Silicon Origin

Fujitsu Siemens Computers announces a few days ago the launch of its ‘Power of mobility’ project. This sees a series of high-profile individuals, heavily reliant on mobile technology, push Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ mobile products to the absolute limit.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has one of the broadest mobile product ranges from handhelds to notebooks and tablet PCs, from entry level to the very high end. It is giving its mobile devices to a number of people to use on their travels. They will submit pictures and an online diary about their experience. The project starts with accomplished mountaineer Sorin Nistor and extreme road warrior Richard Bron. They both know how to put a device through its paces, and will be looking for the very best in connectivity, reliability and durability. Twice a week they will record their experiences through regular ‘on-the-road’ reports, available at:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com/aboutus/testimonial/mobility-experience.html

Sorin Nistor has accumulated 40 years of mountaineering experience and taken part in six expeditions. He is taking the LIFEBOOK P7230 on his latest expedition of the Himalayan Gasherbrum 2 – at 8,000 metres it’s the 13th largest mountain in the world. He will be testing the notebook’s embedded connectivity and integrated video camera in some punishing mountain conditions, including ice, snow, high winds and high temperatures.

Richard Bron is CEO of digital media company Blueprint Digital. His customers include Hollywood movie producers, and some of the world’s largest retailers and recording artists including Robbie Williams. In a typical month he’ll cross three continents, so connectivity is crucial for keeping in touch with customers and associates around the globe, as well as his family in London. Richard is trialling the LIFEBOOK T4215 convertible notebook with integrated UMTS and the Pocket LOOX N110 mobile navigator.

Louis Jouanny, Head of Mobility Marketing at Fujitsu Siemens Computers said: “No other vendor on the market can match the diversity, design and depth of our mobility offering. Our broad portfolio of devices with embedded UMTS meets today’s growing need for ubiquitous connectivity, and we pride ourselves on having a mobile device for every scenario. ‘Power of mobility’ is an innovative and exciting way to prove the capabilities and flexibility of our products, by giving them to the most demanding type of mobile user. We will continue to deliver leading-edge technology which fits the needs of road warriors and people who demand highest performance and connectivity whilst on the move.”

Share This

Taipei, Taiwan, July 3, 2007

ASUS introduced the new OC gear as the world´s first hardware based real-time overclocking device for graphics cards. The ASUS OC gear will be bundled with the ASUS EN8600GT OC GEAR/HTDP/256M which is upgraded with -1 memory modules. With such a configuration, users can expect up to 30% enhanced overclocking performance and gaming experiences. Full support for Microsoft DirectX 10 will also allow users to experience stunning and complex special effects for their applications and games.

Superb Overclocking Performance
In order to provide gamers with the best overclocking experience, the EN8600GT OC GEAR edition is equipped with -1 memory modules. The high speed capability of these super fast memory modules allow the best overclocking capabilities for memory speeds. Such a speed upgrade will help boost 3DMark06 scores from 4185 to 5493 – an astonishing 30% improvement*.

User-Friendly Interface
With an easy-to-read mirror LED display, the OC gear displays real-time graphic card information including the GPU temperature and the current FPS (Frames Per Second). In addition, the user-friendly knob allows timely adjustments by simply pressing it to switch menu options including volume, GPU clock, and fan speed to suit different game requirements. The OC gear also allows gamers to conveniently overclock, control system settings, and keep an eye on temperatures from the front of the chassis.

Ease in Installation
Installing the OC gear is not at all difficult – even for first-time PC DIYers. Simply install the OC gear to the chassis through an internal 4-pin USB connector to convey power and information to the motherboard, and that’s all that’s required – it’s that simple.

EN8600GT/HTDP/256M with Revolutionary Fansink
The ASUS EN8600GT OC GEAR also utilizes a new generation of cooling fans to effectively dissipate heat build-up. Additionally, with 25% more surface area, the heatsink provides better cooling and is able to lower temperatures by up to 14°C when compared to reference design graphic cards**.

Exclusive ASUS Innovations
The new ASUS EN8600GT OC GEAR also incorporates exclusive ASUS innovations including Splendid, Gamer OSD, VideoSecurity Online, and SmartDoctor. With all these features, enhanced visual and gaming experiences, security options are guaranteed!

Note:
*Testing Configuration:
MB: A8N32-SLI Rev 1.01
CPU: AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-4600
Resolution: 1280*1024
Memory: 1024MB(TwinMos-DDR1-512M*2)
Testing results are based on ASUS internal lab resting.
May vary on different platforms.
** The temperature test was taken under the circumstance of 40ºC

For specifications, visit the Asus web page.

Share This

… to Help Recording Artists Reach an Audience of Millions of Zune, MSN and Xbox Fans.

Microsoft Corp. announced the launch of Ignition, a new program that gives recording artists with new releases a unique channel to reach tens of millions of consumers, whether they are browsing music online, playing games or catching up on the latest news. For the first time, Microsoft has packaged promotional opportunities across Zune™, Xbox® and MSN® to help artists more efficiently reach consumers in all three audiences.

In a world where high-impact promotional opportunities for new music can be limited, artists look for ways to make direct connections with their audience and leave a lasting impression. Ignition maximizes exposure for artists by engaging consumers with interesting content and reaching them frequently over a monthlong period through prominent placement on Zune Marketplace, Zune.net, MSN entertainment properties and the Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. For consumers, Ignition provides a steady stream of new music through online access to exclusive content, free song and video downloads, streaming video, editorial features, and artist playlists.

