By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Samsung is joining the club of ultra-light laptops, alongside Lenovo’s X300 and Apple’s MacBook Air, with the introduction of their X360 laptop.

North Americans may not be very familiar with Samsung laptops, but the X360 is definitely an eye-catcher with a bright 13.3-inch LED display and sleek look. Thanks to Intel’s Centrino 2 ULV processor, Samsung was able to slim down the laptop’s thickness and reduce the weight to 2.8-pounds. Samsung did end up sacrificing the optical drive, but that free space left room for a 7-in-1 memory card reader, three USB ports, VGA port, HDMI port and docking station connector. Samsung didn’t skimp on the battery luckily, providing up to 10 hours of battery life, which should be enough for most people’s needs.

The X360 features a 64 GB or 128 GB solid-state drive, which are becoming the norm on high-end laptops, though a typical hard disk drive option is still available. The rated speeds for the SSD in the press release seem a bit on the low end, with a 53 MB/s read speed and 28 MB/s write speed, whereas Samsung’s own high-performance SSDs can double those speeds with sequential data.

Detailed system specifications include 1 GB of DDR3 memory expandable to 4 GB, 1280 x 800 LED backlit display with 300 nits brightness, Intel 802.11a/n, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI Express Card slot and a 1.3 MP web camera. The graphics is powered by Intel’s new GMA X4500 graphics core, a solution many gamers will not be satisfied with, but should be fine for most other users.

The main attraction with this laptop is likely going to be its size and weight, not performance as much, so how does it stack up against the competition in that regard?

*With optical drive. Lenovo X300 is approx. 2.9 without optical drive, like its competition.

As we see, although the new Samsung X360 is quite a bit thicker than other laptops in its class, it is a tad lighter too. With the competition priced starting at about $1,800, Samsung could have a winner on their hands if the price is right.

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By Bestofmedia Team - Source : Tom's Hardware

For those of you that are familiar with anti-piracy measures implemented within the new flagship operating system from Microsoft, you may know that some changes have taken place since its release – most notably with the release of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Originally, unless Windows Vista was activated correctly, the operating system would fall back into what was referred to as ‘reduced functionality mode’. When this happened, the only thing the user of the system could do was access the Internet. With this limited functionality the user could purchase a legitimate key online, or complete online activation.

Upon the release of Service Pack 1 things changed slightly. Incorrectly activated copies of Windows Vista would no longer fall back into ‘reduced functionality mode’, instead the system would proceed to nag the user by removing your background wallpaper every 60 minutes. It would also prompt the user with warning boxes by the taskbar claiming that you might be a victim of software piracy.

Let us all welcome this feature to Windows XP Professional with the new Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) update from Microsoft. This update puts into effect the same nagging measures in place with the Vista platform.

After updating to the new Windows Genuine Advantage, users of questionable copies of Windows XP Professional will notice upon logging in that their desktop wallpaper has been removed and replaced with a standard black background. Users can reset their wallpaper using standard methods, but every 60 minutes it will be removed in favor of the black screen.

In addition to the new black screen ‘feature’, users will also experience what Microsoft calls ‘persistent desktop notification’ (PDN). PDN is essentially a feature that watermarks the desktop with a warning box that is non-interactive. Users cannot click on it or remove it in any way.

This update will initially be released for Windows XP Professional as Microsoft claims the Professional edition to be the most widely pirated version of Windows XP. Many months down the road we may see this feature implemented on other versions of Windows XP, such as Home edition and Media Center edition.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this over the next few months. Some of us may remember reading how we could sort of bypass the old protection scheme on the Windows XP platform.

According to the WGA blog, this is a feature that users requested for the Windows XP platform. It is a bit unusual to see that only Windows XP Professional is getting the update and not other editions. Regardless of which platform is currently the most widely pirated, the other versions have their share as well. Maybe Microsoft is feeling the waters to see if this new feature makes an impact on piracy of Windows?

Will this update make a difference to those using ‘questionable’ copies of Corporate Editions of Windows XP Professional with Volume License Keys? Corporate VLKs do not require activation. And there are many known ways to prevent WGA from driving pirates mad. Only time will tell.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide US

Chicago (IL) – Following a slap by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week, Comcast today said that it will limit the available bandwidth to each of its customers to 250 GB per month.

If you exceed that limit twice within six months, you could face a termination of your service. Depending on your view, you may be upset or you may be relieved hearing that 250 GB number, but the real surprise may be that this number has been always in place. Comcast just did not talk about it, which means that Comcast has not answered the real questions yet: What are the current network management policies that involve bandwidth throttling and how will that change in the future?

Last week, the FCC ordered Comcast to disclose its network management practices, submit a compliance plan how the company will transition from discriminatory to nondiscriminatory network management practices by the end and disclose details about its future network management practices.

In an apparent first step, Reuters today reported that Comcast is setting a "data usage threshold of 250 gigabytes per account for all residential high-speed Internet customers.” 250 GB per month is quite a bit for residential use, representing 50 million e-mails, 50,000 MP3 songs or 124 standard-definition movies. This number should eliminate every bandwidth concern of regular residential users, even if they are planning on streaming Netflix movies via their cable connection. Of course, if you are downloading and sending data 24/7, 250 GB may not be enough.

