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WSJ: Google to offer Dropbox-like 'Drive' service
Watch out, Dropbox. You're about to get some competition from Google. At least, that's what the Wall Street Journal says, quoting "people familiar with the matter" who claim Google is on the verge of introducing a rival cloud storage service.
The Google service, called Drive, is "expected to launch in the coming weeks or months." It will be free of charge for most users, although the Wall Street Journal says large quantities of online storage will be available for a fee. (That fee, incidentally, is ...
Nvidia settles with Rambus, signs license agreement
Well, Rambus can pride itself on another successful round of litigation. Nvidia has quietly caved to the patent troll technology licensing firm, agreeing to sign a patent license agreement for an undisclosed sum. Here are the dirty details from the official press release:
We won't blame you for forgetting Rambus and Nvidia were even in a legal spat. After all, the initial lawsuit was filed over three years ago . Rambus accused Nvidia of infringing on 17 ...
Thursday Shortbread
Eight is Enough
- NC State: Engineers boost computer processor performance by over 20%
- Windows 8 on ARM: The desktop is still there - All About Microsoft
- Engadget: Sprint announces Q4 2011 results - the iPhone brings in new
customers & Sprint adds Kansas City and Baltimore to list of LTE markets - LA Times: Verzon brings back double-data promo for 4G phones
- The Verge: hp releases Android test kernel for TouchPad to CyanogenMod team
- Building Windows 8: Improving power efficiency for applications
- Eurogamer: Valve makes Portal 2 Space Core mod for Skyrim
- The Verge reports Windows Store games for Windows 8 revealed
Windows 8 Consumer Preview due February 29
Three weeks to go until you can get your hands on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. As CNet News reports, Microsoft has revealed the date and the time of the launch: February 29 between 3:00 and 5:00 PM CET (or 9:00 and 11:00 AM EST).
Microsoft will stage an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain for the occasion—hence the time zone wackiness. That's an interesting choice of venue. The Mobile World Congress typically sees the release of new ...
Report: Media Center to have limited role in Windows 8
Microsoft has outlined a number of the big changes coming in Windows 8, including the addition of a touch-friendly Metro UI. Metro's big fonts and tiled design were obviously concocted with tablets in mind, but they seem just as well suited to home-theater PCs that put users across the room on the couch, often with little more than a remote for navigation.
Rather than equipping Metro for the living room, it looks like Microsoft is going to keep the 10-foot Media Center interface included in Windows 7—and severely limit its reach. The Verge has heard that Media Center will be restricted to special editions of Windows 8. Although Media Center is currently included in all but the Starter ...
New Logitech mouse is touch-sensitive
Mice with touch-sensitive surfaces are growing slowly in number, with Apple's Magic Mouse and Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse leading the assault. The latest new recruit hails from Logitech, and it looks more like some sort of sea creature than a mouse:
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Etc.
Howdy, all. I was out traveling all of last week, first visiting Intel up in Oregon and then down to Santa Clara for AMD's Financial Analyst Day and a chat the next day with their new CTO. I have been working on writing up my thoughts about the direction communicated by AMD's new management team, which is interesting in many ways. However, last week's travel took a lot out of me, and I honestly haven't been very productive since returning. Progress is being made, though, and hopefully, I'll have something finished soon. I think it should be worth reading, because we've learned quite a bit about AMD's future and the people now in command of it.
Researchers use laser to speed HDD write speeds
SSDs have been the talk of the storage industry for some time. What are mechanical hard drives to do to get back in the news? Two words: frickin' lasers. A group of researchers from half a dozen different countries has managed to flip bits on magnetic media with a laser rather than the magnetic field used in traditional hard drives.
As Physorg explains , the heat generated by the laser causes the magnetic orientation of "nano islands" to change in the material. The laser pulse lasts 60 femtoseconds (60 millionths of a nanosecond), and the orientation change ...
AMD adds a couple of IGP-less Llano chips
Little-known fact: AMD sells a handful of Socket FM1 processors based on its Llano design but without integrated graphics. Those chips are branded as Athlon II parts, and they've been available for some time now. According to CPU World, AMD recently expanded that small lineup with a couple of new offerings.
The Athlon II X4 641 is the faster of the two, with a 2.8GHz clock speed and 100W TDP. It's joined by the Athlon II X4 638, which runs at 2.7GHz but features a slimmer 65W thermal envelope. Both processors ...
Google serves up Chrome for Android 4.0
Wait, doesn't Google already make the default web browser for Android? That's what I thought when I came across this bit of news yesterday. As it turns out, though, Google also wants to offer Chrome as an alternative for Android 4.0 users.
According to the update on Google's blog , Chrome for Android Beta is ...
Wednesday Shortbread
Eight is Enough
- DigiTimes: Vendors dropping ultrabook prices in preparation of
second-generation models and SanDisk cuts retail product prices - X-bit labs: Death of Micron's CEO may slow down consolidation of DRAM market
- Real World Technologies pens AMD Analyst update
- Raspberry Pi gets a manufacturing date and an SoC datasheet
- OBR-Hardware.com: Intel Haswell in QS samples...
