Archive for May 25th, 2008
Photoshop CS 4 Will Use Your Graphics Card to Run at Light Speed, Do Fancy 3D Tricks [Photoshop]
 The next version of Photoshop (CS 4) will be juicing up performance by taking advantage of hardware it hasn’t tapped before: graphics cards and physics processors. How much faster is the new 64-bit, GPU-injected Photoshop? At a demo at Nvidia’s HQ, TG Daily watched “the presenter playing with a 2 GB, 442 megapixel image like it was a 5 megapixel image on an 8-core Skulltrail system. Changes made through image zoom and through a new rotate canvas tool were applied almost instantly.”
3D effects are spiffier too, with direct 3D model manipulation and rendering, as well as a snappier 3D accelerated panorama. Overall, it sounds like it could be the most important Photoshop update in years when it drops in October. [TGDaily]
 
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3G iPhone to support 42Mbps Evolved HSPA data?
Filed under: Cellphones
 Get this. Australian site ChannelNews claims that a “senior executive of Telstra” is the latest 3G iPhone bean spiller. They quote the exec as saying the following:
“We know what is coming we have seen the new device and it will be available on our network as soon as it is launched in the USA. By Christmas this phone will be capable of 42Mbps which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world.”
Interesting. We know that Telstra’s Next G HSDPA network has been capable of 14.4Mbps since 2007. At GSMA Mobile World Congress, they even committed to 21Mbps before the end of the year and 42Mbps using HSPA+ (aka, Evolved HSPA, HSPA Evolution) technology in 2009… not Christmas of 2008. Hard to say if this is just industry blow-harding or actual insider info. June 9th: T-minus 17 days and counting.
[Thanks, Paul S.]
Read — Telstra 42Mbps HSPA+ in 2009
Read — Telstra 3G iPhone rumor
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PC Microworks intros Montevina-powered Edge uber-laptop
Filed under: Laptops
Heads up, spec hounds. PC Microworks’ Edge with Centrino 2 (aka Montevina) is a powerhouse that cannot be denied. This speedster sports a 15.4-inch WUXGA screen, packs a Montevina Quad Core Centrino 2 CPU, 2gb of DDR3 at 1333MHz, nVIDIA Gefore 9800M GTX, HSPDA, and up to 4TB of 7200RPM drives. Don’t go running to the credit card gods just yet, though, as the Core 2 Extreme Quad Core QX9300 (2.53GHz/1066MHz/12MB) version won’t be available until the end of July. What’s more, this baby all decked-out will run you a cool $8,265.
[Thanks, Matthew]
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ASOCS unveils MP100 Multicomm processor — add LTE or mobile WiMax via software update
Filed under: Cellphones
Remember how the BlackBerry Thunder (RIM’s rumored touchscreen device) was said to possibly come LTE-ready? An eye-brow raiser for sure since the US networks won’t deploy LTE until 2010. Nevertheless, here’s how it could be done. ASOCS and Fujitsu just announced what they are calling the “world’s first wireless Multicomm processor.” The system-on-chip can run up to three wireless air interfaces such as GSM/EDGE/GPRS, WiFi, HD Mobile Digital TV, and GPS concurrently. Better yet, device manufacturers “using ASOCS ModemX technology can ship a single-chip mainstream MultiComms baseband solution in parallel with LTE development and later add LTE as a low-risk software upgrade.” Get that? LTE or pretty much any other wireless service added via software update. Hot damn!
[Via Thumb Report]
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Filed under: Robots
Budding robot-builders certainly don’t have any shortage of kits to choose from these days, but this new self-descriptive ROBO Builder set looks to be a good deal more complete than most and, compared to the norm, is somewhat more reasonably priced. This one will let you assemble three different bots (dubbed DINO, HUNO and DOGY) out of the included robot building blocks, each of which can apparently be programmed to perform various activities, or simply be controlled via a computer or remote control. You can also get your choice of black or transparent kits, the latter of which appears to boast some significantly more advanced break-dancing skills. It’s also a good deal more expensive, costing 660,000 won (or $630) compared to the 450,000 ($430) for the basic black version.
[Via The Gadgets Weblog] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
 Via [Engadget]
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OLPC XO Laptop’s Sugar OS Being Shopped to Four Other Laptop-Makers [Olpc]
 Even though the XO Laptop’s Sugar-coated OS wasn’t exactly the most vaunted aspect of the attempted laptop-for-all, following Windows XP’s invasion of the project, former OLPC exec Walter Bender’s newly formed Sugar Labs is shopping Sugar around. They’re in talks with at least four “ultra low-cost” notebook makers who would use it for kid computers. This is the second OLPC splinter faction to license tech from the OLPC project, the first being Mary Lou Jepsen’s Pixel Qi, which is licensing the XO’s innovative indoor/outdoor display and aiming for a $75 laptop. I’m waiting for someone to sell me that sweet XO-2 unveiled the other day. [Betanews via Electronista]
 