Comcast said that if you exceed that 250 GB limit, you will get a call letting you know that the company has identified your account as one of those 1% that show “excessive use”. It will be a warning and the company will suggest an upgrade to a more expensive, commercial-grade plan. If you don’t upgrade and exceed that 250 GB limit a second time within six months, your account could be terminated for up to a year. Comcast said that a typical user on its network currently uses a bandwidth of about 2 GB per month.

What is interesting is the fact that Comcast always had that 250 GB policy and the company apparently always warned users in cases of “excessive use”. The only change is that those 250 GB, which were a secret until today, are now official. On August 18, we actually ran a story noting that such a cap was in place. Sources close to Comcast confirmed to us today that the company did not change its bandwidth cap this week and that 250 GB has been the cap for quite a while.

So, while this change to its “Excessive Use FAQ” is viewed as a reaction to last week’s FCC order by some, it is not. Comcast has yet to comply with the FCC order issued by September 19, as the terms of use, which include a blurry description the firm’s network management practices, were still dated January 25, 2008 at the time of this writing.

Comcast still describes its network management, which the FCC found to be discriminatory, as a way “to deliver the best possible broadband Internet experience to all of its customers”, as “minimally intrusive” and as a practice that “will change and evolve along with the uses of the Internet and the challenges and threats on the Internet.” The problem is that Comcast has not yet responded to the FCC and detailed how, when and in which places the company throttles the available bandwidth. We still don’t know what software and hardware the company is using. And we don’t know how that will change down the road and if the FCC will consider that change as a “reasonable” measure.

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By Christian Ziberg - Source : Tom's Guide

Feature - Android’s application store will not be just Google’s take on the App Store after all. Instead, the search giant has been developing a comprehensive content marketplace dubbed Android Market where actual applications will be a tiny, although important, variable of the equation.

It will be unique in its openness as any content developer could sign up and upload content for an immediate availability on Android Market, which is a significant change from premium-only content exclusively provided by media conglomerates. Content developers will receive tools to track user and sales data in real-time. Despite big hurdles, Android Market has the opportunity to become the only content marketplace that bridges premium and user generated content and make both available on your handset.

There is no doubt anymore that a content delivery platform is a key strategic component of any aspiring mobile phone idea. Microsoft is teaming up with Nokia to expand Zune Marketplace to Nokia and Windows Mobile smartphones. Analysts suggest that Symbian could merge with Android to create an uber-mobile platform, but Google is already making its own bets with the Android Market (AM). Even T-Mobile said it will bring its own App Store rival next month, featuring applications for all major mobile phone platforms. Apple’s App Store has seen impressive success in its first weeks of operation, but it may be in its most vulnerable position: Launched a month and a half ago, it made $30 million in just one month, demonstrating software is the next gold mine in the mobile phone space. But Apple kept the App Store limited to approved applications only, shutting out other content such as ringtones, TV shows, movies, etc.

Just like Apple, which is hosting Apple’s App Store, the content available on AM will be hosted on Google’s servers. The company will also take care of payments and marketing. But here is what we believe will make AM special.

Android Market is a marketplace, AppStore is just an application store

According to the Android Mobile Platform’s Eric Chu, Android Market is "an open content distribution system that will help end users find, purchase, download and install various types of content on their Android-powered devices." Think Zune Marketplace and iTunes Store on steroids. Unlike Microsoft’s or Apple’s marketplace, AM could feature content from both big media companies and hobby developers, bridging the gap between premium and user-generated content. Google has enough engineering power to pull off such ambitious service. Its expertise in server infrastructure and search and relevance algorithms will certainly bring an edge to AM over anything out there.

Web 2.0 community features

AM enables Web 2.0 community features by default. Google has built the business around giving people tools to build and enable communities. The company said AM brings features that enable a feedback and rating system similar to what is available on YouTube. Of course, the App Store has these two features as well, but the execution is what matters. Google’s transparent integration could attract much more users than Apple’s tightly controlled experience.

Easy content publishing as 1-2-3

Publishing an iPhone application on the App Store isn’t trivial. Apple reviews and approves every iPhone application, forcing many developers to wait for days, even weeks. Some have even created an updated version of the application but are still waiting for Apple to approve the first version. Google says that content can debut in the AM similarly to YouTube: You need to register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it.

Analytic tools

iPhone developers receive daily sales statistics from Apple but the break-out is pretty basic. There is not much useful information provided beyond the user ID, purchased application ID, payment method and the amount paid. Developers have been complaining about the high-level information from the start and it is an obvious opportunity for Google to shine. It has the experience and the software to offer a much more comprehensive analytics solution than Apple does.

Multi-billion dollar marketplace

The App Store managed to rake in $30 million in one month. At this rate, the App Store is $360 million a year business; Apple even believes the AppStore may grow into a billion dollar business soon. However, its reach is limited to 6 million iPhone users only. And even if iPhone users have a reputation to be deep-pocketed and more willing to part with their money than the average cellphone user, a marketplace that is open to many more cellphone models and many types of content could surpass the AppStore volume.

