Austin, TX – After AMD had acquired ATI, many folks had their doubts about the two companies coming together as one. Corporate cultures were almost polar opposites, management styles differed, and a host of other differences that, if this were a marriage, would have inevitably ended in divorce. I was pleased to see that the two are getting together quite well now and, two years after the merger, AMD/ATI have “got their groove back”.
Roughly two years ago Asus entered the discrete audio market with quite a bang. Their entry product, the Xonar D2, took everyone by surprise and created quite a storm of talk and not a little bit of controversy. We had one of those first cards in for evaluation and found them to be an amazing first product and, in terms of performance and audio quality, to be more than a match for the X-Fi.
Since then Asus has released a few different derivatives of the Xonar including a USB flavor. We have had the PCI-e variety in house for a few weeks and have been comparing it rather heavily against Creative Lab’s X-Fi Platinum in terms of audio quality and performance impact both for gaming and HTPC usage. Read on to find out if the Xonar can be heard above the noise.
“Data data everywhere, and not a drop of space....”
When I was a young lad you could carry all of your data (that's programs you've written yourself in BASIC, we didn't have other data back then) on a cassette tape. (although if you wanted to access any of that data you 'd have to put it back in your own computer to get at it since practically no two computers were compatible)
Now-a-days we have shed loads of data, emails, films, music, and more, and we want to access it from any computer wherever we are. For instance if I want to listen to some music on my PC I don't want to have to open my cupboard, find the CD, take it out and then put it in my PC. Even if I can live with doing that, I don't want to have to repeat the same process to listen to music in my bedroom, living room, or anywhere else I fancy.
What I want is to have all of my data in one location, so I can access it from where ever I am in the house.
There are a couple of ways I can do this, I can either have all of the data located on one desktop PC (not really practical as I'll have to turn it off and on again every night), I could have the data located on a Server (Servers do tend to use a lot of power, so they're a bit of an energy hog unless you're using it to do something else as well) or I could use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.
Today we're looking at a company called QNAP's new NAS device for Small to Medium Businesses and Home Office users, the QNAP TS-409 Pro.
Sunbeamtech has long been known for their computer cases and moding accessories. This time around they have sent out an acrylic HTPC chassis for us to take a look at. It may not be what everybody wants sitting under their HDTV in the living room but there is certainly a market for HTPCs like this.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- June 12, 2008 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the new ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 for Mac® & PC Edition, delivering the power to go beyond high-definition visual computing for work and play(1). Optimized exclusively for Apple Mac® Pro systems, the ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC edition can help drive productivity with built-in 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 frame buffer memory and 320 stream processors to deliver maximum performance for graphics-intensive applications such as 3D modeling, animation and games. Users also can expand visual workspace using twin dual-link DVI ports to connect two 30” Apple Cinema HD displays®.
Fountain Valley, CA – June 11, 2008 – Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping HyperX® 800MHz low-latency DDR2 SO-DIMM notebook memory kits in 2- and 4GB capacities. The latest offering provides mobile computer users an even greater performance and flexibility option as the SO-DIMMs are pre-programmed with three serial presence detect (SPD) profiles, allowing the memory to work in 800MHz-CL5, 667MHZ-CL4 and 533MHz-CL3 low-latency configurations.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that downloads of its iPhone(TM) SDK (Software Development Kit) have topped more than 250,000 since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone. Apple today also announced that its amazing new App Store will be available in 62 countries bringing a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications directly to iPhone and iPod(R) touch users around the world. Users can download applications wirelessly and start using them immediately.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone(TM) 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries -- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US -- on July 11.
Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel, Samsung, Sprint Ally to Form WiMAX Industry Patent Pool
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 9, 2008 – To accelerate the widespread adoption and deployment of WiMAX technology and products, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Clearwire, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics and Sprint today announced the formation of the Open Patent Alliance (OPA). The OPA will advance a competitive and open intellectual property rights model, thus stimulating a larger WiMAX industry that supports innovation through broader choice and lower equipment and service costs for WiMAX technology, devices and applications globally.
