By Mark Raby - Source : Tom's Guide US

Redmond (WA) - Microsoft has unveiled its first Service Pack for the Mac version of Office 2008, adding new features and security enhancements to the Apple-specific release of the productivity software suite.

A couple of the bugs that pertain to all Office products were that text boxes and certain shapes would periodically mess up a file, and when copying an Office 2008 file into an Office 2004 program the software would freeze. Service Pack 1 patches these issues.

In Word 2008, SP1 fixes problems with the Notebook Layout View, including background settings and format changes. There is also a new set of business card templates. For Powerpoint, it enhances stability with Microsoft Sync and fixes issues pertaining to e-mail and Internet connectivity.

Finally, the Excel updates include new chart fortmatting options that were in previous versions of the software but not in 2008. Additionally, compatibility issues when saving have been fixed and when the formula bar is changed, the changes will be saved.

Mac Office 2008 users can download the update from Microsoft’s website and it is now available through the company’s Auto Update service.

Be the first to comment!

By Kevin Tu - Source : Tom's Hardware

NVIDIA’s rumored GT200-based graphics card appears to be close to shipping as details and pictures have begun emerging. PC Online claims to have obtained pictures of a cooling device (translated via Google) that is said to belong to the next generation graphics card from NVIDIA.

The cooling device, which looks similar to the current cooler on the 8800 GTS 512 MB, is said to fit onto a GT200-based GeForce 9900 GTX with 240 stream processors, 32 raster units, 1 GB of GDDR3, and 512-bit memory interface. Unlike the current 9800-series that were based on G92 die, the GT200 will be built on a new architecture.

From the reference design of the cooler, the cooler is believed to accommodate a 65nm chip, while 55nm revisions of the GPU to follow after launch. Thermal design of the cooler also points towards a 240-watt graphics card. The new GPU from NVIDIA is rumored to be for the high-end market only and will consist of the largest chip design from the company and over 1.5 billion transistors.

The GT200 was originally slated for a fall 2008 launch, but delayed with no apparent reason. Board partners received memos from NVIDIA earlier this year stating the GPU was stable and ready to ship for several weeks now.

AMD’s RV670 successor, the RV770 is set to launch this summer with an anticipated price to be sub $300. It is likely NVIDIA has been holding onto the GT200, as it anticipates the upcoming RV770 to perform relatively well. However, there have been reports that the new graphics card will be placed above the current GeForce 9800 GX2, which already priced above the $500 mark.

Expect official announcements soon, as the Computex trade show is less than a month away.

Read 10 comments

By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

AMD announced the next round of promotions, additions and departures to from its staff. Most notably, we learned that the company has promoted one of its executives to a role what essentially is a CTO in its traditional meaning and replaced its current CTO with a new CTO. Confused? No worries, the explanation follows below.

Randy Allen, who was in charge of the AMD’s server and workstation business and previously oversaw microprocessor engineering for the company, has been promoted to the role of "senior vice president, Computing Solutions Group". He will be responsible for "broad and growing portfolio of consumer and commercial microprocessor solutions and platforms", something that sounds like the job description of an almost-chief technology officer to us.

However, it is not quite a complete CTO-like role, as there is a newly formed "Central Engineering" organization that is co-led by Chekib Akrout, who is joining AMD from Freescale, and Jeff VerHeul, corporate vice president of design engineering at AMD. The Central Engineering leadership team is described to "direct the development and execution of AMD’s technology and product roadmaps in partnership with AMD’s business units." Akrout, VerHeul and Allen will report to president Dirk Meyer.

And even if AMD did not name a new chief technology officer, the company still got a new CTO, short for "chief talent officer": The company promoted Allen Sockwell to senior vice president, human resources and CTO to develop "AMD’s leadership assets and employee talent".

Mario Rivas, formerly executive vice president of the Computing Solutions Group and Michel Cadieux, formerly senior vice president and chief talent officer, have left AMD.

Be the first to comment!

By Humphrey Cheung - Source : Tom's Guide US

Cupertino (CA) - Oh where have all the iPhones gone? Apple is having trouble stocking its wildly popular iPhone in retail stores and its completely unavailable on the United States and UK online Apple Store. Apple says there is no word on when it will get new inventory and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing since everyone anticipates the 3G version of the phone to be announced next month.

We did a quick check on the Apple online store and sure enough both the 8 GB and 16 GB models of the phone are "Currently Unavailable". However, several people have confirmed that many retail stores still have the iPhone in stock, although it is getting a bit more difficult to find. Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris told

Apple’s Developer Conference is on June 9th and everyone expects Steve Jobs to announced the next-generation iPhone - capable of supporting 3G speeds.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

In an attempt to gain an edge in the competitive motherboard market, Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology have already unveiled motherboards featuring the new Intel P45 chipset for media review, as they gear up for the official June 2008 launch of the P45. Intel reportedly will officially launch its 4-series chipsets at Computex 2008, while motherboard makers will start shipping products later that month.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By CNBC (via Yahoo) - Source : Tom's Hardware US

The future of mass market quantities of electric cars is getting a big push today from one on the more "electric" leaders in the auto industry. Nissan/Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is expected to announce his company plans to sell its first electric cars in the U.S. by 2010.

