By Tuan Nguyen - Source : Tom's Hardware

Sanyo this week announced that it has developed a new laser diode that emits a 450 mw (milliwatts) blue laser beam that can read information off of Blu-ray discs at 12X speeds — double what’s currently available. Best of all, it can also burn to Blu-ray writable discs at the same data rates, which is a huge time saver for heavy archival use.

Data throughput isn’t the only advancement that Sany claims. The company also said that because of its new diode design, it’s able to to read quad-layer Blu-ray discs, allowing manufacturers to produce Blu-ray discs that hold up to a whopping 100 GB of data. At this capacity, quad-layer discs can hold up to 8 hours of high-definition movies.

Currently, Blu-ray discs hold about 25 GB per layer for a total of 50 GB on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc.

Unfortunately, don’t expect to run to your nearest retailer and pickup a drive with the new laser. The development and standardization time required for Blu-ray devices are painstakingly long. Because of this, the likelihood of seeing the new high capacity Blu-ray drives out on the market is still one to two years away. By this time, who knows what will be available.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

Reports have emerged that Research In Motion’s latest handset has been delayed to ensure BlackBerry Bold users do not fall victim to the 3G issues that have been hounding owners of Apple’s iPhone 3G.

Originally scheduled for release over the summer, we assume just a little after the latest iPhone, the Bold was delayed in the U.S. RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis spoke to the Associated Press late last week and hinted that the handset’s delayed entry into the North American Market is because AT&T wants to be sure it doesn’t see a repeat of the shoddy coverage experienced by customers with Apple’s device.

Apple’s iPhone 3G woes appears to have finally been resolved following the release of the 2.1 firmware, months after the launch of the hardware. RIM likely wants to make sure the experience is perfect out of the box for AT&T customers.

"There’s great scrutiny, as you might know, on that network and a certain device. So I guess everyone wants to be sure on every last test," Lazaridis told the AP.

There’s still no word on when the Bold might hit the U.S. but AT&T maintains we’ll see it before the year is out. The Blackberry Bold is currently out in the wild in Canada, where it roams in its native land on Rogers Wireless’ HSDPA network.

The the last few weeks has already seen an announcement regarding the launch RIM’s first clamshell BlackBerry, a flip version of the company’s Pearl device. While clamshells are seen as a more social design for a cellphone, a separate announcement from the Canadian smartphone maker detailed the company’s foray into the “work hard play hard” market with another new handset the BlackBerry Storm.

While there’s likely to be those who are wary about buying a 3G phone on AT&T’s network (the company has seen several lawsuits about the iPhone coverage), it looks like BlackBerry owners looking to upgrade will be spoiled for choice this holiday season.

Read the full story on the Associated Press

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By Aaron Heibert - Source : Tom's Guide

If you ever have massive amounts of data that is supposed to be secure, you are probably better off eating it so that nobody can get their hands on it. Deutsch Telekom, a T-Mobile subsidiary lost a disc containing personal information regarding roughly 17 million of its customers back in early 2006. They have remained silent about it until now.

Deutsche Telekom published its version of the story on Saturday following a report in a German news magazine Der Spiegel that the information contained on the lost disk was being offered for sale on the internet. The data is apparently confined to German customers only as far as they know.

Information on the disk contained customer names, date of birth, addresses, email addresses, and of course, their mobile telephone number. No banking information was stored on the disk.

Upon discovery, the loss was reported to the state prosecutor and the company began monitoring Internet forums, chat rooms, and many Web sites where such stolen information would likely be offered for sale. In the months following the initial loss, there was no indication or evidence that the data was being offered for sale on the market.

However, on Saturday according to Der Spiegel, the data is in fact for sale on the market now. Along with standard user information, the data for sale includes information and unlisted phone numbers for German celebrities, business leaders, billionaires, religious figures and government officials. As of current, T-Mobile claims no reports that the information is being used for the purpose identity theft. Although no mention has been made, a more realistic assumption would be that the data could get used for terrorism or mass spam based advertising, the later being the most plausible.

