 x 16 ROPs; R
RAM: 2 x 1024MB GDDR5, 900 (3600) MHz;
Bus: 2 x 256-bit;
Slot: PCI-Express x16;
Interfaces: 2 x DVI (Dual-Link/HDMI), TV-out;
Hardware support for DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1.
I just cannot wait for this card to come out. My only problem is that I will not have enough money, but all I have to say is nice black style ans black pcb on the 4870X2!
Due to the rising demands of the ATI 4870 and the not so high demands of the GTX 260 & 280, Nvidia has cut prices once again making the GTX 280 $499 and the GTX260 $299.
Nvidia is really feeling the pressure with ATI's new 4800's series. They still have to wait and see what first review,not preview, of the 4870X2 with the right drivers.
This is the first official review out for the ATI 4870X2(R700). For the most part this card puts a smackin down on the GTX280 over all tests except for Crysis where is loses about 3fps.
It also beats Crossfire 4870 in most of the tests and is the most powerful card of right now. This is really good considering this is only a preview that
DriverHeaven and
AnandTechreleased and the drivers still have to be optimized! I say if ATI releases this card for under $500 everybody will be going crazy and ATI/AMD will pull themselves out from financial dept that they have caused themselves.
I would have to say for anyone who is about to buy the new Nvidia card that they have always been wanting, to wait and really check out this amazing new video card from ATI.
More review previews are up from:
Ledtek has announced that they will be releasing a GTX280 Extreme. This is very suspicious because the clocks are very high for an overclocked edition. The clocks are set at 738 MHz core, 1666 MHz shader and 2520 MHz memory.
738 MHz, that is insane for an overclocked edition! The information can be found
here.I only think that this could be the 55nm card because the EVGA WC edition of the GTX280 has a lower core clock at 670mhz.
The long awaited ATI 4870X2 finally has a projected release date of mid August. Sources say that this beast is going to have 2gb of GDDR5 memory and have a starting price of around $550. This price is okay considering that two ATI 4870 will be more expensive than this even though the 4870X2 is going to preform a little bit better.
Some sites are beginning to say that this card will not only beat the GTX280, but beat it sometimes up to 80%! This has to be spectacular news for ATI/AMD as they are still trying to get themselves out from underneath that financial cloud.
