By Theo Valich - Source : Tom's Hardware US

As we reported, Intel launched Centrino 2 yesterday at an event held in San Francisco’s Mezzanine. However, we left out just one noteworthy event, we decided to share with you.

There was one aspect of this launch that was slightly off base, but we’ll leave it up to you to judge who was right and who was wrong. During his presentation, corporate vice president Mooly Eden invented a new calendar.

According to the executive, in 2000 BC ("Before Centrino") only 19% of all sold PCs were notebooks. In the year of Centrino’s birth, the share of notebook sales began to grow visibly, while we are now approaching the 50% mark - much earlier than expected, according to Eden.

Something is just not right here. Yes, we got the joke. But "2000 Before Centrino"? Really? Would that be year 3, since Centrino was introduced in 2003? Ok, we don’t waste too much time on this one, but we do hope that Intel will be skipping biblical terms or western calendars with something that makes sense.

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By Christian Zibreg - Source : Tom's Guide US

Analysis - The iPhone 3G launch frenzy is over and if you were among those to leave Apple or AT&T stores empty handed, then there is a good chance you will get your phone in a much quieter "direct-fulfilment" environment this week. But the massive hype and demand left us wondering how many iPhones were sold to enable some conclusions whether Apple supplied reasonably enough units or if this was yet another case (remember the PS3 launch?) of deliberately undersupplying the launch market. Let’s have a closer look.

Being a financial analyst can be a tough job, especially if you had to cover the iPhone 3G launch. In terms of sales estimates, you are dealing with an overly secretive company anyway and in this specific case, a usually perfectly executing machine failed on multiple fronts, which could mean that you have to pull at least some estimates out of your nose. When analysts issued their iPhone 3G sales estimates last Friday, no-one factored in the activation issues that spoiled the party. And it appears that many analysts may have largely underestimated Apple’s ability to resolve the nightmare and get back on its feet quickly, making the equation even more complicated.

According to Yankee Group, Apple’s hiccup may have been just that and the research firm now thinks that the iPhone 3G may have been the largest consumer electronics product launch in history, taking over the title from the original iPhone.

Analysts now say that official sales results "fall in line with expectations", but Friday estimates varied greatly, from 425,000 (Piper Jaffray) on the low-end to one million (RBC Capital Market) and all the way up to three million on the high-end. Before we crunch the numbers, remember what Apple constitutes as a sale: Apple Store sales are recorded when the sale takes place at the store register. Sales to Apple’s U.S. and overseas carriers are considered wholesale and are recorded when an iPhone leaves the docks in Asia.

A reduced price and an expanded international distribution model are now helping Apple to boost sales, but a lack of online sales and activation issues have cut into the handset’s true potential. Activation issues affected sales the most since the sales time was increased beyond 15 minutes (sales at Apple stores last year took about 1 minute each).

"Making history is never easy or smooth," said Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe. "Apple’s competitors should be happy about the problems they had. Imagine how many iPhone 3Gs Apple would have sold if the launch had been problem-free," said Howe.

It is interesting to note that analysts don’t see widespread iTunes activation server issues that led to bricked handsets as a sign of a sloppy launch preparation on Apple’s part, but rather as an indication of the overwhelming demand.

iPhone 3G sales turn analysts upside down

Some analysts underestimated Apple’s ability to get over the activation issues and Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster is one of them. The analyst originally projected only 425,000 units sold from Friday morning to Sunday evening, estimating it would take Apple 17 days to pass the one million mark.

"We underestimated the number of phones sold per hour throughout the weekend and Apple’s recovery from activation issues. While we believe Friday’s 24 phones per hour is probably a close guess for Friday, the number likely increased significantly on Saturday and Sunday, well above our previous estimate of 28 phones per hour," the analyst said in a revised statement sent to clients yesterday.

"The summary is that demand is good, execution was average," Munster told Bloomberg. He says iPhone 3G sales are 40% higher than last year, citing "international availability in 21 countries and 60% lower entry-level price point" as key drivers, translating into 4.08 million iPhones sold this quarter.

For RBC Capital Market’s Mike Abramsky, the launch weekend sales turned in exactly the one million units he predicted on Friday, citing pent-up demand, expanded distribution and lower price points. Abramsky expects 5.1 million units for the fourth quarter and 6.5 million for the first quarter of 2009. If he is right, Apple has a shot at overtaking Research in Motion (RIM) as the world’s second largest smartphone company. RIM is currently selling about four million smartphones per quarter.

Analyst projections aside, the demand for the iPhone 3G appears strong across the majority of the 21 launch countries. As indicated by the iPhone availability tool, Apple has run out of iPhones at 95 of its brick-and-mortar stores in the UK. Some AT&T stores are also sold out, but the carrier still signed up customers who will receive the handset with the next iPhone shipment. Unexpected shortages after just three days may indicate that Apple underestimated the demand (RBC’s Abramsky estimated the initial iPhone 3G production at 1.5 million units). European markets that showed sluggish demand last year are now reporting overwhelming iPhone demand and strong sales.