Challenges

AM’s success isn’t set in stone and Google has several problems to solve before AM will become a serious player. For example, not all AM features will be available from day one. According to Google, the first batch of Android handsets will have beta version of AM that will deliver at least support for free applications. An updated AM version will be rolled "soon," with paid content and more features such as versioning, multiple device profile support, analytics, etc. To confront users who are paying for a handset with beta software isn’t necessarily a good idea.

Additionally, content will not be monitored as the goal of AM is to provide as much content as possible. The absence of filtering mechanism could lead to all kind of junk on AM that would certainly spoil the experience for users.

And, of course, there is Google’s decision to exclude the Bluetooth API from the first version of the Android platform. This may not affect every user, but at least those who like to use a wireless headset. And if you do more with Bluetooth than just using a headset, then this omission is simply not acceptable.

Despite these hurdles, we think that five distinct advantages should give AM a solid start. The service appears to be different and refreshing enough to be able to compete on a feature-by-feature basis with the App Store and Zune Marketplace.

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By Mehmet Toprak - Source : Tom's Guide

Panasonic is unveiling several new plasma TVs at IFA 2008 that are especially thin and energy efficient. Additionally, the company is also demonstrating a huge 150" Display.

The market share of plasma TVs is much smaller than that of their LCD-based brethren. For example, German market research group GfK expects that about 630,000 plasma TVs will be sold in Germany in 2008 compared to an estimated 5.1 million LCD models.

Now Panasonic is trying its luck with five new plasma TVs belonging to the Viera line which will be shown as prototypes at this year’s IFA. Specifically, the company will be demonstrating 42”, 50”, 58” and 65” panels. Panasonic promises that at the same brightness, the new panels use only half as much energy as previous models. Another distinctive feature if these panels – they are less than 2.5 cm thick.

On top of that, Panasonic claims that the new models will be eco-friendly, since their production process is completely lead-free. The company quotes a life expectancy of up to 100,000 hours for the Plasma TVs.

However, Panasonic isn’t limiting itself to the Green-IT movement but is flexing some technology muscle as well. As its IFA highlight, the company is demonstrating a Full-HD plasma display with a diagonal of no less than 150” (3.81 meters). It uses a resolution of 2160 x 4096 pixels, which equals four times the 1080p HD specification, for a total of 8.84 million pixels. It remains to be seen whether this monster of a display will ever become more than a demonstration of what is technologically possible today. After all, there are already projectors today that are suitable for image sizes of two meters and up.

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By Daniel Schuhmann - Source : Tom's Guide

With its 42" LG6100, Korean company LG Electronics is introducing the world’s slimmest LCD TV. Both its slim profile of only 4.47 cm and the red back panel create a distinctive visual style.

From a technological perspective, the LG6100 offers quite a number of highlights as well. Its “Intelligent Sensor” automatically adjusts the display brightness according to the ambient light. This has the added benefit of reducing power consumption by up to 62% - depending on the usage profile.

Several optimization features promise enhanced image quality. The AV mode is meant to improve the image for movies, sports broadcasts and games. Meanwhile, the LG Expert Mode allows users to fine-tune the image on a practically professional level.

Additionally, the TruMotion 100 Hz technology and a dynamic contrast of 50,000:1 ensure a stutter-free image.

• Full 42" HD Resolution (1.920 x 1.080)
• Dual XD Engine
• TruMotion 100 Hz
• Dynamic contrast of 50.000:1
• Intelligent Sensor
• 24p Real Cinema
• 4* HDMI (1.3 Deep Color)
• 1 DVB-T- and analog hyperband tuner with 8-day DVB-T EPG
• Hidden speakers
• AV Modes (Cinema, Sports, Games)
• Expert Mode/ISF Ready*
• Simplink

The LG6100 is available immediately and is priced at € 1,899.

Expo halls 11.2 and 1.1

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By Mehmet Toprak - Source : Tom's Guide

A 120 GB hard drive, a 10-inch widescreen display and its stylish design are meant to set LG’s X110 netbook apart from the competition.

Every company is trying to claim its own little niche in the netbook market. Korean IT-giant LG Electronics’ approach is to create a powerful yet elegant device. To help it stand out from the crowd of cheap miniature notebooks, the X110 netbook will use a design based on gentle curves for a slender appearance and will be available in the colours white, silver and pink.

Unlike many other netbooks such as the ASUS Eee PC 901, the X110 will feature a hard drive when it hits stores in November. Capacities will range up to the 120 GB mark. The widescreen 10-inch WSVGA display with its LED backlight is meant to make scrolling sideways to read an entire page unnecessary. LG also promises that the 82-key keyboard will ensure fatigue free typing even over extended periods.

An optional 3G HSDPA module will also be available for speedy internet access on the road. Additionally, the netbook is equipped with the usual network interfaces such as 802.11 b/g WiFi and 10/100 Ethernet.