“The Ignition program is designed to help artists connect with a substantial consumer audience,” said Christina Calio, director of Music Marketing for Zune. “Consumers are looking for ways to find new music, and Ignition helps connect artists with potential new fans by giving them multiple opportunities to listen to, watch or read about the artist across Microsoft’s online platforms.”

The Ignition program launches with the U.K. band Maxïmo Park (Warp Records/Caroline Distribution), whose current album, “Our Earthly Pleasures,” debuted at No. 2 on the U.K. charts in April and is receiving significant radio airplay for its single “Girls Who Play Guitars.” Throughout the month of June, Ignition will introduce new U.S. fans to this popular U.K. band through free and exclusive music downloads and features on Zune Marketplace and Zune.net, video downloads on Xbox LIVE Marketplace, and promotional video and music streams on MSN Video and MSN Music. Specific Maxïmo Park promotions include the following:

Zune Marketplace and Zune.net
• “Our Velocity” featured as a free download on Zune Marketplace
• “Don McPhee” offered to U.S. audiences as an exclusive track for two weeks on Zune Marketplace
• Playlist of 10 favorite tracks from Maxïmo Park lead singer Paul Smith available for download on Zune Marketplace
• Maxïmo Park’s personal commentary on “Our Earthly Pleasures,” featuring song-by-song descriptions and comments
• Maxïmo Park-specific page on Zune.net promoting the band’s current activities

Xbox LIVE Marketplace

• Promotional video download of “Our Velocity” offered at no cost to Xbox LIVE subscribers

MSN Entertainment

• Promotional video stream of “Our Velocity” on MSN Video
• Listening parties for “Our Earthly Pleasures” during the first two weeks of June on MSN Music, which will allow consumers to listen to the entire album via streaming audio for free

“We’re excited to have Maxïmo Park be the first artist taking part in Microsoft’s Ignition program,” said Priyanka Dewan, product manager at Warp Records. “When you’re a band that is attempting to move to the next level of success, opportunities like this to connect with a significant audience are important. The simultaneous promotion across Zune, MSN and Xbox is great exposure for the band.”

The launch of Ignition adds a powerful new element to existing Zune music programs such as “On the Road,” which has been providing financial and tactical support for touring artists that include CSS, LCD Soundsystem, Ladytron and MIMS, as well as “Artist of the Week,” which provides a weekly spotlight of one major artist release in Zune Marketplace.

More information on the Ignition program is available at http://www.zune.net.

So, Microsoft is darn serious about creating a serious competition for iPod and for iTunes. I am curious about the outcome of this battle, for iTunes and iPod are on the market for a long time now, and Microsoft is trying to grab a slice of a market ruled by its competitor, Apple.
Microsoft has a slight advantage though: a gaming console called Xbox and a social network created around it, called Xbox Live. This is the thing Apple does not have. So, I think we’ll see an interesting competition here.

Share This

Sony Corporation has reported its biggest loss in the last four years. The net loss of Sony totaled 67.6 billion yen ($562 million) in the three months ended March 31st.
The cause: Sony PlayStation 3.

Rumours say that Sony is selling its new generation gaming console at a price much under the costs of production. This, and the recall of over 9 million notebook batteries, has cost Sony more than its yearly profit.

But hope is not lost for the Japanese giant: Sony expects sales growth of 5.8% and a profit of $3.7 billion by the end of March 2008.

Share This

AMD’s new “Stars” processor family will be branded Phenom™, because, as AMD’s press release sais:

Industry’s only true x86 quad-core architecture paired with the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series to offer a phenomenal computing experience

AMD sais that the new AMD Phenom™ will be the industry’s first true, native quad-core processor. Anyway, Intel’s Core 2 Quad is not: it has two Core 2 Duo processors on the same PCB.
AMD sais:

With the true quad-core design offered by the upcoming AMD Phenom processors, cores communicate on the die rather than through a front side bus external to the processor – a bottleneck inherent in other products that are packaging two dual-core chips to form quad-core processors. AMD’s Direct Connect Architecture on-chip ensures that all four cores have optimum access to the integrated memory controller and integrated HyperTransport links, so that performance scales well with the number of cores. This design is also highlighted by a unique shared L3 cache for quicker data access and Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ infrastructure compatibility to enable a seamless upgrade path.

AMD officials say that Phenom™ Quad-core will be available in the 2007 Christmas season.

Only 224 days till X-mas! Let’s wait and see!

Share This

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak. Jay Leno

So, this is what marketing is about: creating a need and fulfilling it. You can see it everywhere: TV Shop, Internet, shops, TV ads, and so on, and so forth…

In the IT industry I seem to observ this principle being used by Intel: Bearlake chipsets are all new, improved, fast, glittering and super… but if you want a Bearlake-based configuration, you will have to use DDR3.

Share This

Apple seems to be a really important player on the cell phone market, although they have only one phone model: iPhone. But iPhone has so many innovations and so many discussions around it that there is probably no one that hasn’t heard of it. A survey realised by ChangeWave Alliance has revealed that there is a certain amount of excitement around the revolutionary cell phone Apple is going to release in June.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Intel will launch, on the 9th of May, the Bearlake chipset, with support for the “new and improved” DDR3 memory. AMD does not take the same path, instead, in the new AMD K10 core they will include support for DDR2 at 1066 MHz.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Athlon has always been “The Pentium of AMD”. But this situation is about to change: it seems Advanced Micro Devices has decided to retire the old and well-known Athlon brand in favor of a new and improved one: Phenom.
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This