Overseas market finally taking off

O2, Apple’s UK iPhone carrier, said that it is sold out of initial iPhone supplies, promising new shipments this week. "We’re seeing phenomenal demand. I was staggered," said O2’s chief of convergence services Dominic Hulevicz on Friday. "In some of our stores we have been selling 40 iPhones an hour - the same level of sales those stores usually do in a day," said O2 spokesman. Hulevicz said that the carrier has seen demand "coming from all areas," including corporate markets. The executive noted that the handset subsidy has brought in the new variable to the iPhone equation - price conscious shoppers.

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster estimates that the top 5 market in terms of launch weekend sales are the U.S. (400,000), UK (250,000), Italy (88,000), Mexico (69,000) and Germany (48,000), with an average of 18,000 units sold in each of the 19 other countries. His survey among 283 attendees of Apple and AT&T stores in New York and Minneapolis revealed some interesting facts about the general sales pattern.

This year, 38% of users were upgrading from the original model and 39% were PC users (25% last year). Customers are mostly upgrading from Motorola (20% this year, 35% last year) and Samsung (13% this year, 9% last year), indicating that these two companies may be the hardest hit by the renewed interest in Apple’s gadget. The iPhone’s commanding ability to bring in subscribers at the expense of competing carriers remains strong - with 38% of iPhone buyers being new to AT&T (52% last year).

The $199 price point seems to be the sweet price point as 65% of customers are purchasing the higher capacity 16 GB model, down from a whopping 91% that bought the higher capacity 8 GB model last year. The new iPhone accelerated iPod cannibalization; with 46% of buyers saying they will not use an iPod in addition to the iPhone (29% last year). Ironically, only 9% are buying the iPhone 3G because of the lower price, contrasting what most analysts are citing as a key sales driver. 85% of buyers said they’re getting the handset for the new features it offers.

This claim is echoed by RBC’s Abramsky who says that "the iPhone 3G remains unmatched by competitors in its interface and user experience," but added that virtually the same camera, 3G drain on battery life and increased service plan pricing remain valid points of concern.

Gene Munster noted that global demand for the iPhone is "better than expected." The analyst believes that the trend will continue when Apple delivers the handset to the additional 58 countries during the year. "In addition, we expect Apple will sell phones in China and Russia by year end. The only problem is production, but we continue to believe 45 million units for 2009 is achievable," said Munster.

How do 1 million iPhones translate to dollars?

If anyone had any doubt that Apple is either losing money or earning less on iPhone 3G (which is estimated to cost $173 to manufacture), Yankee Groups’ break-down clears the picture. The research group says that iPhone 3G launch may have been "the largest consumer electronics product launch in history," estimating that Apple posted about $433 million in first weekend iPhone 3G sales, based on the assumption that two thirds units sold were 8 GB and one third 16 GB model and an average price of $433 after the carrier subsidy.

The first iPhone was estimated to ring in at $150 million (in inflation-adjusted dollars). To put that in perspective, Windows 95 brought $122 million in the first four days, while the Xbox360 delivered $128 million during the launch weekend.

Yankee Group also estimates that the 10 million downloaded applications over the App Store made $3.5 million, with $1 million belonging to Apple since it takes 30% out of what the developers charge for their applications. The research firm said that most of the downloaded applications were free, but it echoed other analysts’ claims that Apple’s future earnings from the App Store will overtake iTunes profits once the iPhone installed base and the number of available applications increases. RBC’s Abramsky dubbed the App Store as "value builder" over time, comparing it to the powerful iPod/iTunes combination. Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed that the goal of the App Store is to push iPhone sales.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

Lenovo is planning to launch a G-series of its consumer-based IdeaPad product line which will target entry-level and netbook markets, according to sources at notebook makers. The first IdeaPad G-series product will be the 14.1-inch G430 adopting Intel’s Centrino 2 platform.

More here at Digitimes.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

Dell is planning to introduce a low-cost notebook in August to join the low-cost notebook market, according to the market sources. The notebook will be manufactured by Compal Electronics, according to the sources.

More here at Digitimes.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Guide US

LCD panel makers are reducing their utilization rates while expecting prices to stabilize in August, as clients’ inventory levels should start running low and related orders will begin picking up as system makers look to meet demand during the high season, according to industry sources. The sources noted that brand-name vendors and system makers have already been able to digest parts of their panel inventory, making it likely that panel prices in August will drop slightly or stay flat.

More here at Digitimes.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Nvidia has recently reached an agreement with Intel and received a Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) license enabling the company to design chipsets for Intel’s next-generation platforms, according to sources at motherboard makers. Nvidia will only launch solutions for entry-level and mid-range motherboards supporting socket 1160 CPUs (Lynnfield) initially.

More here at Digitimes.