QNAP and BitTorrent Cooperate to Enable a Powerful All-in-One Turbo NAS Series - - the TS-109 II, TS-209 II and TS-409
Taipei, Taiwan, June 2008 - QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced its cooperation with BitTorrent, Inc. to enable a new powerful peer-to-peer (P2P) download engine embedded its All-in-One Turbo Network Attached Storage (NAS) series, the TS-109 II, TS-209 II, and TS-409. With significantly enhanced download performance, it aims to replace PC-based download solutions to offer a more energy-saving and environment-friendly option for all BitTorrent users. The DHT, TCP and UDP tracker protocols, and the encryption mode are all supported in the new download engine. The energy saving-designed TS-109 series and TS-209 series consumes only 14.4 W and 29.3W respectively in operation, which saves up to 80% of the power consumption of a PC server. Moreover, the QNAP Turbo NAS series is built on a Linux-embedded OS, which is more stable and less vulnerable to hacker or virus attacks. It is ideal for 24/7 operation and is the new choice for P2P download applications.
Lossless HD Audio Playback with Copy Protection Technology
Taipei, Taiwan—June 05, 2008—CyberLink Corp. (5203.TW), innovative solution provider for the connected digital lifestyle, announced today its joint demonstration with leading
IC design house Realtek Semiconductor Corp. to incorporate Realtek’s high-performance ALC889 audio codec within PowerDVD, delivering exceptional high-definition audio playback at 192kHz/24bit. The collaboration is being showcased at CyberLink’s suite, Grand Hyatt suite 1030, 1031, and 1032 during Computex 2008, June 3rd – 7th.
ASUS Claims Leadership in Support for Next Generation AMD Processors
-- ASUS AMD based motherboards are now 140W Phenom Ready --
FREMONT, CA (June 2, 2008) - ASUS�, worldwide leader in component and notebook design and manufacturing, today announced a wide range of high-performance AMD based motherboards are ready to support the upcoming 140W Phenom processors. These next generation AMD Phenom processors are equipped with blazing fast CPU core frequencies, and will provide unprecedented performance gains for thread-intensive games and applications. Backed by a solid power design, systems built around these CPUs will also offer an extraordinarily stable operating environments ASUS is the first motherboard manufacturer to offer complete product lines supporting the new 140W powered AMD Phenom processors � offering users a wide range of choices that are also future proof.
Taipei, Taiwan – June 3, 2008 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, computer components, and systems, today unveiled its latest innovations to the global technology market at Computex (Hyatt Exhibition Suites 1101 & 1102). Providing worldwide computer communities with an ever-expanding lineup of the latest components, OCZ continues to enhance its tried and true product lines while further increasing its reach to new markets and consumers.
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SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that downloads of its iPhone(TM) SDK (Software Development Kit) have topped more than 250,000 since its launch on March 6. The iPhone SDK provides developers with the same rich set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and tools that Apple uses to create its native applications for iPhone. Apple today also announced that its amazing new App Store will be available in 62 countries bringing a breakthrough way for developers to wirelessly deliver their applications directly to iPhone and iPod(R) touch users around the world. Users can download applications wirelessly and start using them immediately.
Taipei, Taiwan, June 2008 - QNAP Systems, Inc. today announced its cooperation with BitTorrent, Inc. to enable a new powerful peer-to-peer (P2P) download engine embedded its All-in-One Turbo Network Attached Storage (NAS) series, the 
With significantly enhanced download performance, it aims to replace PC-based download solutions to offer a more energy-saving and environment-friendly option for all BitTorrent users. The DHT, TCP and UDP tracker protocols, and the encryption mode are all supported in the new download engine. The energy saving-designed TS-109 series and TS-209 series consumes only 14.4 W and 29.3W respectively in operation, which saves up to 80% of the power consumption of a PC server. Moreover, the QNAP Turbo NAS series is built on a Linux-embedded OS, which is more stable and less vulnerable to hacker or virus attacks. It is ideal for 24/7 operation and is the new choice for P2P download applications.
Taipei, Taiwan – June 3, 2008 - OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, computer components, and systems, today unveiled its latest innovations to the global technology market at Computex (Hyatt Exhibition Suites 1101 & 1102). Providing worldwide computer communities with an ever-expanding lineup of the latest components, OCZ continues to enhance its tried and true product lines while further increasing its reach to new markets and consumers. 