Archive for January, 2011

Acer Aspire AOD260 Wireless Broadband Netbook

January 25th, 2011

Netbooks are on-the-go machines built to accomplish basic computing tasks without weighing your bag down. Since surfing the net is one of the primary use of such PCs, all of them come embedded with a Wi-fi chip. In some countries, there have been a handful of models that have been sold with 3G adapters built-in. But most of these didn’t really make their way into India, obviously as the country is just waking up to the 3G revolution this year. But this is GSM 3G we’re talking of, while CDMA’s competitive 3G technology (dubbed EV-DO) has been around in India for some time, providing users with theoretical speeds of up to 3.1 Mbps.

We’d tested the Olive Zipbook, a Netbook that had an EV-DO based wireless modem built-in. Although it was a pioneering attempt in the country, the device lacked the basic deliverables that are expected from a Netbook.

Today, we have the Acer AOD260 – a variant of the “Aspire One” series Netbook from the company, with a 3G EV-DO modem built-in. So, does the AOD260 finally pull off the characteristics of a netbook without the need to have a stick-like object poking out of its USB port? Read on to find out.

Design and Build

The Acer Aspire AOD260 is very similar in design to its Gateway counterpart, the LT23. The glossy black top with the “Aspire One” logo is striking, and oddly enough, the same glossy part is even fitted at the base of the laptop. The AOD260 is pretty thin and light compared to the current iteration of Netbooks; anything smaller than this is going to burn a hole in your pocket. The build quality is also pretty good as the AOD260 does not creak or flex to the point of concern.

Source:-http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Acer_Aspire_AOD260_Wireless_Broadband_Netbook/551-114249-616.html

AMD to Offer OpenGL 4.1 Support on Microsoft Windows and Linux Platforms In Latest Driver Release

January 24th, 2011

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced wide-ranging support of OpenGL® 4.1 for Microsoft Windows® 7, Windows® Vista, Windows® XP and Linux across select ATI FirePro™, ATI FireGL™ and AMD Radeon™ graphics cards. The new functionality is made possible with the release of the latest professional and consumer graphics drivers, ATI FirePro™ and ATI FireGL™ unified driver 8.801, and AMD CatalystTM 10.12, available on the AMD website.

“AMD has a long tradition of supporting open industry standards, and with the announcement of support for OpenGL 4.1, we continue to demonstrate that commitment,” said Janet Matsuda, general manager, AMD professional graphics. “Maintaining OpenGL as a strong and viable graphics API is very important to AMD and we are proud to support the OpenGL development community.”

“The Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp. R&D team is focused on offering the best user experience possible by enabling real-time OpenGL rendering,” said Ron Bates, Senior Manager, Graphical Applications, Dassault Systèmes. “AMD, through its close collaboration with Dassault Systèmes, and its optimized OpenGL implementation and consistent support, presents SolidWorks users with an extraordinary graphics experience.

Full compatibility with the OpenGL 4.1 standard on AMD’s most recent graphics products including ATI FirePro™ V3800, ATI FirePro™ V4800, ATI FirePro™ V5800, ATI FirePro™ V7800, ATI FirePro™ V8800 and ATI FirePro™ V9800 and the AMD Radeon™ HD 6900 and AMD Radeon™ HD 6800 graphics cards:
Improved OpenCL™ interoperability for accelerating computationally intensive visual applications
Continued support for both the Core and Compatibility profiles first introduced with OpenGL 3.2, enabling developers to use a streamlined API or retain backwards compatibility for existing OpenGL code, depending on their needs
Easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms with full OpenGL ES 2.0 API compatibility
Ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time
Capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility
Higher geometric precision with 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs
Increased rendering flexibility with multiple viewports for a rendering surface
Support for new ARB extension introduced with OpenGL 4.1:
Ability to set stencil values in a fragment shader for enhanced rendering flexibility
Callback mechanisms to receive enhanced errors and warning messages.

Source:-http://www.advertisertalk.com/amd-to-offer-opengl-4-1-support-on-microsoft-windows-and-linux-platforms-in-latest-driver-release-19568.zhtml

AMD Promotes Two Technical Leaders to Corporate Fellow

January 24th, 2011

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced the appointments of Sam Naffziger and Leendert van Doorn to AMD Corporate Fellow for their leadership in power management technology and software development, respectively. Corporate Fellow is the highest level of technical recognition at AMD, with Naffziger and van Doorn becoming only the third and fourth employees to hold the position.

“This designation is reserved for individuals who impact AMD’s business opportunities and technical breadth by providing a high degree of expertise, creativity and strategic direction,” said Chekib Akrout, senior vice president and general manager of AMD Technology Development. “Sam and Leendert are not only leaders in their respective technical fields, but they are also crucial to AMD’s competitive position.”

Sam Naffziger
Naffziger has more than 22 years of experience in developing microprocessors and is a recognized visionary in circuit design and power management technologies. Since joining AMD in 2006 he has been a leader at the company in high-frequency, low-power circuit design, including significant contributions to the new “Bulldozer” x86 processing core scheduled to come to market in the first half of this year. Naffziger has also been the primary architect behind a number of key power reduction and management technologies being deployed AMD’s upcoming processors codenamed “Llano”, “Orochi” and “Trinity.” He is the named inventor on 92 issued patents, 13 of which were filed while he was at AMD, and has contributed more than 25 IEEE publications and presentations to the industry.