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By Samantha Rose - Source : Tom's Hardware US

The PhotoBioReactor Sculpture is the latest work of BIOS Design Collective, a group of both professional and academic designers, and is created to act as a piece of art, a renewable fuel source, and a bio-remediation plant. Designed by Charles Lee, the sculpture is described as artistic and functional meshing well with the landscape in which it is installed to "evoke thought and stimulate the imagination".

A photobioreactor is a system that is either a closed or semi-closed system that has both light and nutrients supplied to it in an effort to maximize algal biomass. The nutrients are provided through pollutants thus allowing the sculpture to facilitate bio-remediation, which allows an environment that has been contaminated to return to its original state. And yes, a photobioreactor can also utilize carbon dioxide to aid in the reduction of greenhouse gases.

According to the designers, the bioreactor towers are attached to a machine that is designed to harvest and extract the algae biomass. As a result, the algae can be used to produce biodiesel, which could be used to run machinery or vehicles that maintain the park in which the sculpture is located.

It is not difficult to see that these photobioreactor sculptures could deliver an artistic and eye catching feature to a park. They are made using an aluminum carriage that has a continuous spiraling tube cascading from the peak to the bottom of the sculpture. Other greentech could add many artistic touches, such as solar-powered lights.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Elpida Memory announced today that it has developed a power-efficient DDR3 SDRAM in 1 Gb densities, which is capable of operating at a speed of 2 Gb/s. Elpida’s new DDR3 SDRAM is based on a 65 nm process technology.

More here at Digitimes.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

The DRAM contract price is going to stay flat through July, after seeing prices steadily increase since April, according to DRAMeXchange. DRAMeXchange indicated that the DRAM contract price stayed flat in the first half of July, ending the consecutive growth trend seen since April.

More here at Digitimes.

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By DigiTimes - Source : Tom's Hardware US

The global solar inverter market is projected to grow by more than 40% in 2008 driven primarily by continued strong demand from both Germany and Spain. IMS Research anticipates that growth will slow slightly in 2009 as feed-in tariffs are cut in these two countries; however, revenues from solar inverters are forecast to exceed $2 billion by 2010.

More here at Digitimes.

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By Theo Valich - Source : Tom's Hardware US

Mountain House (CA) - The first batch of R700 previews hit the Internet today as AMD lifted the news embargo for a very limited number of hardware review websites. Some of the spurned sites, like Guru of 3D (Guru3D.com), were furious and made their emotions public.

In fact, Guru of 3D was so furious in regards to AMD that they published the launch date for the product. We know that R700 line-up will consist out of two graphics cards, one cheaper and one more expensive one. Look for Radeon 4850 X2 1GB and 4870 X2 2GB in your favorite retail/e-tail store on August 13.

"The expensive one" was previewed on AnandTech, HardOCP, Tech Report and so on.

As you can see for yourself, ATI Radeon 4870 X2 even with beta BIOS and drivers has a lot of potential. ATI increased the CrossFire bandwidth from 6 to 20 GB/s, while PCIe bridge chip was moved from Gen1 to Gen2 (PEX8547 chip was replaced with PEX8647/8), even though this increased latency from 110ns to 140ns.

We were worried about continuous PLX’s PCI Express bridge chips, since 3870 X2 suffered from microstuttering, a problem with multi-gpu solutions rendering frames at different times resulting in long delay between two frames.

Even though PLX864x chip features increased latency, Sampsa Kurri at Xtremesystems.org reported that ATI finally fixed microstuttering with 4870 X2. With this issue gone, it seems that AMD finally has a winner on their hands.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

San Francisco (CA) - Xohm president Barry West announced that Sprint and the companies that saved the company’s WiMax network in May will be offering the high-speed wireless technology in September of this year on a very limited basis.

WiMax carries the hope of many hardware manufacturers and software service providers to spark yet another evolution of wireless connectivity and finally deliver on the promise on limitless, always-on connectivity for affordable prices. After months of uncertainty, we have no a clear launch time frame. Xohm (Sprint’s WiMax unit) president Xohm announced at Intel’s Centrino 2 launch event that WiMax will launch in September in Baltimore.

No other cities have been announced yet and we don’t have an exact date yet: The Xohm executive said that he could provide such a date and said that it would be between September 1 and September 30 (we think this should have been funny, but it really wasn’t). However, at least we now know that WiMax will launch this year and Intel will be rolling out its WiMax chipsets in time for the rollout.

Earlier this year, it seemed that Sprint’s financial struggles could bury the WiMax effort in the U.S. for good. However, a group of companies that included Clearwire, Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse saved Sprint with a massive investment. Sprint will hold 51% of the new venture called Clearwire, representing a $7.4 billion stake. Clearwire’s participation is valued at $3.9 billion and a 28% stake. The remaining 22% will go to Comcast, which invested $1.05 billion, Intel ($1.0 billion), Time Warner Cable ($550 million), Google ($500 million) and Brighthouse ($100 million). The complete company was valued at $14.5 billion at founding.

Next to Sprint and Clearwire, Intel is the largest stakeholder due to its previous investment in Clearwire, which gave the chip manufacturer a share of more than 20% in the communications company.

