LucidLogix announced XLR8 software for ARM GPUs and more

Weve already seen a lot of examples of what LucidLogix has managed to do with its Virtu software, but its latest software named XLR8 has us scratching our heads. The software is targeting the various GPUs youd find inside ARM processors, as well as integrated graphics in AMD and Intel processors and is not only said to be boosting the performance, but also lower the power usage of said GPUs.

According to the press release, XLR8 is compatible with AMDs Fusion APUs, ARMs Mali GPUs, Intels HD4000 and HD2500 IGPs in the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors and Nvidias various Tegra models. The idea here is that Lucids new software will optimize the system to help prevent things like tearing and artefacts, but its also meant to improve power efficiency and help improve playability of games.

Lucids president Offir Remez went as far as saying "If its got a GPU, we can improve the end user experience" which is quite a cocky statement. The company claims that XLR8 can improve certain configurations by as much as 200 percent in terms of performance by increasing GPU frame generation while preventing the GPU from performing redundant rendering tasks. It all sounds great, but as we all know, the proof is in the pudding and Lucid has as yet to offer the software for testing by third parties. It will be interesting to see if XLR8 lives up to Lucids claims, but for now, well remain sceptical.

Source: LucidLogix

Kontron Designs Tegra 3 Mini-ITX Motherboard

Computer-on-module (COM) and industrial PC (IPC) major Kontron designed the first NVIDIA Tegra 3 motherboard in the mini-ITX (slim) form-factor. The board measures 17 x 17 cm, and should fit in most ITX/ATX cases. The board is armed with most current and legacy connectivity, and a powerful SoC.

The Kontron KTT30/mITX makes use of an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core (4 + 1 power-saving core) SoC. Its four CPU cores are built in theARM Cortex-A9 micro-architecture, and are clocked at 900 MHz. It features NVIDIA GeForce ULP GPU. The GPU is capable enough to handle 3D acceleration, 1080p video playback, and an LVDS link with 2048 x 1536 pixels resolution. The GPU also provides h.264, MPEG4 hardware encoding/decoding acceleration. The Tegra 3 SoC is backed by up to 2 GB of DDR3L system memory (RAM).

TheKTT30/mITX is filled to the brim with connectivity. For expansion, the board has a total of three mPCIe slots, of which one doubles up as mSATA, and another one as reserved for 3G HSDPA MODEM. The board has a SIM card slot on-board. Apart from the three, the board has two SD card slots, and a bootable eMMC module.

There are a plethora of peripheral interfaces, some more familiar to the PC crowd, others with embedded/COM designers. PC users will find a total of three USB 2.0 ports (two standard type A, one micro-USB), a gigabit Ethernet interface, stereo analog and multi-channel digital (SPDIF) audio outputs, and HDMI 1.4a display output supporting digital resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 pixels. Embedded connectivity includes two RS232 (8-wire serial/COM), LVDS display output supporting up to 2048 x 1536 pixels @ 18 bpp, three MIPI connectors (1x DSI, 1x CSI,1x either DSI or CSI), eighteen GPIO connectors, a 2-pin DC power input, and 4-pin PWM fan output.

TheKTT30/mITX has a target power draw of less than 7 Watts, it should be able to run off a fairly light and compact AC adapter. It should be able to drive most Linux derivatives for the ARM machine architecture, including Android and Chrome OS. Find finer details in the datasheet.

I-O Data Readies New External Blu-ray writer

I-O Data has announced the BRP-U6X, an external Blu-ray writer with support for the BDXL standard. Measuring just 20mm thick and weighing 320g, the slim writer sports a USB 2.0 interface and supports write speeds up to "6x for BD-R (single- and dual-layer), 4x for 34-layer BD-R, 2x for BD-RE, 8x for DVD-R+R and DVD+RW, 6x for DVD-R+R DL and DVD-RW, 5x for DVD-RAM, 24x for CD-R and 16x for CD-RW". Covered by a one year warranty, it comes bundled with WinDVD BD and Nero Express Essentials. The BRP-U6X is expected to hit store shelves in Japan in April at a MSRP of US$270.