LG has not yet announced which processor and operating system the X110 will use. The same goes for battery life and the unit’s weight. LG is similarly secretive where the price is concerned, stating that it won’t comment until the X110 is released at the beginning of November.

LG’s booths can be found in expo hall 11.2 at stand 101.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide

Fremont (CA) – Slim Devices, a company Logitech acquired in October of 2006, today announced its Squeezebox Boom “all-in-one” network music player, which promises to deliver a wireless Internet music experience throughout your home. It’s a natural evolution for Slim Devices, but we are still waiting for an integration of the technology with other Logitech devices.

The Squeezebox Boom is essentially a network music player that connects via Wi-Fi to Internet radio stations and services such as Rhapsody, Last.FM, Slacker, Pandora and Sirius. Since Wi-Fi remains active when your PC is turned off, the Squeezebox Boom runs independently from your PC and can configure itself almost automatically by scanning for available networks. All you need to do to finalize the setup is to enter the password for your Wi-Fi network. If a PC is available, the device can access a music collection via SqueezeCenter software

One player will retail for about $300 and you can add as many as you want as each Squeezebox Boom acts as a self-contained music system. Logitech calls this device the first of a generation that might replace the CD player and if you exploit all the features of the Boom and convert your CDs, that claim may actually be close to reality.

What is a bit surprising about this new Squeezebox is the fact that there is no integration whatsoever with existing Logitech devices (an exception are Harmony remotes, which, however, work with other consumer electronics as well.) Wouldn’t it be nice if you could control a Squeezebox Boom directly from a keyboard? What about supporting Logitech’s Bluetooth stereo headphones (there is no Bluetooth in the Boom)?

At least so far, Slim Devices looks a bit strange and lost within the Logitech family of products.

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By Humphrey Cheung - Source : Tom's Hardware

San Jose (CA) – While many of the case mods we saw at the NVISION conference and LAN party were extraordinary, the “DayWalker” Blade-themed case - or more accurately towering, human-sized, case – impressed us the most. Created by Richard “DarthBeavis” Surroz, a computer maniac and noted case modder, the DayWalker contains several radiators, dozens of fans and six graphics cards.

The Day Walker has so many fans that even the creator doesn’t know the exact number. “It has 50+ fans … I’m not really sure how many,” Surroz told us. Standing taller than most humans, the case is actually a collection of systems. Two computers for game playing and one server running in the “head” of the cross-shaped rig. The idea here is for two people to play against each other by watching the monitors on the right and left hands of the cross, while monitors in the back let spectators watch the battle.

The two gaming computers are each powered by a triple SLI NVIDIA GTX 280 system. Throughout the rig are glowing red skulls, a big jar of simulated blood and of course a sword (can’t be Blade-themed without a sword can we?) To cool all this stuff down, five radiators dissipating 1500 watts each have been placed throughout the system.

Surroz estimated that everything would cost approximately $18,000 to $20,000, but thankfully almost everything has been provided by sponsors.

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By Theo Valich - Source : Tom's Hardware

San Jose (CA) – Even though Nvidia’s Nvision tradeshow did not achieve its goal of 10,000 visitors, more than a thousand gathered at the Center for Performing Arts to witness the ending of the event. The duo behind the popular Mythbusters showed the results of six months of work, demonstrating the difference between a CPU and a GPU, following the conventional wisdom of parallel computing.

Dubbed Smiley and Mona Lisa, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman presented two robots that represented the difference between a CPU and a GPU. Smiley was given a task to draw a smiley using conventional CPU techniques, doing one thing at a time. Smiley was a relatively simple robot, while Mona Lisa consisted out of "2100 massively parallel barrel processors", dwarfing the 240 shaders offered by a GeForce GTX 280 chip. These 2100 "shaders" painted a picture of Mona Lisa in a matter of a few hundreds of a second, resulting in lots of stunned faces, laughter and a big round of applause for the Mythbusters crew.

We won’t dwell on the specs of these two, but Mona Lisa’s fill-rate is quite interesting: 2100 (paintball) balls travelled eight feet onto wood-enforced canvas in just in just 275 ms, creating a picture of Mona Lisa within three quarters of a second.

We guess you could say Nvision ended with a bang (sorry, we couldn’t resist.) There was no information if and when these barrel processors will be available for sale.

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By Humphrey Cheung - Source : Tom's Guide

San Jose (CA) – Hundreds of very tired attendees at the GeForce LAN party pumped their fists and gave a weary cheer when they broke a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous LAN party. The event was part of the NVISION conference hosted by NVIDIA and had hundreds of people playing video games for 36 straight hours. For their efforts, the “winners” – if you can call them that – received “gold medals”, had their LAN party entrance fees refunded and their pictures taken for posterity.

In all, 203 people played games for 36 hours starting at 11PM Monday August 25th till 11AM Wednesday August 27th. Most of the players battled it out on traditional LAN party games like Quake, Unreal Tournament and Team Fortress 2, but we did spy several people raiding and grinding out gold in World of Warcraft.