Intel’s position is unique, not just because its substantial share in the new company, but the fact that it is the dominant WiMax hardware company worldwide. Not surprisingly, Intel said it will work with manufacturers to "embed WiMax chips into Intel Centrino 2 processor technology-based laptops and other Intel-based mobile Internet devices, and will market the new company’s service in association with Intel’s performance notebook PC brand."

Intel vice president Sriram Viswanathan, who runs Intel’ WiMax business, told TG Daily that Intel considers the availability and success of WiMax as a "critical" component of its product and business strategy. "Broadband wireless is an integral part of mobile devices today," he said. "There will be no alternative to WiMax within the next three years."

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Hardware US

San Francisco (CA) - Intel today announced its latest Centrino platform - which oddly named Centrino 2, not just because it really is the fifth generation (and should be called Centrino 5), but also because its brains, the Core 2 Duo processor is just a refresh and may not have justified the new name by itself. That aside, the new platform offers more processing, graphics and wireless performance, while consuming less power, the company promises. Any questions?

A few days ago, a PR representative of a big hardware manufacturer called me and shelled me with questions why we haven’t written that much about Centrino 2, previously code-named Montevina, in the past few weeks. It was an unusual call, but somewhat understandable since we have dedicated quite a bit of space to processor launches in recent years and this time we did not. Centrino 2 is different.

Besides the shiny new name, there is very little that is truly new about the platform, which consists of a refreshed 45 nm Penryn CPU, a new integrated graphics chipset and a wireless chipset. While the platform is new, the processor architecture is not. What we are really waiting for is the new Nehalem architecture scheduled for a Q4 release. If you have just purchased a Penryn notebook, there is no reason to get excited about Montevina. If you really need a notebook now, then it certainly is a solid platform. But if you can afford to wait, then hold off buying a new notebook until Nehalem chips become available in Q4 or early in Q1.

New processors

So, what is new in Centrino 2? Well, first off, there are new processors. Intel has six new processors - two 8000 series (3 MB L2 cache) chips with 2.26 GHz (P8400) and 2.4 GHz (P8600), three 9000 series CPUs (6 MB L2 cache) with 2.53 GHz (P9500 and T9400) and 2.8 GHz (T9600). The P-series marks chips that are rated at a 25 watt TDP while the T-series marks chips with a 35 watt TDP. The new flagship model is the X9100 Extreme model with a 3.06 GHz clock speed and a 44 watt TDP - this processor was widely believed to have been used by Apple in its latest iMac introduced earlier this year (Intel however claimed that the iMac CPU has a 55 watt TDP). Intel said that it will add a mobile 45 watt quad-core version of the Penryn processor later this quarter.

Prices are in line with previous product launches, but there is no denying that the high-end has been moving higher. The entry-level P8400 has a tray-price of $209 and the T9600 checks in at $530. The X9100 is priced at $851.

New chipset, new graphics

Montevina comes with a new 45-series chipset that, in its IGC version, promises users enough power to playback Blu-ray movies and enable notebooks to playback an entire Blu-ray movie on one (full) battery charge. Overall 3D mark 06 performance is up 70% over the previous version.

Much more interesting, however, is the introduction of Intel switchable graphics - a technology that can switch between discrete and integrated graphics on the fly. This means that even multi-GPU graphics won’t be draining your battery anymore, if you need the battery power instead of GPU performance - simply switch to integrated graphics and the system will run much more efficiently. The technology works with AMD/ATI and Nvidia graphics.

New wireless chipset, WiMax (almost) and ... Turbo Memory!

Complementing Montevina is the new 5000-series wireless chipsets, which comes in two form factors - as 5300 version for regular notebook sizes as well as a smaller 5100 version for compact notebooks. Montevina will also support WiMax within the 5000-series WiFi/WiMax chipsets - as soon as the network is being rolled out (which will be the case this September.)

And no, Turbo Memory isn’t dead yet. Despite its very limited success and AMD’s decision to shelve its competitive solution completely, Intel continues to offer Turbo Memory as flash cache to manufacturers. A 2 GB module is priced between $27 and $30, depending on the version.

Conclusion

Montevina is an evolutionary step for Centrino and it even Intel’s best presenter, corporate vice president Mooly Eden, had a tough time on stage to create excitement for his latest baby. Is the new technology worth the new name? I will leave that up to you to decide.

What will be much more important is whether Intel has been able to deliver enough Centrino 2s for the back-to-school season and how well it can compete against AMD’s Puma platform, which we hear was off to a great start. In terms of processor performance, Intel has still the lead over AMD; but Intel will have to accelerate its discrete graphics efforts to counter AMD’s discrete graphics offering for Puma: AMD’s balanced platform approach is beginning to make sense and Intel will have to react sooner or later.