News via [Techconnect]

Mach Xtreme Technology Launches MX-DS Series 2.5 quot; SSD

Taipei based Mach Xtreme Technology has unveiled its MX-DS Series 2.5” SSD.



Available in 100Gb (MXSSD2MDS-100G) and 200Gb (MXSSD2MDS-200G)capacities, they are built on the SandForce SF1222 chip and feature MLCNAND flash memory, SATA II interface, a MTBF of 1.5 million hours andsupports a data transfer rate of up to 250MB/s (read) and 230MB/s(write). Pricing has not been announced yet but the MX-DS Series areexpected to start shipping soon, covered by a two year limited warranty.


Features:

2.5” SATAII (2.6) MLC Solid State DriveMax. Read Performance up to 250MB/s (100G/200G)Max. Write Performance up to 230MB/s (100G/200G)Life expectancy: 1.5 million hours MTBFSustained Write up to 130MB/s and max. I/O per second of 30,000IOPSPower consumption: idle 0.5W / active 2.3WCapacity: 100GB (MXSSD2MDS-100G) and 200GB (MXSSD2MDS-200G)Warranty: 2 Years
News via [Tweaktown]

Megaupload lawyers aiming to have case thrown out

The lawyers for file-sharing firm Megaupload are attempting to get the copyright infringement case against the company quashed and assets unfrozen.

The companys legal team claims that US federal authorities have no right to charge the company, as it is outside their jurisdiction, since it is a Hong Kong-based firm. Lawyers also claim that no papers were formally served, which means Megaupload could get off on a technicality of law, rather than its proposed innocence."This case was flawed from the start, once this case gets dismissed it cannot be fixed," said Ira Rothken, US general counsel for Megaupload, who specialises in intellectual property lawsuits. He said the FBI had made a fatal mistake in its case against the file-sharing company by not following proper protocol.Rothken is also seeking for frozen assets, totalling millions of dollars, to be freed up. This was a strong criticism from the start, as lawyers for Megaupload claimed that it and its staff were being prevented from properly defending itself due to the freezing of its money.The popular storage website was shut down in January when the home of Kim Dotcom, Megauploads founder, was raided by New Zealand police. He and several of the companys executives were arrested and attempts to extradite them to the US were made. The situation caused panic throughout the file-sharing world, with many similar websites shutting down over fear of similar prosecution.Dotcom and other key employees face charges of racketeering, copyright infringement, and conspiring to commit money laundering. A judge ruled in March that the court order used to seize a number of Dotcoms belongings was unlawful, and this latest claim by the Megauploads lawyers suggests the entire case may become another farce in the history of botched lawsuits.Source: Reuters

Intel Revealed More Penryn Details

Intel revealed today that 45nm Penryn clocked above 3GHz, a higher FSB, newSSE4 and delivers more IPC than the current 65nm Merom. Micro-tweaks that reduceCPU latency on the Penryn includes a faster divider technique called Radix-16divider that enables 4 bits per cycle compared to 2 bits on the Merom and ashuffle engine that can perform 128-bit ops in a cycle.

Power savings features includes a new power state during idle called DeepPower Down Technology that allows core voltage to drop significantly and L1/L2caches to be turned off completely. Performance improvement on single-threadedapps through Enhanced Intel Dynamic Acceleration Technology that allows one coreto sleep while the other core gets a frequency boost.

Comparing quad core of the current generation which is Kentsfield againstquad core of the next generation which is Yorkfield, Intel claims that Yorkfieldwill be up to 45% faster than Kentsfield in bandwidth intensive applications.Yorkfield has 1600MHz FSB and 2x6MB of L2 cache comparing to 1333MHz FSB and2x4MB of L2 on the Kentsfield. When comparing dual core Conroe to dual coreWolfdale, the latter will deliver up to 20% increase in performance in thecurrent games.

Intel Pentium Extreme Edition amp; Pentium D Logos

McAfee warns of threat to energy grid security

Security firm McAfee has released details of a report into the security of energy grids, highlighting significant vulnerabilities in older systems to attack.