Thankfully the players were allowed to take breaks and were given a 10 minute rest period for every straight 60 minutes played. This rest period could be saved up so six hours of play would get you an hour of rest. NVIDIA was also kind enough to provide free food and drinks to the gamers. To top it off, BAWLs was giving away pallets of their caffeinated energy drink.

An adjudicator from the Guinness Book of World Records was flown in from London to monitor the attendees and keep records of the event.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide

Opinion – Ok, I get it: Beta software isn’t software that should be run on computers you rely on every day. Betas are merely previews of products we can use to get a glimpse of the future and should be treated with care as bugs and hiccups are almost certainly part of the deal. Microsoft’s latest IE8 Beta surely has bugs as well, but there is one surprise that is a bit beyond my comfort level: Some users may actually not be able to uninstall this beta anymore.

Microsoft and beta software is a story all by itself. In fact, Microsoft treats beta software very differently than most software companies do. While betas are typically developer-only packages elsewhere, Microsoft betas are a fixed and important part of the software release and marketing process that began with Windows 95 and IE4: Microsoft gave away thousands of Windows 95 Betas in prize drawings back in 1994 and the actual IE4 launch was initiated with the IE4 beta – I still have my beta T-shirt given out at a launch party back then.

IE8 continues that tradition. It is only the second beta, but Microsoft’s IE8 pages treat the software like a final release. Yes, it is still called beta, but Microsoft has set up a fully-fledged product page with videos and flashy product demonstrations. Microsoft tells visitors on its site to “Get Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, the latest version of Microsoft’s free web browser.”The download buttons for the “latest browser” clearly point to this beta 2, while “older versions” are mentioned at the very bottom of the page. There is not a single warning that this software may have bugs and should be treated carefully. If you are new to this game, you surely have the impression that this is a version close to the final (it actually is) and that this is the IE you should download.

With that in mind, especially one bug that was pointed out this morning by Gregg Keizer at Computerworld, is a bit strong in my mind.

Users of Windows XP SP3 who simply install IE8 Beta 2 may actually find the browser being locked into their system without any chance to remove the browser without a full reinstallation of the operation system. According to a Microsoft IEBlog post, this scenario will be in place if you installed Windows XP SP3 after installing IE8 Beta 1 and you now choose to install IE8 Beta 2 on top of Beta 1 - and ignore a window with a warning. Microsoft said that you will be able to install Internet Explorer 8 Beta2, but once installed, you will not be able to uninstall either IE8 or Windows XP SP3 later.

“If you chose to continue, Windows XP SP3 and IE8 Beta2 will become permanent. You will still be able to upgrade to later IE8 builds as they become available, but you won’t be able to uninstall them,” program manager Jane Maliouta wrote in her blog post.

So, if you are using XP SP3 you may want to follow Maliouta’s advice. But I believe it wouldn’t hurt either if Microsoft published such issues on its IE8 product page and not just in a blog, which not everyone will read. In the end, it is a beta and it should be treated this way - by users and Microsoft.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Hardware

Santa Clara (CA) - Nvidia expanded its discrete desktop graphics chip portfolio – this time not with a new expensive flagship model, but a new entry-level version that could stabilize the company’s recent desktop market, which moves to cheaper discrete graphics solutions.

Nvidia’s triple-digit loss in the second quarter of this year was partly caused by a distribution channel and desktop PC manufacturers that are looking for cheap discrete graphics cards. Nvidia’s cards typically carried a premium, which effectively shut the company out of an increasingly important market. In early August, the company promised to go more seriously after this market in the future and the new 9400 GT models are a first attempt to attract some attention.

9400 GT cards are priced about 10-15% below 9500 GT versions and are available within a price range of about $60 to $90. 9500 GT currently sell in the $70 - 200 range, 9600 GTs between $90 and $300, 9800 GTs between $1500 and $200 and 9800 GTXs between $200 and $400. Of course, you expect much from a $60 discrete graphics card that needs to cover manufacturing, shipping and marketing cost and should provide a few dollars for profits as well.

The reference design of the 9400 GT has the same 550 MHz core clock as the 9500 GT, but has only half the memory clock – 400 MHz vs. 800 MHz. Perhaps most significantly, the 9400 GT comes with only 16 active processors, compared to 32 in the 9500 GT, 64 in the 9600 GT, 112 in the 9800 GT and 128 in the 9800 GTX.

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By Wolfgang Gruener - Source : Tom's Guide

First Look – Microsoft today released the second beta of its upcoming Internet Explorer 8 web browser with a boatload of new functionality compared to the first beta that made its debut in March of this year. The company highlights 50 features that address usability, security, compatibility, manageability and a couple tools that are unique to IE. The outcome is a browser which engineers clearly designed with innovation in mind. In some parts that works, in others it does not. Expect a browser that is vastly more complex than its predecessor and that offers a completely different browsing experience than Firefox.

Microsoft kept its promise and delivered the second beta of IE8 before the end of this month to give us a taste of what Microsoft believes users expect from a modern web browser. There is a lengthy new feature list, which you can access here but is nearly impossible (and boring) to cover in this article. The question most people will have is – how does it stack up to the best in the market – Firefox, Safari and, in some instances, Opera? Will it be faster than the painfully slow IE7, is it easier and more secure to use? There is one simple answer: Yes.