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By Theo Valich - Source : Tom's Guide US

Mountain House (CA) - A few weeks ago, we learned how Nvidia is using its PhysX API to convert PhysX calculations and accelerate them on a GPU. AMD wasn’t happy and Nvidia was accused of benchmark cheating. Now there is an opportunity to get PhysX to run on AMD/ATI cards, but there seem to be some roadblocks and there is a certain suspicion that AMD does not want Nvidia’s CUDA and PhysX to run on its graphics cards. We chatted with AMD’s Godfrey Cheng to get more details on this issue as well as AMD’s physics strategy.

Nvidia never made a secret out of the fact that CUDA and PhysX aren’t tied down to Nvidia GPUs. The company told us that a CUDA development kit for CPUs is in planning and scheduled for a summer release. Nvidia also noted that CUDA could run on Radeon cards, the company just would not offer such a feature by itself. It did not take long until PhysX for Radeon popped up: NGOHQ.com’s Eran Badit claims to have succeeded in modifying the API to be supported by Radeon cards.

Initial hoax claims were quickly replaced by a general opinion that such a software could establish CUDA as a de-facto multi-GPU development platform and PhysX as the de-facto PhysX standard, helping Nvidia to broaden its reach and damaging AMD/ATI’s PhysX efforts. However, it was also believed that such a tool could make Radeon cards the more attractive product since it would support PhysX and benefit from AMD’s Havok collaboration.

Badit said that he would need help from both Nvidia and AMD to finish his software and you just knew that at least one side would not be too happy. While Nvidia opened up and provided access to its software libraries, engineers and hardware, Badit noted that AMD was less helpful. It appeared as if AMD was silently blocking the development of PhysX for Radeon. We were in contact with Badit, but did not hear from AMD, which is why we contacted the company to find out what was going on.

We talked to Richard Huddy, Manager of Worldwide Developer Relations, and Godfrey Cheng, Director of Product Marketing. Cheng is mostly known for its unofficial title of AMD’s Gaming Czar.

TG Daily: AMD has been touting "Customer Centric" drum for some years now and there is no other way to view the possibility of PhysX running on AMD card than as a "Customer Centric" feature. Is there a chance we will see such this feature for Radeon cards?

Cheng: We will happily work with and support all middleware tool providers. We announced collaboration with Havok since they are willing to operate as a middleware vendor and enable support for all platforms. If Nvidia wishes to place resources into enabling PhysX on AMD platforms, we would have no argument, provided they don’t artificially disadvantage our platforms in relation to theirs. We have attempted to initiate discussions with Nvidia on this matter, but so far they have been less than forthcoming.

Nvidia stated that the PhysX software stack is layered on top of Nvidia’s proprietary CUDA interface. As you know, proprietary interfaces for hardware acceleration on the PC haven’t really been successful in the long term with developers (re: S3 Metal, 3dfx Glide, Cg). In these cases, the solutions they were trying to solve were superseded by collaborative industry wide interfaces, which is why we think it is far better for us to be putting our efforts into advancing open, industry standards such as OpenCL that will ultimately grow the ecosystem for Stream Computing. This is consistent with AMD’s Open Platform Strategy, and is a more Customer Centric approach in the long term.

We see a better option for developers in combining a middleware layer based on open industry standards, like OpenCL, that balances the computation between the CPU and GPU, with the possibility for best-of-breed third-party APIs, libraries and development tools that interface seamlessly with the middleware layer. This way the developer is freed from having to worry about where the physics executes, it will automatically execute on the best processor for the job.

TG Daily: What are AMD’s thoughts about GPU-accelerated physics?

Cheng: There is a time and place for everything, including GPU-accelerated physics simulation. The model that AMD is pursuing is a balanced platform approach and offloading to the GPU where it makes sense. There are a few factors that we considered when we formed this strategy:

The primary technical challenge today for video games is rendering. Rendering will remain the limitation for realism and gameplay for the foreseeable future. It would be better to focus the GPUs on rendering to provide the best game play. Also remember that when you create more objects or rigid bodies with physics simulation, it further taxes the rendering system. There are scenarios where GPU physics simulation actually slows down gameplay and decreases the experience.

With the proliferation of quad-core CPUs from AMD and Intel, there is ample horsepower to run physics simulation on the CPU. Most games today can take advantage of two cores effectively, scaling to the third and fourth core yields diminishing performance. The game developers are realizing that there is available horsepower with the third and fourth cores for physics simulation.

Game developers will write code for the biggest installed base of hardware to ensure a big market for their games. The only certainty for the developers is that there will be a multi-core CPU in modern PCs. To write a game that supports a proprietary GPU-based physics API would mean a vastly different code base for the game developer as well as relegating this type of game experience to a small percentage of the computers. Clearly, this is not the desirable path for game developers and AMD.

Our strategy is to optimize our CPUs to run Havok’s API and libraries and then to investigate how we can improve gameplay with offloading certain forms of physics simulation to the GPU. We have our theories and models, but we will not announce our product plans until we are ready to roll them out.

Why did AMD choose Havok to provide the physics API? Does AMD believe in heterogeneous physics support, such as supporting both Havok and PhysX, or do you see future with only one physics API?