McAfee had a stark warning for those who are complacement about securing key infrastructure like the electrical power grid, which powers pretty much everything we use. It said that a single targeted attack could compromise lights and home appliances, heart monitors in hospitals, and air defence systems, among other things.The report found that extortion was the biggest cyber threat facing the energy sector, with criminals demonstrating their capability and demanding a ransom. Espionage and sabotage are two other big fears.McAfee discovered that roughly 70 percent of the existing energy grid in the US is over 30 years old. These have been connected to the internet with no encryption or security in mind. A decade ago this may not have been such a big issue, but with cyber attacks on the increase, this is a growing concern.The automation of systems, which has made lives easier for many workers, comes at the price of more openness to attack. The increasing use of generic software to operate these facilities means that any vulnerabilities found in that software immediately expose the infrastructure, whereas proprietary software was more commonly used in the past.“Security needs to be built into grid components at the planning and design phase,” said Tom Moore, VP of Embedded Security at McAfee. “Because the grid relies heavily on embedded systems it makes them ripe targets for intruders thus it is imperative to integrate security solutions natively in these devices. McAfee is working with its partners in industry and government to make great strides on the technical front to mitigate the threats to these critical systems we all rely on.”Image Credit: Geograph.org.uk

Microsoft will be launching Security Essentials Beta next week

Here's some of the features you can expect from the security software:-

- Real-time protection. Microsoft Security Essentials uses real-time protection to help address potential threats before they ever have an opportunity to become a problem.

- Dynamic Signature Service. In addition to taking advantage of daily signature downloads, Microsoft Security Essentials is able to validate suspicious files against newly identified malware in near-real time by querying the Dynamic Signature Service. Actions from unknown sources such as unexpected network connections, attempting to modify privileged parts of the system or downloading known malicious content all trigger requests for updates from the Dynamic Signature Service.

- Rootkit protection. Microsoft Security Essentials includes a number of new and improved technologies to provide additional defense against rootkits and other aggressive threats. These technologies include live kernel behavior monitoring for monitoring the integrity of kernel structures, support for direct file-system parsing to help identify and remove malicious programs and drivers hidden from the file system, and improved live rootkit removal that dynamically loads a new kernel mode driver as part of the cleaning process so that it can help successfully remove some of the more advanced rootkits.

- Lightweight design. Because Microsoft Security Essentials is core anti-malware only, it doesn't carry the weight of the suite products and has a much smaller download size.

- CPU throttling. CPU throttling helps ensure that the user's system remains responsive to those tasks the user is likely to be performing such as opening files or browser windows, launching programs, editing documents, saving files, etc.

- Idle-time scanning. Scans and updates are scheduled to run when the PC is idle and use a low-priority thread.

- Smart caching and active memory swapping. Signatures not in use don't take up space in the available memory, making Microsoft Security Essentials friendlier toward older PCs as well as today's smaller, less powerful form factors.

The Microsoft Security Essentialswillbe available for downloadedfrom Microsoft website on 23 Juneas a limited public beta for XP, Vista and Windows 7 users.

According to Microsoft, they will also discontinue their Windows Live OneCare later this year.

Source: Gizmodo, Reuters, AP

KiWi PC aims to sell Linux-loaded PCs to senior citizens

When it comes to building a PC meant to be used by an ageing senior citizen, it goes without saying that raw performance and power is no longer the top priority. Instead, youd want such a PC to be as user-friendly as possible, if only just to ensure that you do not receive phone calls late into the wee hours of the day from the user asking for help over simple issues such as how to press the Any key.

Needless to say, the OS used in such PCs play an extremely important part in ensuring that senior citizens feel right at home with their PCs at all times. And while most people will swear by Windows 7 or Mac OS X as the ideal operating system for such users, an American OEM which specializes in making PCs for aged users believes that there exists only one OS which is suitable for senior citizen use. Enter the KiWi PC, a senior citizen-friendly nettop PC which runs of....Linux. Or more specifically, a Linux distribution known as Ubuntu.