Read the complete story here.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Nokia has chosen Samsung Electronics over STMicroelectronics as an additional supplier for high-end 5-megapixel CMOS image sensors, as the South Korea vendor is ahead of STMicroelectronics in pushing the products to market, according to market sources in Taiwan. Nokia has been buying the bulk of its entry- and mid-range CMOS image sensors from STMicroelectronics, while purchasing the high-end CMOS image sensors for its N-series camera phones from either OmniVision or Aptina, the sources indicated.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

In addition to its GPU production, AMD is planning to also outsource CPU production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in the second half of this year, according to industry sources. Although Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD did not mention any plans to outsource production during the company’s recent investors conference, the industry sources revealed that TSMC has already started testing procedures for a SOI manufacturing process in order to land manufacturing orders for AMD’s Fusion CPUs.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Japan-based LCD panel makers Sharp and IPS Alpha lowered their quotes for 32-inch LCD TV panels in April 2008, while Korea-based LG Display cut prices on its 42-inch panels, according to panel industry sources in Taiwan. Mainly due to the price cut, Sharp’s shipment volume of 32-inch LCD TV panels increased to 500,000-600,000 units in April and is expected to further rise to 800,000 in May 2008, the sources pointed out.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

Although LED makers expected demand to pick up once the first quarter low season ended, industry player indicated that demand was not as strong as expected early in the second quarter, but average selling prices should not drop more than 10% in the quarterer. The first quarter is historically the low season for demand from the handset sector, and ASPs fell accordingly, dropping 10-15% in the quarter.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

LG Display has announced that it has developed what it claims is the world’s first TFT roll-printing technology that can replace the photolithography process. Photolithography is a process used in TFT-LCD fabrication to form patterns on the TFT and color filter substrate.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

While LG Electronics (LGE) has seen its plasma display panel (PDP) shipments buoyed its 32-inch segment, competitors are cautious about volume production for the segment, where market prices remain at levels lower than production costs, according to industry sources. The 32-inch segment helped LGE surpass Matsushita Electric Industrial in overall PDP shipments in the first quarter of this year, the sources noted.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Expanding its broad line of professional LCD monitors, Sharp has announced the new TL monitor line, a full 1920x1080 2-megapixel high-definition (HD) resolution series. The new series, including the 52-inch class TL-M5200 and the 46-inch class TL-M4600, offers high image quality, features and performance at a competitive price point.

More here at Digitimes.

Be the first to comment!

By Humphrey Cheung - Source : Tom's Guide US

Taipei (Taiwan) - The first Intel Atom-powered Mobile Internet Device (MID) could be quite expensive. The handheld Gigabyte M528 with its 800 MHz Atom CPU, 512 MB RAM and 8 GB SSD will cost approximately $1131, according to Engadget. However prices could go higher/lower because Gigabyte hasn’t announced official pricing just yet.

Read more ... Engadget.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Former President of Microsoft’s business software division Jeff Raikes has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Raikes just announced his retirement from Microsoft back in January so it’s a surprise to see him back in the saddle so soon.

The charity was founded 8 years ago by Bill and Melinda Gates and was later doubled in size by Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. It now employs a staff of nearly 550 and has an endowment of $37.3 billion.

On February 7, 2008, former CEO Patty Stonesifer announced that she would step aside from her role at the end of the year, however the Foundation has announced that Raikes is to take over from September of this year, the same month he is due to leave Microsoft.

Those who are inclined to think that Raikes won the position because he previously worked for Microsoft should know that the ex-Microsoft employee went through the same screening process as over 150 other applicants and as a finalist was grilled by the company’s top execs before finally getting the job.

"Bill and I considered many extraordinary candidates from around the world during the search for our foundation’s new CEO," said Melinda Gates, foundation co-chair. "Jeff brings more than 25 years of experience in the private sector and has earned a reputation as a trusted and respected leader. Equally important, he shares our passion for these issues and for continuing Patty’s work to build a great culture at the foundation. Jeff is the right CEO to lead the strategies we have in place to help reduce inequities in the United States and around the world."

Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stanford University and spent his early years driving the company’s applications marketing strategy and its graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Before becoming president of the Business Division, Raikes was group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group.

Be the first to comment!

By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Apple is revving up its marketing machines for its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), stating that it will move the Mac OS X Leopard and OS X iPhone development platforms into the spotlight.

It isn’t an especially surprising and spectacular announcement, but it provides a clear picture of what Apple tried to tell us with a "two bridges" announcement a few weeks ago.

Apple did not mention any new products that could be introduced at WWDC, but we are surely not the only ones hoping that there will be a 3G iPhone and, since this is a product most of us are expecting anyway, at least one surprise. Apple would not be Apple, if there wasn’t at least one surprise, right?

Be the first to comment!

By Kevin Tu - Source : Tom's Guide

Texans shopping on Amazon.com may have to pay sales tax in the near future. The state of Texas is currently looking into whether Amazon can be held responsible for collecting sales tax, including four years worth of back taxes.