Leendert van Doorn
As a software visionary, van Doorn is a recognized technical authority in a number of key areas including operating systems, virtualization, security and manageability. He has been consistently recognized for making significant contributions that intersect across AMD’s product roadmaps, making the company a valued and trusted partner with software developers. Prior to joining AMD, Leendert held of number of technical titles at organizations including IBM and AT&T. Leendert is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, is the named inventor on 6 patents and has published over 40 peer reviewed books, conference papers and journal contributions.

Corporate Fellows are appointed after a rigorous review process that assesses not only specific technical contributions to AMD, but involvement in the industry at large, mentoring of others and improving the long-term strategic position of the company.

Source:-http://www.advertisertalk.com/amd-promotes-two-technical-leaders-to-corporate-fellow-19570.zhtml

Epimacular brachytherapy used for wet AMD in Germany

January 24th, 2011

Epimacular brachytherapy has been used commercially in Germany for the first time, according to NeoVista Inc. The therapy is performed using the company’s system (Vidion ANV Therapy system) as an adjunct therapy to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

“Multiple studies have demonstrated that injections alone are not able to effectively treat this disease in a large portion of the population,” said Gisbert Richard, MD, professor and head of the ophthalmology department at the University Medical Center of Hamburg-Eppendorf. “The German health care system presents a welcome opportunity for NeoVista to demonstrate the effectiveness of this emerging technology. I believe the use of epimacular brachytherapy in the treatment of wet AMD will continue to gain momentum in Germany and in many other countries as the rising cost of health care on a global basis encourages more and more patients to continue seeking out additional or alternate therapies.”

This approach to treating wet AMD delivers a focused dose of strontium 90 beta radiation directly to the back of the eye without damaging the adjacent healthy retinal vasculature. The systemic exposure to radiation is minimal and highly controlled to a local area, according to the company. The effective dose to the entire body from the device is less than that from a typical chest x-ray.

Source:-http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+News/Epimacular-brachytherapy-used-for-wet-AMD-in-Germa/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/704626?contextCategoryId=40207

I’m a PC, but I’d rather be a Mac

January 24th, 2011

84% of iPhone, iPod and iPad users worldwide own a non-Apple PC, but 67% of those would own a Mac if price were not an issue, according to NPolls.

56% of Mac OS X users said the main disadvantage of Macs was that the hardware is too expensive.

The interface, performance, installation and stability of Mac OS X were named as some of the operating system’s best features.

Windows’ best features were software and hardware compatibility, but stability, system configuration and price were problems.

Macs, unsurprisingly, were also considered “prettier” than Windows machines.

7% of all people surveyed said they were unhappy with their computers, but this percentage was significantly lower among Mac owners, at 2%.

Source:-http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/news/im-a-pc-but-id-rather-be-a-mac

HTC Sensation is the tablet version of Sense UI

January 24th, 2011

HTC is known for the Sense user interface on their Windows Mobile and, more recently, Android smartphones, and a recent trademark filing may have revealed that they’re planning to use a similar skin on their upcoming tablets. According to a European filing, the company is trying to trademark “HTC Sensation,” which on its own is a pretty good indicator that it’s something Sense-related. Upon further inspection, though, the description in the filing gives us even more evidence that Sensation could be the name of a tablet UI: “user interface software; computer hardware and software for user interfacing, telecommunications and telecommunications services.” The full description is as follows:

“Mobile phones, smartphones, wireless phones, wireless devices, portable computers and personal digital assistants, computer hardware and software for mobile, portable and wireless devices; user interface software; computer hardware and software for user interfacing, telecommunications and telecommunications services; computer hardware and software for transmitting and receiving voice, image, data, audio, video and multimedia content; wireless modems; headsets, headsets with wireless transmission function, connection cables, cradles, mounts, face plates, batteries, power adaptors, chargers, cases, in-vehicle chargers, in-vehicle holders, remote controls, keyboards, microphones, loudspeakers, leather pouches for mobile phones.”

While my love for vanilla Android has been well-documented, I do think that HTC’s Sense UI is one of the better skins on the market today. It’ll be interesting to see how HTC adapts Sense for their tablet(s), whenever the company gets around to releasing them. We’ve heard that a device called the Flyer could be arriving as soon as March, but there hasn’t been any hard evidence to prove that just yet. The good news is that HTC will likely have some devices to show off at MWC, which just so happens to be right around the corner.

Source:-http://www.phonedog.com/2011/01/23/rumor-htc-sensation-is-the-tablet-version-of-sense-ui/

Microsoft Encouraging Hacking?

January 23rd, 2011

Microsoft looks to have a shift in policy concerning hardware hackers. MS has recruited George “Geohot” Hotz to take a crack at a Windows 7 phone and see what he can make of it. You may know the name from the Sony PS3 legal wrangling.

It may seem counterintuitive compared to the strategies of their rival companies, but Microsoft appears to be trying to win over gamers with more lenient policies regarding hardware hackers.

Source:-http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/01/22/microsoft_encouraging_hacking63/

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