According to KiWi PC, the Linux-based PC which is currently being sold under the same name as the OEM which assembled it will be pre-loaded with a customized version of Ubuntu 10.10. The website goes on to claim that the customizations made to the operating system include a certain Me Menu which provides easy access to often-visited websites and programs straight from the desktop. KiWi PC also states that the Me Menu will be completely customizable, and that the font size has been increased to make onscreen text more readable for senior citizens.

On the hardware side, the KiWi PC does not feature impressive specs, although this is understandable if one takes into consideration its nettop nature and the variety of tasks its intended user base might use it for. Powering the nettop is Intels Atom processor clocked at 1.66GHz and 2GB of DDR3 memory, while the other essentials include a DVD-RW drive, a 250GB hard disk for storage purposes and onboard Intel GMA 3150 graphics. Internet connectivity is achieved via an Ethernet connection which is handled by the motherboards onboard Realtek controller.

Last but definitely not least, the KiWi PC comes bundled with a 19-inch monitor for complete out-of-the-box functionality, and 24/7 tech support ensures that senior citizens do not have to call up their children every few minutes just to learn how to navigate a Linux desktop.

That being said, the user interface found on the customized Ubuntu 10.10 Linux distribution does not appear to be anything more than a slightly tweaked version of the Unity desktop environment. Which, for those who are unfamiliar with the Ubuntu distribution, is currently an an experimental user interface ported over from the netbook versions of the operating system. While it is debatable as to just how much user-friendlier a PC can get by ditching Windows for a Linux distribution, users will be hard pressed to deny that they can rest easy at night knowing that they will not have to deal with phone calls from parents asking for help in disinfecting their PCs from various Windows-specific malware.

If that sounds like the kind of PC youd want to set up for your parents, perhaps youd want to start saving. This is because the KiWi PC is not going to be the cheapest nettop in the market with its retail price of US$499.99.

Source: KiWi PC

iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1 Review

iTunes 9.0 boasts new features and a slightly different feel in experience, bringing a slew of updates and tweaks as well.



If iTunes doesn't prompt you for an auto update, you can also click on Help-> Check For Updates to start it. Simply download and the process is rather straight forward.

For those who wanna try out iTunes, you may download it onto your Mac or PC from here. iTunes is free




On your first launch of iTunes 9.0, you will be flashed with a introduction screen to its new features and what you can expect in this awesome jukebox software. You might want to check it out as it is pretty helpful.

For those unfamiliar with the program, iTunes lets you play and manageyour music, videos, and other forms of media (e.g. Podcasts) and more all from the program itself in a easy to understand interface

Kingston expected to drop pricing on NAND flash storage products

With speculation that both motherboards and potentially DRAM will be increasing in price in the next few months, it looks like NAND flash based products arent following the same trend. Kingston is said to be dropping is pricing on at least some of its NAND flash based products by as much as 15 percent.

Digitimes is reporting that Kingston is considering a price drop for its SSDs, memory cards and USB flash drives by up to 15 percent due to more affordable NAND flash memory. Thanks to an almost industry wide move towards 2Xnm and sub 20nm manufacturing technology of NAND flash and a ramp in production has led to potential oversupply concerns. Moving from 3Xnm to 2Xnm allows for more chips per wafer and this in turn has also resulted in more affordable NAND flash.

Hopefully well be seeing others follow suite, as SSDs are still too expensive to garner mass market appeal despite their apparent performance advantages over regular hard disk drives. Were already starting to see the 120GB SSD market space sliding below US$150 in retail and if well see a market wide price reduction by as much as 15 percent, theres really very little reason for consumers to not adopt the technology. The mass market adoption point of SSDs has been said to be the time we hit sub US$1 per GB and were very close at hitting that point now.

Source: Digitimes

Intel's Upcoming Offerings for Mobile Platforms

Some tidbits on Intel's upcoming offerings on the mobile platform.It seems Merom based on the Santa Rosa Socket P platform will hit around 35wof TDP, with its models ranging from the T5500P at 1.66GHz to T7700 at 2.4GHz.Also some of the prices we can expect on the upcoming Merom CPUs on the SocketM.