Following in the footsteps of New York, officials in Texas claim Amazon may owe millions in sales taxes on purchases made by residents in Texas over the past few years. The officials claim the local government was not aware Amazon had a distribution center in Irving, Texas until now. Having a physical presence in the state would require retailers, online, or mail-order companies to collect tax on all sales within the state. Amazon, on the other hand, argues the company is in compliance with tax regulations.

“We’ve been in the state of Texas since 2000, and we’ve interacted with a number of state and local tax officials,” said Patty Smith, Amazon spokesperson. “We remain in compliance with all Texas laws governing sales tax collection.” Amazon added state law does not require it to collect taxes on its Texas facility, which is operated by a subsidiary called Amazon.com.kydc. Smith added Amazon’s distribution center has been paying other Texas taxes, including state and local property taxes, state franchise tax, and local business licenses.

Texas estimates the state lost an estimated $541 million in sales tax in 2006 from Amazon and other online sales. Final figures from back taxes have not been finalized yet. However, the IRS already technically expects residents in tax paying states to keep track of out-of-state purchases and report all necessary items when filing their annual income tax return.

Last month, Amazon sued New York state over a new law requiring sales tax collection by out-of-state retailers selling to instate residents. Amazon argues the new law is illegal and unconstitutional. Amazon currently collects sales taxes on items shipped to Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Washington.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

HP has announced that the company will purchase EDS (Electronic Data Systems) for $25 per share.

The $13bn deal has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, and is expected to close in the second half of this year. When it does, HP estimates it will have roughly a 7 percent share of the technology service market. It will also see HP’s IT services revenue increase by over 50 percent (to more than $38 billion) and will put it second only to IBM (which currently has a 10 percent share of the technology service market). This is a step up from the company’s previous spot in fifth place behind Accenture, Fujitsu, EDS and IBM.

Rumours of the acquisition began to circulate yesterday and by the time Monday evening rolled around, both HP and EDS had released statements confirming that the two were in talks but both refused to elaborate on the issue.

HP plans to establish a new business group, EDS –an HP company, which will be based in Plano, Texas, home of the current EDS headquarters.

The acquisition is the largest people-based business acquisition the industry has seen so it shouldn’t be any surprise to hear that the 210,000 combined employees won’t be 210,000 employees for very long. HP did hint at significant layoffs in overlapping departments but HP Chief Executive, Mark Hurd and EDS Chief Ronald Rittenmeyer declined to estimate how many people would get the axe.

Networkworld.com has a copy of the email Rittenmeyer sent to the masses over at EDS. While there is plenty of reassurance regarding the new company’s location (as previously mentioned it will take up residency in Plano) and that EDS would retain the brand that “you all worked so hard for”, he also mentions that there’s going to be a lot of change, which is sure to panic a few employees. Our advice it to chain yourself to your desk and layoff hanging out around the watercooler.

The deal between EDS and HP is reminiscent of HP’s near-acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting division in 2000. IBM bought the unit two years later for $3.5 billion.

Read 2 comments

By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Santa Clara (CA) -Sun joins the growing number of companies to announce servers based on AMD’s "fixed", quad-core Opteron processor with Barcelona B3 core. These new servers join Sun’s existing lineup of Intel quad-core servers and create an environment of "choice".

Some eight months later than initially expected, Sun is rolling out a family of 1U, 2U and blade servers with AMD’s quad-core Opteron servers. The offering covers eight different server models, the 1U X2200 M2, X4140, X4200 M2, X4400, the 2U models X4240, X4600 and X4440 as well as the blade server X8440. These new models offer some advantages beyond the fact that they can carry up to eight processing cores, and support, depending on the model, up to 16 memory slots and room for up to 16 SAS hard drives.

The fact that these servers are late isn’t Sun’s fault, but a result of AMD’s TLB bug and the delayed availability of a "fixed" Barcelona processor. Despite AMD’s claims that the impact of the TLB bug in the B2 Opteron is unlikely to show up in real-world applications, Sun decided to skip B2 and wait for B3. Company representatives told TG Daily that the reason for this decision was based on "performance concerns" of the B2 Barcelona chip.

Even though Sun’s success in the x86 server market is based on its decision to built Opteron-based servers, the company was able to bridge the delay of the B3 Opteron through its decision to use Intel’s quad-core processors in its server products. Sun was able to market its product to a completely new customer base that appears to prefer Intel products and claims that this business has been "incremental" to its existing AMD business. According to Sun, many buyers of AMD systems are very loyal and have not switched to Intel quad-core systems.

Interestingly, if you were to approach Sun and ask which quad-core Processor is the better chip, it is unlikely that you will be directed to a certain processor brand, at least officially. Sun told us that virtually impossible to say which processor will be faster or more power efficient in a certain environment. In the end, these processors will show different advantages depending on their application area and the only way to find out which processor will be the best solution is to test it within the actual server environment.

Be the first to comment!