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HTC TyTN II Gets Windows Mobile 6.1 Update, AT&T Tilt Soon [Htc Tilt]
 HTC’s TyTN II, the Euro/whitebox version of AT&T’s Tilt, just officially got updated to Windows Mobile 6.1. While you could put the update on a Tilt if you were seriously jonesing for WinMo 6.1, it would wipe out all the AT&T stuff and give you a regular HTC phone. Besides, it’ll start rolling out to branded phones like the Tilt soon, probably in a matter of weeks. [HTC]
 
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Posted by: admin in Gaming
Filed under: Robots
Budding robot-builders certainly don’t have any shortage of kits to choose from these days, but this new self-descriptive ROBO Builder set looks to be a good deal more complete than most and, compared to the norm, is somewhat more reasonably priced. This one will let you assemble three different bots (dubbed DINO, HUNO and DOGY) out of the included robot building blocks, each of which can apparently be programmed to perform various activities, or simply be controlled via a computer or remote control. You can also get your choice of black or transparent kits, the latter of which appears to boast some significantly more advanced break-dancing skills. It’s also a good deal more expensive, costing 660,000 won (or $630) compared to the 450,000 ($430) for the basic black version.
[Via The Gadgets Weblog]
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Via [Engadget]
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Skooba and Targus bags to get your laptop through security, leave room for nothing else
Filed under: Laptops, Transportation
 Responding to travelers’ woes about the laptop-out-of-the-bag shuffle at airport security stations, the TSA solicited bag manufacturers for “checkpoint-friendly” designs. Skooba and Targus are responding with their own line of bags to meet those requirements. What requirements, you ask? In order for a bag to be TSA-friendly, it must be small, have no straps or zippers, and leave no room for chargers, pens, or other detritus that could interfere with the X-ray image. Is it just us, or does that mean we’ll be carrying another bag with us anyway? Nonetheless, the Skooba Skreener pictured here — which doesn’t seem to meet those requirements — is available now for $119.95.
Update: Good looking out, readers — the pictured bag isn’t the forthcoming TSA-friendly bag from Skooba!
[Via Gearlog]
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Posted by: admin in Gaming
Telstra Exec’s 42Mbps iPhone Claims Are All But Impossible [IPhone]
 A Telstra—iPhone’s carrier in Australia—senior executive, has declared that “by Xmas (the iPhone) will be capable of 42Mbps, which will make it faster than a lot of broadband offerings and the fastest iPhone on any network in the world.” While Telstra’s network may reach that speed in 2009, his claim seems nothing but hot air and kangaroo dung, for a long list of reasons, starting with the iPhone’s alleged baseband chip—the Infineon’s S-GOLD3, which tops at 7.2Mbps.
There are no 14.4Mbps baseband chips commercially available in the market now—much less back when the new 3G iPhone development started
• In fact, there are no HDSPA-based mobile devices of any kind supporting more than 7.2Mbps at this point, and even those are still not common.
• Any 14.4Mbps mobile devices won’t hit the market until 2009.
• 24 and 42Mbps mobile devices are, at this point, nothing but a hot fantasy that won’t materialize until the next decade.
The 3G baseband chip most likely to be in the iPhone 3G is the Infineon S-Gold 3.
• The iPhone beta firmware code specifically mentions the Infineon S-GOLD 3.
• There have been multiple press and analysts’ reports about Infineon getting the contract for the next version, continuing its relationship with Apple—right now the iPhone uses the Infineon S-GOLD 2 as its baseband chip.
The S-GOLD 3 tops at 7.2Mbps.
S-GOLD 3 Multimode - HSDPA, WCDMA, E-GPRS Baseband IC with embedded multimedia functions; launch in the market Q3 2007 HSDPA 7.2Mbps, WCDMA 384kbps class UL/DL & EDGE multislot class 12, including SAIC/DARP support
So yes, the Telstra network may support 14.4mbps devices, but most likely—and unless there were five million supersecret 42Mbps baseband chips that nobody knows about, hidden in an subaquatic lair in the Pacific—the iPhone 3G, already well into production ahead of its June 9 launch, will not support those speeds for a very long time to come.
Maybe the unnamed Telstra senior executive is implying that, next Xmas, Apple will introduce an iPhone with a radically redesigned motherboard using that supersecret baseband chip that nobody knows about right now. Or maybe he’s just a clown.
I’ll take Kangaroo dung for $500. [Channel News]
 
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