Cheng: Havok as an ISV is genuinely working with us in an open, collaborative and royalty free manner and is interested in the acceleration of its toolset that the entire AMD platform can provide. We are naturally interested in working with any ISV that is willing to co-operate in such a manner.

Havok, though, is the clear leader as judged by developer and title support in the PC space. With recent moves, such as opening their core Physics toolset freely to all PC developers, it is easy to see this is the case. While we appreciate that support for PhysX may be funded today, we question if this is a sustainable model beyond a few special levels within a game or even a couple of titles. The key is not to push a physics toolset into a game developer: The game developers must want it to improve their titles. As part of our strategy we will also continue to work with game developers to support and optimize their proprietary physics engines as well, so this is not a one-size-fits-all approach. GPU-accelerated physics is in its infancy. Victory is not who can do fancy demos in 2008 but who will be chosen by developers and who will be supported over the next few years.

TG Daily: Recently, Eran Badit and his team of NGOHQ.Com fame managed to get PhysX working on an ATI Radeon 3800 series card. What is AMD’s opinion on this project?

Cheng: We think it is great that people continue to use our products in creative ways.

TG Daily: How is AMD supporting Eran’s team? There are rumors flying around that Nvidia is against the project, but it turns out that DevRel has an open communication and Nvidia is supporting him with documentation and hardware. Will AMD provide driver support, engineering support, Radeon 4800 series hardware?

Cheng: Likewise, our Stream SDK, with complete documentation for CAL is available online. Additionally, any questions can be addressed to our Developer Relations team or via the AMD Stream Developer Forums. We look forward to hearing more from them and seeing their results.

TG Daily: When will AMD roll out its physics product plan?

Cheng: We expect to give more details regarding our plans later this year.

Conclusion

This situation looks far from being over. There are conflicting voices coming from all sides, and we are surprised to see AMD opting for Havok instead of offering support for both.

Godfrey Cheng reacted quickly to our interview request and clarified many issues. However, Badit told us that he was "disappointed’ with AMD’s support: "We are very disappointed with lack of support from AMD - we expected more than that," he said. "Apparently, they don’t want their users to have both Havok and PhysX APIs, since AMD’s support is critical for this project."

Apparently, Badit was ready to shelve the project, but he remained stubborn and keeps working on the project. Since we are interested whether PhysX can really run on Radeon cards, we have put him in touch with a partner that is now supporting his team.

Stay tuned.

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By Christian Zibreg - Source : Tom's Guide US

Cupertino (CA) - Apple’s MobileMe payment processing system is causing frustration among users as increasing number of people around the report that are being charged the full membership fee or more for supposedly free trial accounts. The support team of the company appears to be overwhelmed by the problem and is delaying replies to angry emails from customers.

"Apple dropped the ball. Can you believe it?" wrote Tomislav Jakupec, a long-time Apple user and owner of a company that relies entirely on Macs to make and sell motion backgrounds at Videobacks.com.

"I held my credit card in hand on day one, ready to purchase a $149 MobileMe Family Pack when a friend from the UK phoned me up to say he has just been unexpectedly charged almost twice the annual fee for the supposedly free trial MobileMe account," he said. When several other friends confirmed the same issue, Jakupec decided to hold off on the purchase for now.

At this point, he does not even want to sign up for a trial account, fearing Apple may charge him for it. "Apple needs to get their act together and they need to do it ASAP," he said in a phone interview with TG Daily.

Unlike .Mac trial accounts, the new MobileMe service policy requires users to provide valid credit card details to create a free trial account. This strategy serves as an ID check to discourage spammers from using the service, it limits trial accounts per user and automatically charges the annual fee as soon as the trial period expires. The MobileMe terms of service state that "Apple may seek authorization of your credit card account prior to your first purchase to validate that you can charge the applicable fees to access the service." The authorization amount is typically $1, which may be credited towards the subscription fee.

But some trial accounts are authorized with a sum that equals or exceeds the advertised membership fee of $99 per year. Users from the UK appear to be affected the most by the issue, but we are receiving reports of similar issue from users around the world. The O2 support forum leads the debate, with users claiming to have been charged up to £120 for a trial account, well above the regular £59 MobileMe price in the UK.

To look a bit closer at the issue, we created our own trial account. We were able to successfully sign up for a MobileMe trial account using a Europe-based credit card. Our bank report revealed that Apple’s issue may be not limited to isolated cases. Apple did not charge the usual $1 authorization amount, but a whopping 99 Euro, which is above the official 79 Euro price point for MobileMe across Europe.

We then checked MobileMe web interface to confirm what we received in exchange for our 99 Euro - and that was a free trial account. Using the interface, we chose the Skip Trial option to opt for the full membership. The system once again asked billing information and we provided the same VISA card details. This time, however, our bank account balance was charged with 79 Euro. We basically ended up with an individual MobileMe membership that cost us 178 Euro (around $250 in total).