By Tuan Nguyen in Los Angeles - Source : Tom's Hardware

Last week Tom’s Hardware had the opportunity to sit down with Gigabyte’s technical team in Taiwan and discuss motherboards, energy efficiency and the competition. Gigabyte’s technical team wasted no time in jumping into charts, benchmarks and comparisons with its main competitor, Asus. Gigabyte’s technical manager spent time comparing several motherboards from both Gigabyte and Asus, specifically those that claim good power to performance efficiency ratios.

When the slides were shown, the message from Gigabyte’s technical team was obvious: Asus outright lied about its performance figures.

According to Asus’ own documents, motherboards labeled with an EPU logo contain an "Asus Energy Processing Unit." Essentially, these motherboards are supposed to contain components designed specifically to lower power consumption and provide better electrical efficiency throughout — there’s really no logical "processor" involved. Asus claims that EPU motherboards can deliver up to 80.23-percent "power savings" from motherboards without EPU components.

At this point, Gigabyte claims that there are no truths to Asus’ claims of 80.23-percent, and in fact is more realistic at 58.6-percent. Gigabyte says that Asus made no changes to its motherboards via firmware, design or component changes — only numbers were changed on product advertisement and packaging. Gigabyte noted that Asus was "playing numbers marketing" and "cheating end users."

Gigabyte claims that when Asus compared its EPU motherboards to Gigabyte DES equivalents, Asus had no engineering of the DES system at all, and provided incorrect comparison figures and graphs to the public. Several motherboards were compared: Asus P5E3 Deluxe, P5E3 Premium and Gigabyte’s EP35-DS3L. According to Gigabyte’s testing, its own boards had significantly higher levels of efficiency at system start and during fluctuations in load.

The comparison test used the following industry standard components:

CPU: Intel Q6600 (1066MHz FSB) quad processor Motherboards: Asus P5K SE/EPU, Gigabyte EP35-DS3L Memory: Geil DDR2-1066 1GBx2 Graphics: Gigabyte NX86S256 Storage: Western Digital 80GB CPU Cooling: Coolermaster RS850-EMBA

During all loads, Gigabyte’s DES system bests the EPU system with figures ranging anywhere from 4.1-percent to a whopping 17-percent difference at maximum savings settings. In fact, Gigabyte claims that Asus’ EPU system "cheats" by lowering certain system frequencies by small amounts to reduce power consumption, instead of actually providing better power throughput. In the EPU "Walk Mode," which is its most efficient mode, Gigabyte claims that Asus’ EPU does its trick by down clocking 10-percent and dropping Vcore voltage — possibly affecting CPU stability.

According to Gigabyte:

"We found that [Asus’] EPU in 4 phase mode CAN NOT act PWM phase changing while Asus still claims EPU is a hardware based energy saving chip. Don’t get fooled. The EPU (AIGear3+) is pure software based, not hardware!"

In fact, Gigabyte engineers pointed out that the "EPU" chip on Asus motherboards do no processing at all and simply handles software behaviors, and does not control any hardware functions on any part of the motherboard. Gigabyte goes as far as saying that the EPU chip is "fake." Asus says that its EPU system is a 4 phase power management system, but Gigabyte argues otherwise, saying that the EPU has absolutely no phase changing capabilities at all.

"How can you believe it? Everything [Asus] say are lies," said Gigabyte.

At the board level, Gigabyte pointed out that Asus’ boards used poor quality capacitors that were not manufactured in Japan. "Asus uses non-Japanese made metal solid capacitors to fool you," said Gigabyte. "Asus still tries to [cut] cost down."

Gigabyte pointed out that the capacitors used on all of its boards are made directly from high-quality Japanese manufacturers. Specifically, Gigabyte said it prefers to use those from Chemico or Fujitsu. Gigabyte engineers said that capacitors used on Asus boards are ones that are known to blow under load.

In related news, TG Daily has story about the Gigabyte event, but in an entirely different light. Apparently, an editor from a well known website made way with confidential Gigabyte information, and TG Daily was told that the editor cabbed straight to Asus’ headquarters with sensitive Gigabyte data. This act alone makes things more difficult for all parties, especially those hosting and those attending events like these down the line.

Read 64 comments

By Bestofmedia Team - Source : Tom's Guide

Apple and HBO have announced that they are to begin selling shows such as “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos” via iTunes; with HBO having done what NBC couldn’t and convinced Apple to sell certain shows for $2.99, a buck more expensive than Apple’s preferred standard price point.

Among the new offerings on iTunes are Emmy Award-winning shows "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Deadwood" and "Rome," as well as the critically acclaimed hits "Flight of the Conchords" and "The Wire."

HBO shows purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store can be viewed on a Mac or PC, iPod nano with video, iPod classic, iPod touch, fifth generation iPod, iPhone or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. "Sex and the City," "The Wire" and "Flight of the Conchords" are priced at $1.99 per episode, and "The Sopranos," "Deadwood" and "Rome" are priced at $2.99 per episode.

Previously NBC had tried to convince Apple to play with price points above $1.99, which is Apple’s preferred standard price for iTunes TV shows (the same as $0.99 is for a song and $9.99 is for an album.) They had to pull out of distributing content with iTunes thanks to the failure to reach an agreement.