- VR-Zone: AMD refreshes FirePro series at the entry level
with V3900 and Microsoft might launch an Xbox TV - dpreview's Nikon D800 hands-on preview
- Creation Kit Tutorial Series - Episode 1: Introduction to the Kit
AMD loses another top executive
These are volatile times at AMD. The chipmaker has lost yet another top executive: Emilio Ghilardi, former Senior VP and Chief Sales Officer, whose departure is "effective immediately." Until a replacement is found, AMD CEO Rory Read will be taking over his duties.
Ghilardi joined AMD in 2008 after a 25-year tenure at HP. When AMD shook up its operations in May 2009, Ghilardi was chosen to head a new ...
Skyrim mod tools released alongside high-res texture pack
Bethesda included a little something extra when it released the Skyrim mod tools today: a high-res texture pack. The texture pack is available on Steam as free DLC. To get the Creation Kit, you'll need to set your Steam library to show tools instead of just games. The Creation Kit should appear on that list if you have Skyrim installed.
Kotaku says the Creation Kit and texture pack weigh in at a hefty 3.1GB, so you might want to get an early start on downloading. Unfortunately, few details are available on the texture pack other than a note suggesting your PC exceed the ...
Ubisoft moves DRM servers, makes some games unplayable
Oh, DRM, how we love to loathe you. In the name of combating pirates, who don't seem the least bit deterred, you make playing games much more complicated than it really needs to be. Sometimes, you even prevent us from playing at all. Ubisoft is migrating a number of its online services to a new facility, and several games will be unplayable during the move.
The publisher details the affected games here , and the list is a short one. On the PC, only Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 , Might & Magic: Heroes VI , and The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom will be unplayable during ...
Flash Player for Firefox to get its own sandbox
Looks like Adobe is hard at work trying to keep Flash secure. After successfully teaming up with Google to integrate a sandboxed Flash Player into Chrome a couple of years ago, Adobe is now working on a similarly sandboxed plug-in for Firefox. Here's the relevant snippet from the blog post by Adobe's Peleus Uhley:
Unlike the Chrome implementation, the beta plug-in for Firefox isn't built right into the browser. The public beta Adobe offers is a ...
OS X update hints at high-DPI Mac displays
Remember last month, when the rumor mill was all aflutter with word of MacBook Pros featuring high-DPI displays? Apple still hasn't made an announcement, but the recently released Mac OS X 10.7.3 update seems to lend weight to the rumors.
That's because, as John Gruber of Daring Fireball points out , the update replaces age-old cursor icons with new, vector equivalents that scale up gracefully. You can compare the new and old cursors ...
Tuesday Shortbread
The Pick 6
- AMD: We need third party IP to differentiate - X-bit labs
- Fudzilla: AMD explains the demise of Deccan
and AMD 28nm APUs officially only in 2013 - VR-Zone: Intel's Berryville Atom CE processors revealed
- Engadget: Verizon and Redbox team up to launch
streaming and physical media service later this year - Ars Technica reports Torrent search engine BTJunkie voluntarily shuts down
- AnandTech, Benchmark Reviews, Björn3D, CowcotLand, Futurelooks, Guru3D,
Hardware Canucks, Hardware Heaven, Hardware Secrets, HotHardware, KitGuru,
Legit Reviews, OCC, PC Perspective, Techgage, Technic3D, TechSpot, and The
SSD Review review Intel's 520 Series SSD
Why '1984' will always be the only '1984'
It's been the same for almost three decades now. The Super Bowl rolls into view and the world goes all atwitter with talk about which television commercials will or will not ascend as the true stars of the game. The general news media always gets into the act, too, inviting folks like the lovely Sally Hogshead or that not-quite-so-lovely Donny guy to comment on which spot will wow the 14 consumers who haven't already seen every ad on YouTube. Local stations harass local agencies for their opinions. And, more than likely, every single interview, article and blog will make some reference to the Greatest Super Bowl Spot Ever Aired in the History of What Lawyers Make Everyone Refer to as The Big Game.
That spot, of course, is 1984 , the commercial that ran one time during the 1984 Super Bowl, launching both the ...
Google said to have HUD glasses in the works
And now, from the wacky, eyebrow-raising rumor department: Google is secretly developing HUD glasses, according to a story by 9to5Google. The site says it caught wind of the project back in December, but it has unearthed new details since then.
Those new details were apparently provided by a "tipster" who got to see the prototype first hand. He claims the prototype "looks something like the Oakley Thumps," meaning a thick frame and possibly earbuds that ...
Crytek inspires streaming social gaming service
Is there enough social networking in your life? If not, you might be interested in a new venture concocted in collaboration with Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. GFACE, which breaks the first rule of the Internet by resorting to allcaps for no apparent reason, looks like a gaming-centric hybrid of Facebook and Google+. The site promises players will be able to enjoy multiplayer 3D games "that you can expect from a next generation console." Specific titles aren't named, but the browser-based service aims to deliver games on smartphones and tablets in addition to PCs.
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