Since being let go by Novell last year where he worked on the
RadeonHD Linux graphics driver and X.Org support within SuSE Linux, Luc
Verhaegen has continued work on his VIA Unichrome DDX driver as well as
other X.Org code and he has also become involved with the CoreBoot
project that aims to create a free software BIOS for most chipsets and
motherboards on the market. Luc has worked on support for flashing the
BIOS on ATI graphics cards, native VGA text mode support, and other work
to help the CoreBoot project. Today at FOSDEM in Brussels, Luc Verhaegen
is about to give a talk on reverse engineering a motherboard BIOS.
MIT researchers have developed the first germanium laser that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication, you can read all about it at MITnews.
MIT researchers have demonstrated the first laser built from germanium that can produce wavelengths of light useful for optical communication. It’s also the first germanium laser to operate at room temperature. Unlike the materials typically used in lasers, germanium is easy to incorporate into existing processes for manufacturing silicon chips. So the result could prove an important step toward computers that move data — and maybe even perform calculations — using light instead of electricity. But more fundamentally, the researchers have shown that, contrary to prior belief, a class of materials called indirect-band-gap semiconductors can yield practical lasers.
Koolance presented the CPU-360 as the company's new waterblock flagship. It's sold for $84.99 and is compatible with Intel's LGA775/1156/1366 and AMD's Socket AM2/AM2+/AM3.
Following the extremely successful CPU-350 comes Koolance's latest high-performance CPU water block. The CPU-360 uses an advanced microfin cold plate (0.25mm fins, 0.30mm channels), o-ring sealed impingement plate, and an optimized flow path to yield best performance with relatively low coolant restriction.
The CPU-360 contains a copper cold plate with brass top. As with all Koolance products, nickel plating is added to improve corrosion resistance. Two universal steel mounting brackets are included for mainstream Intel and AMD processors. The CPU-360 has standard G 1/4 BSP threading for any Koolance nozzle diameter. Please select the desired nozzle type for this base model (it does not include nozzles).
PC World reports Sharp and Samsung settled all outstanding LCD patent cases, the agreement is confidential but in favor of Sharp:
Sharp and Samsung have put nearly three years of battling over LCD panel and module patents behind them with a deal that ends all ongoing patent infringement disputes, they said Monday.
Both companies declined to disclose details of the agreement.
"We have a confidentiality agreement but we can say these conditions will be in favor of Sharp," said Miyuki Nakayama, a Sharp spokeswoman in Tokyo.
Engadget found a video of the Gigabyte M1405, a new laptop that ships with an external graphics card dock that features the NVIDIA GeForce GT220 graphics card.
Spotted at the event was Gigabyte's latest docking laptop, the M1405. On the go, there's a 14-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution TFT LED, Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300, up to 4GB memory and 500GB storage, DVD, Windows 7, and graphics provided by an Intel GMA 4500MHD -- attach that external GPU and you've got extra ports and GeForce GT220 with 1GB discrete memory. It's got a 6-cell battery, but you can add an addition 3-cell if you don't mind ditching the disc drive.
Club3D introduced a custom, overclocked Radeon HD 5850 graphics card. Pricing and availability is unknown.
Seen below, the DirectX 11-ready card features a custom, dual-slot quad-heatpipe cooling solution, 1440 Stream Processors, a 256-bit memory interface CrossFireX support, and dual DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.
Club 3D's creation has a core clock of 760 MHz (725 MHz stock), 1GB of GDDR5 memory @ 4200 MHz (4000 MHz) and is bundled with a Dirt 2 voucher.
Canon refreshed its consumer dSLR lineup with the EOS 550D (Rebel T2i in the US). This new camera features a 18 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, DIGIC 4 image processor, ISO 100 - 6400 (expandable to 12800), 3.7fps shooting, 1080p HD video recording at up to 30fps (720p at up to 60fps), and a 3" LCD display. The body will be available next month for $800, or in a bundle with a EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens for $900.
Today's photo enthusiast is looking for a camera that will grow with them as they learn, and that is a perfect description of the new EOS Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera. Retaining all of the traditional characteristics that have made the EOS Rebel series beloved by entry-level photographers and an industry best-seller, the new Rebel T2i succeeds in bridging the gap between an entry-level camera and a true pro-sumer camera.
The Rebel T2i Digital SLR camera includes a variety of new features for photographic assignments as varied as grabbing that action shot from the sidelines or creating memorable family portraits, including: 3.7 fps shooting, an ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 12,800), a 63-zone Dual Layer Metering System, and Canon's DIGIC 4 Imaging Processor. There are some moments in our lives where video helps capture the moment better than a still image, and the Rebel T2i offers the best of both worlds with Full HD 1080p video as well as 18-megapixel still images. The Rebel T2i DSLR continues Canon's industry-leading trend in Full HD DSLR video capture with manual exposure control, selectable frame rates and a new external microphone input. There is also a new feature for standard definition recording, Movie Crop, which provides an approximate 7x additional zoom with no loss of image quality when shooting SD quality video.
OS News published a summary of the latest rumors about Microsoft's upcoming Phone 7 operating system. One of the disappointing things is the lack of multitasking support, and there's also a rumor that application installation will go through Microsoft's Marketplace alone and that it may no longer be possible to download applications from other websites.
Obviously, the big shocker is no multitasking. The rumours states that applications can "pause" instead, but what exactly that entails it doesn't say. To me, that sounds like quiting the applications but saving their state, so that when you relaunch them, you can continue where you left off. For example, if you were busy editing a Word document, then Pocket Word (or does it have a new name?) would save the state when it quits. If you re-open Word, you would be right back where you left off: cursor in the right place, document properly scrolled/zoomed, etc. Push notifications will be part of the package as well.
AMD's upcoming Phenom II X6 "Thuban" processors will reportedly implement Dynamic Speed Boost, a technology similar to Intel's Turbo Boost technology. This feature improves single-thread performance by disabling idle cores and overclocking active cores.
In an attempt to provide maximum possible performance for enthusiasts, Advanced Micro Devices plans to implement a dynamic performance boost technology into its six-core processors known as Phenom II X6 “Thuban”.
There is a clear trend towards increase of the number of cores inside central processing units (CPUs), just five years ago a dual-core chip was a dream, whereas now we are approaching six-core microprocessors. The software is, unfortunately, seriously behind the hardware and many applications still cannot take advantage of additional cores, but fully depend on clock-speeds. In order to provide maximum possible performance in such programs, developers of CPUs implement special dynamic performance boosting technologies that disable certain cores and overclock the rest.