Now however Apple is signalling that it is willing to sell TV shows at more than $1.99 an episode, and with various contracts for the likes of CBS coming up for renewal, we can expect to see some changes in the prices on offer for TV shows on iTunes.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Dell will begin phasing out its XPS line of high-end desktop gaming PCs from the beginning of June.

Dell’s XPS line is comprised of four models and can cost from $1,199 up to more than $7K.

The report claimed that XPS sales were eating into the market share of Dell’s subsidiary Alienware and said the new strategy is part of Dell’s broader turnaround effort.

Last year Dell fell behind rival HP in PC sales and obviously, touting two different lines of gaming machines wasn’t doing them any favours when it came to profit. Dell has said it will phase out the XPS and focus on what it feels is its premium line. The report also hints that we’ll soon see some new designs for Alienware based on new materials that go beyond the traditional Alienware design.

Dell acquired Alienware in March of 2006 however Alienware continues to develop and market it’s own products whilst leveraging the financing and purchasing power of Dell. Prior to the acquisition Alienware was one of the main competitors for the XPS.

The announcement comes as quite the surprise given that it wasn’t too long ago that the world was introduced to the XPS 730 H2C. The company only officially announced the machine at the beginning of the month so we’re wondering what it is that made them decide to pull the XPS line just a few weeks after the launch of the latest addition to the family, a machine Dell is describing as “one of the most advanced gaming platforms on the planet”.

Either way if you’re a fan of XPS you should probably get ready to say your goodbyes because starting June, it looks like it’s all Alienware.

Read 4 comments

By Bestofmedia Team - Source : Tom's Guide

According to preliminary data released by Gamestop the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV has been outselling the PlayStation 3 version roughly 2-1 in North America, though when compared to the relative install base the Xbox version has been under selling compared to its rival.

According to the NPD Group there were 9.9 million Xbox 360’s and 4.1 million PS3’s sold in North America just prior to the launch of GTA IV, or 14 million units in total of which 70.7 percent are Xbox 360’s and 29.3 percent are PS3’s. The breakdown of sales for GTA IV is that 64 percent went to the Xbox 360 and 36 percent to the PS3.

The GTA franchise has, previously, been a PlayStation hallmark and near-exclusive, though all of this has changed recently to the extent that the Xbox version will be getting exclusive future content that Sony fans will have to go without. The sales data for the fourth instalment in the franchise indicates that a lot of PlayStation faithful went out and bought the game, whilst some Xbox users are perhaps still waiting to be sold on the idea.

Speaking to Newsweek, Microsoft director of product management Aaron Greenberg said “I think many people have been surprised to see how well GTA IV is selling on Xbox 360 given the history of the franchise. These sales results add GTA IV to a long list of franchises that have switched over from Playstation to find a new home on Xbox 360 similar to what happened last year with titles like Madden and Guitar Hero.”

The Sony folks countered with PlayStation senior vice president of marketing Peter Dille, who commented “GameStop probably does a little bit better with the early adopter crowd. There’s a larger installed base right now on Xbox 360 than on PS3. So it’s not surprising that there’s going to be more selling on Xbox 360 than PS3.

“Having said that, we’re really excited about the ratio. If I had an installed base advantage of 3-1, I wouldn’t be crowing too much about a 60-40 sales advantage. We think it’s not as high as what GameStop’s telling you, if you look at [the full picture on] the national level. They’re outselling us, but not by that same margin, and it’s because of their installed base lead.

“With an installed base lead that’s close to 3-1, if you’re bragging about a 60-40 software split, it’s clear evidence that the Playstation 3 consumer is overindexing on GTA IV, and the Playstation brand loyalty that we’ve been talking about is bearing itself out in the marketplace as we speak.”

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

The Chilean government is currently investigating a case whereby the information of 6 million residents was stolen and then posted on a popular online techblog by the name of FayerWayer.com

According to FayerWayer’s Director, Leo Prieto, the hacker posted three compressed files in the comments section of the website at 2am local time on Saturday. The files included the home addresses, telephone numbers, identity card numbers, email address and the academic records of 6 million Chileans.

A note contained within the files explained that the stunt was carried out to demonstrate the low level of IT security in Chile and how little work was being done to protect the data of the country’s 16 million residents. Similar to the US, the Chilean department of elections sells voter data including information on gender, name, address, nationality, date of birth, and disabilities. However, while this kind of information can only be used for political reasons in the US, Chile apparently doesn’t enforce that kind of restriction.

The hacker also reportedly claimed that the files contained academic information on the daughter of Michelle Bachlet, the country’s president,

"Bachelet’s daughter has a school pass, although it’s not given to many people because their parents have earnings above a certain threshold,"

The posted data appears to have been stolen from sites run by the state-owned electoral agency, and Chile’s Education Minister and state-run telephone services however the head of the Electoral Service, Juan Garcia, insists the their database is "intact, secure and protected", claiming the information from his agency that appeared on the Internet was not confidential and available to the public upon request. The information remained on FayerWayer for just a few hours but reports say that even after it was removed it began cropping up on other websites.