It was time to call Apple. A phone call later, all I knew was that the company "will look into issue." I then sent two emails to the support department on Friday and Saturday. Until today, the company has not replied.

It’s unclear at the moment what is happening, because Apple chooses to remain silent and its support department is not replying to user emails. It will be interesting to see if Apple will acknowledge the issue and offer an apology to the affected users - and refund any overcharges.

We have to note however, that we did not receive an invoice for the excessive 99 Euro charge for the trial account, suggesting it may simply be an authorization that will disappear next month. Also, Apple invoiced us for our full membership that was charged correctly. But even if the 99 Euro charge is an authorization charge, we feel that this amount is outrageous.

If you would like to try or sign up for MobileMe, we recommend that you purchase a MobileMe box through an Apple retail or online store and use the activation code that is in the box to activate the full membership (that option is available during the trial account creation).

One user on the MacRumors forums is claiming that MobileMe accepted his gift card with no funds ($0) on it, using "Gift Card Recipient" as the name to start his trial. We were unable to confirm this claim.

MobileMe growing pains

The $99 a year MobileMe cloud service replaces aging .Mac service with a sleek web interface and desktop-class web applications that handle email, contacts, calendars, photos and online storage. MobileMe instantly pushes contacts, calendars, email and bookmarks from the cloud to authorized Macs, PCs and iPhones.

MobileMe saw the worst service launch in Apple’s history. It was launched late and was affected by wide-spread outages and performance issues due to a heavy traffic load. Ongoing server issues forced the company to temporarily pull the MobileMe 1.0 Updater that enables MobileMe functionality in OS X. Apple later released the MobileMe 1.1 update available via the OS X Software Update mechanism, replacing the 1.0 version of the software.

Although the company has been struggling over the weekend to improve service availability and made noticeable progress in terms of service speed and performance, some users are still reporting problems with data syncing, webmail and contacts unavailability, sluggish web interface in Safari, disappearing user content and hiccups when pushing contacts to the iPhone.

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By Samantha Rose - Source : Tom's Guide

Dubai (United Arab Emirates) - Dubai is building perhaps the world’s ultimate sustainable city. Xeritown is the country’s latest project and is a 60-acre town composed of dense urban clusters and built along a north-south axis that will take advantage of the cool breezes that blow in from the ocean.

The designers, X Architects, feel that the climate, environment and Dubai landscape has inspired them to develop this project so that the cool sea breeze is funnelled into the town centre thus blocking out the hot desert winds.

Ahmed al Ali and Farid Esmaeil from X Architects feel that the foundations and principles of Xeritown will provide the Emirates with their own architectural identity. "Cities in the UAE aren’t growing in a way that their design respects this environment, this climate," Mr Ali said. "We want to do urban design in such a way that is as if it grew here naturally. We want to create an identity here."

The towns name comes from xeriscape principles. A Xeriscape is either an urban or garden area that is designed to use a minimal amount of water. The architects say that the concept is to make the desert elements the focal point of the Xeritown design, instead of going with the view that the natural elements should be overcome in urban design. Where there is a need for water that is for anything other than domestic domestic uses, Xertiown will utilize industrial waste water and grey water.

"The strategy was to maintain the existing landscape, to preserve it in its most original form," Mr al Ali said. "This hasn’t been done in Dubai. Most of the buildings here could be anywhere in the world. But we have a unique climate; it makes sense to design with it in mind."

The roads of Xeritown will be limited to no more than two lanes. This will reduce the number of vehicles that travel on them. Public transportation will be used extensively.

The town is a great exercise in the concepts of social sustainability, which is an attempt at making street life more comfortable, and lively with shops, shade, benches and cafes.

"We want different types of families, people of different ages, different incomes and different ethnicities to live here," he said. "We’re thinking about social sustainability, not just environmental."

The plan is that the buildings will be tall enough that they are capable of providing shade for the streets below them. They will provide the city with shade without the use of palm or other trees and this is important because most vegetation in the UAE isn’t native and is extremely energy intensive - and use quite a bit of water.

There will be large flat circles that hang over the walkways on streets that do not have access to shade from buildings and other photovoltaic cells. These circles will aid in the collection of solar energy.

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By Samantha Rose - Source : Tom's Guide US

Electric car startup Tesla said it will be opening its second store July 22. According to Ze’ev Drori, CEO of Tesla, the store is located in Menlo Park, California, basically in the neighborhood of the company’s headquarters in San Carlos. The first store was opened in Los Angeles.

The new location will sell products and also offer service, additionally the Silicon Valley location will be the "place where all final assembly, tests, and preparations are made with each car prior to customers’ delivery" Drori writes. The company has plans to also open stores in Chicago, Miami, New York and Seattle.

Drori’s blog post also details the production status of the Lotus Elise-based Tesla Roadster. He noted that there are 27 roadsters in assembly and 12 already have been delivered. The company plans to get about four cars per week into the hands of customers. The first cars, referred to as the "Founders Series" went to seven individuals including former CEO Martin Eberhard, chairman Elon Musk, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, board member Antonio Gracias, investor Jeff Skoll and talk show host Jay Leno.