Speed

The page load speed is often a very subjective impression and even if you measure it scientifically, there are substantial hurdles - such as varying connection issues – to allow for a fair result. At least subjectively, this author found that IE8 loads about three times as fast as IE7 and loads pages about twice as fast as its predecessor. The performance gains are also significant when compared to IE8.

It is obvious that Microsoft, just like Mozilla, has made huge progress to accelerate the browser engine, while the company surprisingly forgets to highlight this progress in its browser feature list. Subjectively, it appears that Firefox 3 has lost its page load time advantage.

Useful new features

It is obvious that Microsoft’s IE engineers had some innovation pressure from some management levels above and there are, in fact, a few interesting features. First, there is finally a “Find on this Page” feature you can actually use, since it is placed in its own field below the address bar. Searching web pages for certain words or phrases is also enhanced through search result highlighting and search result count.

Just like Firefox, IE8 can also store a browsing session and reopen it when the software is restarted.

The “Smart Address Bar, which offers a neatly structured, instant search feature when you are entering a URL, is also new. Similar to the Firefox idea, the Address options are very organized, easy to read and in most cases actually useful – especially when you are looking for a certain section on a website and simply don’t know its sub-level address.

The best new feature, hands down, is Tab grouping. At least I tend to have countless tabs open and once you exceed ten or more tabs, it gets confusing and you have to start reorganizing those tabs. IE8 does that for you in a color-coded fashion. The colors themselves are a matter of taste, but as long as you are opening tabs through the context menu (right mouse click), a new tab will appear in the color of the originating website. This feature is a perfect example how simple ideas can have a huge impact.

Tabs now also come with “crash recovery”, which means that the content in a tabbed window is automatically restored and reloaded - and any information the user may have already entered on the page (such as when writing an e-mail or filling out a form) is restored.

Under the hood, there are new features you won’t see in the user interface - which, however, are milestones for Microsoft. First, the browser is much closer to common web standards than any other version before (Microsoft says it passes the Acid2 browser test), CSS 2.1 will be implemented in the final version of the browser, there are Document object model (DOM) and HTML 4.01 improvements and there is support for W3C’s HTML 5 Draft DOM Storage standard and the Web API Working Group’s Selectors API.

Useless new features

Microsoft would not be Microsoft if there wasn’t an overload of features that in fact make the browser (12.7 MB download) appear bulky. Each user may have a different opinion what these features may be, but at least in this version it seems to be Microsoft’s Web Slices and Accelerators (renamed from “Activities”). On one side, Microsoft promises to stay within general HTML guidelines and on the other the company cannot resist to create proprietary features that are not part of any standard and are not supported by any other browser. Is it just me or does this sound strange?

Both Web Slices (a way to subscribe to certain content) and Accelerators (quick access to maps, for example) are obviously a try to standardize certain features and convince web developers and other browser developers to adopt this functionality. To me, both features are nice and may be certainly useful in some cases, but will they improve your browsing experience in general? No. In some scenarios, IE8 feels too heavy. The browser interface clearly needs another workout to trim some of the fat it has gained over the years.

Security

IE8’s new “over the shoulder privacy” features were revealed two days ago. “InPrivate” appears to be a new word under which Microsoft will combine a range of security configuration options, with the first ones being InPrivate Browsing, InPrivate Blocking and InPrivate Subscriptions. All three add another layer of flexibility and complexity, which may be welcomed by some and may confuse others.

12 additional big security improvements include per-user and per-site ActiveX rules, domain warnings and highlighting, enhancements to IE7’s phishing filter and data execution prevention:

Old Microsoft habits

The installation process of the browser remains unacceptable and one big annoyance. Even on my relatively speedy PC, the installation process took 28 minutes from beginning to end. For 17 minutes, the PC was unusable, since the PC needs to be restarted and updates need to be reconfigured.

Why is it that Firefox can be downloaded and installed on the go without the need for a restart of the PC and Microsoft takes my PC hostage for 17 minutes for a simple browser update? I may be picky here, but iE8 is not particularly convenient (and transparent) to install.

You can download IE8 Beta 2 here.

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By Mehmet Toprak - Source : Tom's Guide

Consumer electronics heavyweight Philips is launching two new DVD-hard disk recorders at this year’s IFA. The new models (dubbed HDR3800 and HDR3810) differ only in their hard disk capacity. The HDR3800 comes with a 160 GB drive, while the HDR3810 offers 250 GB of recording space. Other than that, according to the specs, the hardware is identical.

Both units offer a number of convenient functions. For example, the user can pause the show that is running while it is being recorded as well as repeat or save certain sections. An electronic program guide (EPG) that can be used to record shows is also included. On today’s hard disk recorders, these are considered standard features. Both units also support 1080p High-Definition HDMI.