The attack comes not too long after the Italian tax office released the tax details of Italian residents in an effort to reduce tax evasion on it’s website. The government said they hoped it would create an atmosphere of transparency with accessible circulation of information. Listed information included names, addresses, dates of birth, declared income and taxes paid.

The information was pulled from the site after Italian privacy and consumer groups contested that it was a violation of state privacy laws.

Be the first to comment!

By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Hardware

Recently IBM announced that it was shuffling its deck of executive cards and now a similar announcement has come through from AMD.

Earlier today AMD announced several organizational and executive changes, which it claims are part of company’s “ongoing efforts to re-architect its business for sustained profitability”. This includes the formation of a Centralized Engineering organization and the appointment of 24-year AMD veteran Randy Allen to lead the company’s Computing Solutions Group.

The newly formed Central Engineering organization will be co-led by Chekib Akrout and Jeff VerHeul (corporate VP of design engineering at AMD). Akrout comes from Freescale Semiconductor where he served as VP of design technology. Prior to that, Mr. Akrout worked for IBM and was responsible for the company’s work on the Xbox 360 processor and embedded PowerPC cores.

Jeff VerHeul also comes from IBM with 25 years at the company under his belt. VerHeul joined AMD in 2005 and most recently led the company’s microprocessor design engineering organization. The Central Engineering leadership team will direct the development and execution of AMD’s technology and product roadmaps in partnership with AMD’s business units and will report directly to president and COO, Dirk Meyer

Newly appointed Senior VP of Computing Solutions, Randy Allen was previously responsible for AMD’s Server and Workstation business and oversaw microprocessor engineering for the company, including the introductions of the AMD Opteron and AMD Athlon 64 processors. His new post will place him in charge of the company’s portfolio of consumer and commercial microprocessor solutions and platforms. Mr. Allen will also report to Dirk Meyer.

Continuing the theme of chopping and changing managerial positions, AMD announced that former vice president of Computing Solutions, Mario Rivas had left to “pursue new opportunities” along with former senior vice president and Chief Talent Officer, Michel Codieux. Allen Sockwell is set to take over his position as well as filling the role of VP of Human Resources.

Is AMD what’s necessary to make positive changes in the company? It’s too early to tell, but what is clear is that many people have left the company — either by being fired or leaving on their own. What’s evident is that AMD is scrambling to make every effort it can to catch up to Intel. Last year was devastating for AMD both on a financial and product standpoint. Hopefully the tough changes that the company is making in 2008 will translate to a positive outlook in 2009.

Related Links

Analysis: AMD Asset Lite Strategy Will Create MAD AMD
AMD Reports Another Hefty Loss: $358 Million In Q1
IBM Announces Changes In Executive Line-Up

Be the first to comment!

By Mark Raby - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Seattle (WA) - The new Asus Eee PC 900 is now available for order at Amazon.com. The online retail giant has a price set at around $550 - $580, depending on specs.

The "Eee" brand has made waves with its light-weight design, reliance on solid-state drive memory and a Linux operating system.

The 900, a second generation version of the Eee PC, features a larger 8.9-inch wide screen capable of displaying 1024 by 600 pixels and dual solid-state drives capable of storing 12 GB in Windows XP and 20 GB in Linux.

Available in either Pearl White or Black, the computer will also feature a new FingerGlide touchpad that can recognize two finger gestures for zooming and scrolling.

The 900 also features a 900 MHz Celeron M CPU from Intel, a UMA graphics chipset, one gigabyte of DDR2 RAM, and built-in 802.11b/g Wi-Fi.

The laptop is available with Windows XP pre-installed.

Read comment

By Kevin Tu - Source : Tom's Guide

Microsoft will be offering steep discounts to PC manufactures that will use Windows XP in ultra low-cost desktops and notebooks. However, the discount comes with limitations, as Microsoft will be placing hardware restrictions for these manufacturers.

In hopes of fostering adoption of Windows over its Linux competitor, Microsoft will offer steep discounts of Windows XP Home Edition for ULPC desktops and notebooks like the Asus Eee PC or OLPC. The new program ask manufacturers that screen sizes on notebooks be smaller than 10.2 inches, touch screen not be used, hard drives should be under 80 GB, contain less than 1 GB of memory, and a single-core processor that clocks less than 1 GHz. The program has provided exception for pre-determined chips like Intel’s Atom and Via Technologies’ C7-M processors.

Microsoft’s goal is to limit hardware capabilities of upcoming generations of ULPCs so they do not reduce the demand for modern PCs with capable hardware. The limitations allow “PC makers to offer low-cost alternative, and it prevents eroding of pricing and margins in the mainstream OS market,” said analyst Roger Kay, EndPoint Technologies Associates president.

Microsoft’s program is expected to launch in June. Prices will reflect the market or country’s wealth. First world countries will get Windows XP Home Edition at $32, while developing markets such as China or India will only pay $26.