Tesla recently announced that it will move manufacturing of its second car, the "Model S" sedan, to California.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide

Chicago (IL) - As Microsoft announces a $299 Xbox 360, we are noticing Blu-ray player prices diving as well and distancing themselves from the Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3 for the very first time. Patience and luck may get you a $300 Blu-ray player in the not too distant future.

$300 is seen as a critical price point that will help Blu-ray to be adopted by a much broader audience. Browsing this weekend’s ad sections in your local newspaper indicates that first-gen Blu-ray players are on their way to drop below $300. Among the offers we spotted is Sony’s BDP-S300 for $359.99 (down $40 as part of a closeout) and Panasonic’s DMP-BD30K for $449.99 (down $50) at Circuit City. Best Buy is offering a house-brand Insignia player for $329.99, which even comes with a $100 instant-coupon that can be used towards Blu-ray movies. Yes, it is marketing, but since you have to buy Blu-ray movies anyway, this rebate is almost as good as cash. And if you are looking at this deal from this side, this deal may be the very first Blu-ray player in the U.S. breaking the $250 mark.

We briefly checked average retail prices of Blu-ray players and there are clear signs that Blu-ray player prices are dropping, most likely in preparation of the introduction of next-gen BD-Live players. The cheapest Blu-ray player you can buy today appears to be Samsung’s BD-P1400, which currently sells for an average of $288. Following are Sony’s BDP-S300 with $348, Philips’ BDP7200 for $370, Samsung’s BDP-P1500 for $376 and Sharp’s BD-HP20U for $392. All other generally available Blu-ray players are listed with average selling prices of more than $400.

Supplies of HD-DVD players are pretty much gone, but you may still be able to get your hands on a device, if you have to. Pricegabber says that Toshiba’s HD-A3 is selling for an average of $141, while Samung’s BD-UP5000 Blu-ray/HD DVD player is selling for about $450 and LG’s BH200 hybrid player for an average of $532.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Hardware

Preceding its Q2 earnings release due this Thursday, AMD today said there will be another big ATI write-down. The company announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges will be approximately $880 million.

In December 2007, AMD announced a $1.606 billion non-cash impairment charge as a result of an overestimated value of the company when it was acquired by AMD in 2006.

AMD said it also expects record a restructuring charge of approximately $32 million in the second quarter of 2008 as well as investment impairment charges of approximately $36 million.

On the positive side, AMD was finally able to sell some of its 200 mm production equipment, which is expected to add about $190 million to the Q2 bottom line.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

Cupertino (CA) - Apple announced that it has sold more than one million iPhone 3Gs over the weekend. However, it remained unclear whether that number included the phones of the second batch AT&T was already pre-selling and the number of phones that actually could be activated.

"iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, in a prepared statement. "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world."

These numbers and especially the comparison to the first iPhone have to be taken with a grain of salt, as the device is available in 21 countries right from the start and not just one. The estimate comes in at the lower end of the scale of sales expectations, as most analysts have been predicting sales of more than one million units. Some estimates even put sales estimates into the three to six million unit range.

Given the rocky start of the iPhone with some users around even stating today that they have not been able to activate their iPhone, we are a bit surprised that Apple stays on its PR path boasting how many people actually purchased the phone. Instead of stating that the "iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," CEO Jobs perhaps should have issued an apology to all those who were left with a bricked phone over the weekend.

Apple also said that more than 10 million applications have been downloaded from the company’s AppStore and a platform that now includes more than 800 applications. More than 200 applications are offered for free, Apple said. "The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Developers have created some extraordinary applications, and the App Store can wirelessly deliver them to every iPhone and iPod touch user instantly."

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

Copenhagen (Denmark) - Let’s assume you have $40,000 lying around to spend on a gadget. What could you buy? You could get a full-featured Kaleidescape home entertainment center or Barco’s 56" Quad-HDTV. You could get two Toyota Prius hybrids, one for your spouse and one for yourself. You could buy an 18th century bottle of Chateau Lafite wine to enjoy the entertainment your existing gadgets provide. Or, you could buy a PhaseOne digital camera - with a 65 megapixel sensor.

PhaseOne announced its P65+ digital back, which offers a resolution of 8984 x 6732 active pixels, resulting in a total resolution of 60.5 megapixels. The company did not provide information on the CCD sensor, which the company calls "Sensor+" technology, but said that the system is capable of taking one image every second.

An 8 bit RGB image will result in a 180 MB file, which means that an 8 GB memory card is good for about 45 pictures in full resolution.

The P65+ digital back is priced at $39,900. The full camera starts at $41,990. PhaseOne also offers cameras with less resolution - such as a 21-megepixel camera for about $13,000.

Last week, Kodak announced a 50 megapixel image sensor, which will be used in Hasselblad’s upcoming H3DII-50 camera. The camera will be available in October for $39,995.

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