Specs:

• TV-Functions: Pause Live TV, Instant Replay, FlexTime
• Supported Media: CD-R/RW, DVD+R DL, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, USB-Flash drive, Kodak Picture CD
• Formats: MP3, WMA, JPEG, MPEG, DivX Ultra
• Width: 43 centimeters

The Philips recorders will be available as of September. They will cost €350 (HDR3800) and €400 (HDR3810).

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By Mehmet Toprak - Source : Tom's Guide

Taiwanese company MSI, which has garnered a lot of press for its “Wind” netbook, is bringing 16" multimedia notebooks to market. These are the Intel-based EX620 with a Core 2 Duo (FSB 1066) with a price tag of around €800 (around $1,180) and the AMD-based EX630. The latter will be available in two versions, one featuring AMD’s Athlon X2 dual core CPU and costing €700 (around $1,030), while the other will be built around the Turion X2 Ultra dual core processor with a €900 (around $1,300) price tag.

Curiously, the Intel-based version EX620 will feature an ATI graphics chip, namely the Mobility Radeon 3479, while the AMD model EX630 will come with an Nvidia GeForce 9300M GS chip.

Apart from that, both versions come with a feature list befitting a video-capable multimedia device. They will sport a 250 GB or 320 GB hard drive and 3 or 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, depending on the model. Their 16” display uses a 16:9 aspect ratio and offers a WSXGA resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The most expensive EX630 model will also come with a Blu-ray drive rather than a conventional DVD drive.

MSI is also equipping its new models with a powerful sound system, as far as is possible in a notebook. They will feature 2-Watt speakers and a subwoofer, resulting in a 2.1 channel system. HD Videos with a resolution of up to 1920 x 1080i can be outputted using the HDMI port.

MSI’s notebooks will have one more special feature – a touch-sensitive bar above the keyboard that will let users choose from five different profiles called Office, Movie, Presentation, Gaming, and Eco Mode. The obvious goal is to squeeze as much battery life out of the notebooks as possible. In Office mode, for example, this is achieved by turning off or slowing down certain components. Additionally, the EX620 and EX630 will feature fingerprint sensors to prevent unauthorized access.

The new models will be available from September. Models carrying the E-designation belong to MSI’s Entertainment series, while Gaming notebooks have a G in their name and business notebooks use model names starting with P for Professional.

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By Mehmet Toprak - Source : Tom's Guide

If prices are any indication, Blu-ray is beginning to reach the mass market. Even players from big brands are becoming more affordable, reaching the €250 mark. Sony is no exception and is unveiling its new Blu-ray players BDP-S350 and BDP-S550, which will cost €330 and €440 respectively. These models are updated versions of the current BDP models S300 and S500.

The BDP-S350 is the entry-level model and can output high definition audio to a compatible AV receiver via HDMI. The player itself can decode Dolby TrueHD and then output to a receiver via HDMI as a linear PCM signal. Sony also promises that standard definition DVDs will also look when played back on the new models. Specifically, a technology Sony’s marketing experts have dubbed “Precision Cinema HD Upscale” is meant to smooth the jagged edges that can appear in moving images.

The more techy crowd will appreciate another feature as well. When the DVD or BD is inserted, the player analyses the rotation of the disc and can compensate in three directions if it determines that the medium is out of balance. According to Sony, this will allow error-free playback.

The Bonus-View picture-in-picture feature is also a new addition compared to the old models, allowing the player to display two videos simultaneously. Sony will offer a firmware update in October which will enable the player to download BD-Live content from the Internet, save it to a USB flash drive and then play it back in parallel to the Blu-ray disc. We have already seen the same underlying strategy with the Playstation. Sony wants users to get accustomed to accessing additional content from their playback devices, citing examples such as reading blogs, taking part in online competitions and raffles and watching movie trailers online. Users could also download additional information about the movie they are watching, such as more background on the production or the actors’ biographies. It stands to reason that for-pay content will be added very soon as well.

Sony has also improved the players’ power consumption, claiming that it was able to reduce the BDP-S350’s power consumption by 43 percent when idle and 21 percent during playback compared to its predecessor S300.

The BDP-S550 is not that different from its “little brother”. Where features are concerned, the main difference is that BD Live and Bonus View are already included from the start. It also adds some audio functionality, offering an additional DTS-HD Master Audio decoder as well as an analog 7.1-channel output for older AV receivers.

Sony is unveiling these models at this year’s IFA in Berlin. The BDP-S350 will cost €329/around $485, while the S550 will come with a price tag of €439/around $650.

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By Gavin Steacy - Source : Tom's Hardware

There have been reports that abit would be exiting the motherboard market for some time, starting when the company was acquired by the Taiwanese manufacturer Universal Scientific International (USI) in May 2006. Universal abit were quick to dispel the rumors back in May 2008, but HEXUS.channel have received confirmation from industry sources close to South East Asian distributors that abit sales representatives were to be sending notifications of their departure to distributors on August 28th.

According to the sources, Universal abit will not be halting its motherboard production straight away, but will instead continue to ship until the end of 2008. Warranty claims and RMAs will continue to be honored for a further 3 years.