The surprising success of the Eee PC has forced many OEMs to quickly produce its own ULPC. HP recently launched its Via based Mini-Note, hoping to cash in on the growing market. Over twenty new designs of ULPCs are expected to launch later this year.

Microsoft had earlier announced its plans to stop selling Windows XP to OEMs after June 30, but ULPC has been noted as the exception.

The reduction seems more like an attempt at making Windows XP ULPCs less attractive than say, a more recent ULPC unit that would ship with Windows Vista.

Be the first to comment!

By Rob Enderle - Source : Tom's Guide US

Analyst Opinion - We recently took a look at the new Dell XPS 730 H2C and spoke about an interesting notion on how this new system was invading Alienware’s territory. Given the proliferation of performance products, I think it is time to take a closer look at branding in this emotional market segment. Can you differentiate a mainstream gaming PC from a more boutique-like gaming PC?

Discussing this question is actually a fun exercise for me, because I’ve actually got a couple of degrees in marketing and have held a couple of branding jobs in the past. If you take everything you are taught in marketing and branding (and a few things that are not), the tech company that does the best job with product positioning and brand management is Apple, bar none. Even if I do talk about Apple a lot lately, I will be using them as a reference again, since it just makes sense here. Looking beyond PC technology, there may be a company that does an even better job in of brand management than Apple: That would be Ferrari, in terms of generation cash for its parent company (Fiat). That said, I generally believe that the car industry is much better at brand segmentation than the PC industry.

Branding 101

By definition, a "brand" is a trade name given to a product or service. Some folks like to suggest names and brands are different, but they aren’t. Why we call a brand a brand is because we invest in it and generally attach a collection of images to it. It is generally connected to a symbol, logo, slogan or design scheme.

We could drop into a mess of definitions surrounding products, lines, corporations, or parents, but for our purposes, we can just shortcut this and say that a brand is a name that someone attaches to products to help them sell something in this context.

Doing branding well

What differentiates companies that do branding well like Budweiser, GE, Apple, and Ferrari from those that do not is the clear messaging they attach to their brands and the clear distinction between the products that have brands associated with them. Let’s focus on Apple first.

Apple does product branding about as well as it can be done. Each offering has clear attributes that differentiate it. iPod Classic means it is a trusted design (kind of like Coke Classic). The iPod Touch, Shuffle, and Nano names identify the core marketed benefit and the "Pro" modifier on some of their products indicate professional use. If I were to name a product like Macbook Pro you know a great deal about the product because Apple has a designed a brand for it that is easy to remember and consistent with the parts of the product that differentiate it within a family. I don’t even have to tell you it is from Apple in most cases because the company has taken steps to make sure that you will make that connection.

Ferrari, which also has a very simple line of products, focuses more on the company brand and ensures that people always see that brand as a sign of exclusivity and performance. You will never see the Ferrari brand on a product that doesn’t have something unique about it. The related offering is always connected to some kind of performance message. Porsche, on the other hand, adds design to the mix so that if the name "Porsche" is attached to a product also indicates a visually pleasing appearance. Both companies take extreme care of these brands and license them out aggressively.

Dell, Gateway, HP

All three technology vendors have a nasty habit of using numbers to differentiate their products. This is done because it makes it easier for the vendor to manage a product, but it makes the product much harder to sell. Model numbers are also in place because these companies have vastly more complex lines of products. The bottom line is that the complexity of the product-mix would make the lines virtually impossible to sell if these companies used distinct names. That is the reason why they have line brands like Latitude or Presario. Even so, they have lots of these brands, making it much more difficult for a potential buyer to choose an certain product.

In HP’s case, let’s take one extreme example. For a consumer laptop you have the Macbook from Apple and from HP one product like the Compaq Presario V6700TX. Now turn away from the screen. Can you remember the Apple? Can you remember the HP product? Complex lines make effective branding nearly impossible.

Premium Brands: Alienware, Voodoo, FX, XPS

First, Dell bought Alienware. Then HP bought Voodoo. In response, Gateway brought out its FX premium line. Before Dell bought Alienware, the company had the XPS series, which was then positioned as a premium performance line and all of these systems were, at least initially, focused on performance and gaming.

The danger in having a premium brand is eroding it. The classic examples are the Lincoln Versailles and the Cadillac Cimarron. This was where GM and Ford got the brilliant idea of bringing out an aggressively priced car within their premium brands, which resulted in a significant drop in sales for Lincoln and Cadillac. People who bought Cadillac and Lincoln were buying exclusivity and those value moves nearly killed that aspect of the premium brands with a disastrous effect.

Currently there is a clear distinction between Alienware and Dell as well as Voodoo and HP. The first to blend the brands was HP with the Blackbird where the company referred to it as having "Voodoo DNA". In cars this is like a performance car being connected to the racing program that also bears the company’s name, like Ferrari and F1 racing. That is a good use of the performance brand without eroding it, however the Blackbird itself appears more advanced than anything Voodoo has right now and, should that continue, the performance brand’s value may erode.

While we in technology know the connection between Dell and Alienware, that connection isn’t widely marketed. This makes the erosion risk lower but it doesn’t create any synergy between the two companies either. The danger is that folks like us start creating the connection for Dell and the Alienware brand erodes as a result.

Gateway took a safer path of simply putting a performance designator on an existing line but their problem is they don’t have the equivalent of a racing line (Voodoo is to HP like an F1 car is to Ferrari), which means that Gateway does not get the pull for their products HP and Dell can.

There are ways to build a value performance product, but you still have to invest in making the product right. The Sunbeam Tiger was one of my favorites, but it has nowhere near the cache of the Cobra that it tried to emulate.

In the end, question for HP’s and Dell’s premium efforts will be how well they can pull some of the brand benefits from Alienware and Voodoo into more volume oriented products without destroying the premium benefit associated with the Voodoo and Alienware brands.

And that isn’t exactly an easy task.

Rob Enderle is one of the last Inquiry Analysts. Inquiry Analysts are paid to stay up to date on current events and identify trends and either explain the trends or make suggestions, tactical and strategic, on how to best take advantage of them. Currently he provides his services to most of the major technology and media companies.

Be the first to comment!

By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

Chicago (IL) - If you were to try to squeeze your server into a notebook form factor, how would it look like? You can check Eurocom’s new Phantom D90xC Phantom-X portable computer to find - it comes with a quad-core Xeon processor, two graphics cards and, if you can wait a few more months, up to 3 TB of hard drive storage or 384 GB of SSD storage. Just don’t ask about the battery running time.

There is a market for many products you first think don’t make much sense and this latest Eurocom portable computer may be one of them. Calling this Phantom model "portable" may even be a bit of a stretch, as it weighs in at around 12 pounds (or the equivalent of four Macbook Air notebooks), but if you compare its capability to act as a server, then Eurocom’s achievement to fit all relevant server components into a notebook form factor, then you certainly see a remarkable product reveal itself.

Equipped with a 95-watt quad-core Xeon X3360 processor (45 nm, 12 MB L2 cache) running at 2.83 GHz, the 17" D90xC is priced from about $3350. If you were to check all the options, which include a 1920x1200 pixel display, a 2x Blu-ray drive, two GeForce 8800M GTX graphics chips, three 64 GB solid state disk drives, as well as Windows Server 2008, you end up with a very capable notebook that will cost just under $10,000 (choose 500 GB hard drives instead and the bill will be about $7200). Eurocom said that the notebook has the physical space to integrate up to six hard drives for up to 3 TB of storage space (960 GB of hybrid hard drives or 384 GB with SSDs), which will be available in the September time frame.

The D90xC is not meant to be carried around like a notebook, so don’t expect typical advantages you see from modern notebooks, such as increasing battery times that are now in the 5 hour range with some models. Considering the fact that there are very power hungry components in this notebook, a battery time of about one hour actually deserves praise. This author remembers his first precious multimedia notebook, a 1996 Gateway 12" model equipped with a Pentium MMX-166 MHz CPU that barely hit 90 minutes. 1 hour may not sound like much today, but consider a server (including display) that can run for 1 hour on a battery alone could be a very special and valuable product for some people out there.

Be the first to comment!

By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

Leicester (UK) - Here is an interesting math exercise that, if you are really into text messaging, can get you thinking twice whether you continue to use your SMS service or simply make a call next time. In a best case scenario, the comparison of the cost of text messaging is just another sign how overpriced these services are, at least when they aren’t included in a flat-fee plan.

We all know that text messaging isn’t cheap, so the news that you are getting ripped off by your cellphone provider for such a service isn’t new. However, Nigel Bannister, a space scientist at the University of Leicester came up with an interesting idea to compare the cost of text messages - he compared it to downloading data from the Hubble space telescope.

Based on the UK market, he took a cost of 5 pence per SMS and assumed that a user would always use the full capacity of each message - 160 characters. Since each character has just 7 bits, each message has a maximum of 140 bytes (160x7/8). The cost per megabyte, which holds 1,048,576 bytes, therefore comes to £374.49 (7490 text messages x 5 pence).

We took a quick look at the U.S. market and found that T-Mobile charges $0.15 per text message, which brings the per-megabyte price to a stunning $1,123.50. Yes, you can trim the cost by purchasing a (domestic) message bundle: T-Mobile charges $5 for 400 messages ($0.0125 per message), $10 for 1000 messages ($0.01 per message) and $15 for unlimited messages.

Bannister said that NASA told him that download 1 MB of data from Hubble costs about £8.85, or about $17. However, that cost only includes the transmission of the data to the first point of contact on the ground. So he made some assumptions what it may cost NASA to get this 1 MB of data into its computers and came up with a range of £8.85 to £85, which translates into a range of $17 to $166. Converted into a per text-message cost, Hubble transmissions would cost about 2.2 cents per message.

In any case, this per-megabyte comparison undercuts the text messaging rate by a far margin, unless you are not subscribing to an all-you-can-eat flat fee.

Yes, we know, it is a questionable comparison and only some of us are writing 250 or more text messages per day. But we are still left with a sensation that cellphone text messaging is a bit pricey.

Be the first to comment!