This follows reports from earlier this month that Universal abit were dismissing employees from many departments, including those who previously worked on the popular Fatal1ty and MAX series of motherboards.

Abit, a second-tier Taiwanese component manufacturer, are well known for their high quality enthusiast motherboards boards. The company suffered serious financial problems during 2005 and sold its office building in Taipei to Deutsche Bank reduce its debts. In May 2006, USI acquired the company, including all patents, products and human resources related to its motherboard business.

USI are now expected to shift the company’s focus away from enthusiast hardware and onto consumer electronics. Some of these devices, such as the FunFab digital photo frame and printer were on display at this year’s Computex.

Universal abit did not immediately provide an official comment on this story, but we will update if they do.

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Hardware

The graphics card market has been quite intense lately up until now. With the clouds and dust settling after the AMD and Nvidia dispute, both contenders are playing on an even battle field – Or are they?

Coming this September 10, AMD plans to unveil its HD4600 series (RV730 XT / PRO) cards to directly compete with the Nvidia 9500 series. We will see two flavors brought forward as the HD4670 (RV730-XT) and the HD4650 (RV730-Pro). Both cards are manufactured on the 55 nm architecture at speeds of 750 MHz and 600 MHz. Each card will utilize 320 Stream Processing Units. Some of the other technical, and notable features of the HD4600 series are as follows:

- PowerPlay 2.0 Functions
- Unified Video Decoder 2 (UVD 2
- Direct-X 10.1
- Shader Model 4.1
- Physics acceleration & Dynamic geometry acceleration
- 24X CFAA Technology

Another point worth mentioning is that new V3700 & V5700 FirePro specialized workstation cards are based off the RV730-XT (HD4670) technology. Both card editions will also have Macro Vision Detection (MVD) on them as well. Macro Vision Detection is a form a copy protection that is transparent while viewing media, but apparent when attempting to copy certain media from input sources. Typically the copied version has the quality substantially degraded.

Both the HD4670 and HD4650 utilize a 128-Bit memory bandwidth. No 256-Bit version has been mentioned as of current. The HD4650 coming with 512MB DDR2 and the HD4670 coming with a choice of 512 MB or 1024 MB DDR3. The HD4670 (RV730-XT) supports hardware crossfire while the HD4650 (RV730-Pro) supports software based crossfire at this time. It appears that there is a version utilizing the RV730-Pro technology that will support hardware crossfire, however at this time it is not set it in stone.

Power consumptions of the HD4600 series are relatively low at 70 to 80 Watts for the HD4670 and 50 to 55 Watts for the HD4650. It’s also worth mentioning the lack of external power connector on this series of card, which has its pros and its cons. Average systems housing 450 Watts or more should be just fine with this card. If you plan to run two cards in crossfire 550 Watts minimum is suggested.

Based on this information however, the 4600 series being a new release appears to be somewhat of a step backward. If you were to compare the specs of the HD4670 (RV730) to the older HD3870 (RV670) you would instantly notice the dial has been turned back on the specs, and what for? Let’s have a look:

As you can clearly see, the HD4670 (RV730) appears to be a dialed back version of the older HD3870 (RV670). Seeing as the HD3870 is still readily available all over the web and in stores for a reasonable average price of $130 and the HD4870 for $270 – there may be little incentive to purchase this card. (Unless if the HD3800 series were completely phased out and not so readily available, the HD4600 series could take its place with a new price.) A real benefit to this card is quite possibly for a Home Theatre PC in a compact case stuffed into a ventilation restricted entertainment unit. Since the HD4600 series cards have lower wattage. With the lack of an external power connector, they certainly will not be generating much heat turning your case into an easy-bake oven.

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By Tuan Nguyen - Source : Tom's Guide

According to an email reply sent to a user from Steve Jobs himself, Apple is in talks with AT&T to figure out a reasonable iPhone data-tethering plan. The plan will allow users to attach their iPhone or iPhone 3G to a computer and use the data feed as a primary or secondary internet connection.

Currently, users are unable to do this with AT&T’s blessing. While users can use apps such as NetShare, there’s risk that a big fat data bill will be sent out at the end of the billing cycle. Even with methods such as NetShare, AT&T officially does not allow tethering on the iPhone. This has left many iPhone users frustrated because tethering plans are available on other 3G phones.

According to a report on Gizmodo, Jobs responded by saying:

"We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.

Steve"

No confirmation though on whether the email is just a rumor mill beginning to spin. However, it does make sense as data tethering is something that’s been requested constantly. Nullriver’s NetShare app is no longer on the iPhone App Store for obvious reasons. Those who were able to snag the application before its removal are lucky.

At this time, there’s no indication on whether a real tethering feature will be added (it makes sense), or what its price will be. Many are saying that AT&T will likely charge an additional $30/month for a tethering plan. At this cost, tethering would already cost more than most people’s primary broadband connection, and would most likely be stipulated by usage patterns — most ISPs are now regulating how much data their customers can transfer on a per month basis. Things could get even more expensive than they are now.

Is tethering on the iPhone worth $30/month more than its current costs? You tell us.

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