There has been no report indicating exactly how the loss of the disk occurred. Seeing how the data has been noted for sale on the open market, chances are that someone walked out with it when they could have easily just copied it instead – leaving a lot of questions.

Customers worried about their privacy are able to have their mobile numbers changed for free at this time.

For the record, Deutsch Telekom is also taking a hot bath for paying a little too much attention to the personal details of some of its customers. Internal security staff are being accused of spying on private phone use of its board of directors – it is suspected that some of them are leaking sensitive information to journalists. An independent investigation was launched in May of this year regarding the issue.

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

eBay today announced lay offs amounting 1,000 employees, a figure that makes up ten percent of the company’s staff. More to the point, the company also announced a few acquisitions on the side.

While the world is busy with a Google/Yahoo! deal that could potentially result in a monopoly of online advertising, eBay has bought a competitor of PayPal’s Pay Later feature, Bill Me Later, which many people think will give the online auctioning company a firmer hold on the online payments market. The latter is a service which reviews your credit history and then, if you don’t raise any red flags, sends you the bill in the post at a later date.

According to ZDNet, eBay and Bill Me Later will see the company go after larger merchants, a move the company has labeled inevitable.

“PayPal and Bill Me Later just go together. We have been talking for two years now. Bill Me Later brings a strong complementary merchant base, delivers a compelling consumer proposition and gives us leverage to lower transaction expenses.”

It’s not yet clear as to whether or not eBay will be laying off Bill Me Later employees once the deal has been finalized however, the company has said the reduction in staff at eBay is a move expected to improve the company’s cost structure and streamline organisation.

As if purchasing one of PayPal’s most notable rivals and laying off at least 1,000 staff weren’t enough, eBay has also announced the purchase of dba.dk, Denmark’s leading online classifieds site and vehicles site, bilbasen.dk, for approximately $390 million in cash. The Bill Me Later deal set eBay back approximately $820 million in cash and and $125 million in outstanding options. The vision to gravitate toward larger merchants aside, speculation suggests eBay is buying viable companies now when tech stocks are at a low point.

Read more on Yahoo!

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

According to CENS, U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile expects to sell 400,000 to 500,000 of HTC’s G1 handset in the fourth quarter of this year alone and HTC is set to make over $210 million before the year’s end.

When people consider an iPhone, they automatically think of two companies: AT&T and Apple. The same could be said of the first Android phone - and while it’s still in its early days, the G1 is associated to T-Mobile and Google. Like it or not, people are inclined to forget that it’s HTC’s handset at all. However, if reported numbers are anything to go by, the company isn’t likely to complain anytime soon.

CNES reports, citing industry insiders, that the AT&T rival has plans to order between 1.5 and 2 million of the HTC handsets and between 400,000 and 500,000 of those will be off the shelves and out the door come new years. Indeed reports suggest that T-Mobile is already having trouble dealing with the high demand for the G1 during presales and it’s still over two weeks before the launch.

We’ve said before that the hype surrounding the G1 is nothing compared to the hype we saw with either of the iPhones Apple released. However, when you consider the number of iPhone “rivals” already out there, the anticipation surrounding the launch of this handset far outweighs the build up prior to the release of any other smartphone.

Taking into account the fact that these figures are based only on the U.S. release of the G1 (and HTC has plans to release it in other markets in the very near future), the company stands to make a significant amount of money from being the first to market an Android phone. In what could be a classic case of the early bird catching the worm, it’s possible HTC will rake in profits from early adopters and additional manufacturers developing handsets running the Google OS will be disappointed with sales.

(Via CENS)

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By Jane McEntegart - Source : Tom's Guide

The Washington Post today reports that Google and Yahoo! will hold off on a controversial advertising deal, which has attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice and European Union Antitrust Regulators.

The proposed advertising agreement between Yahoo! and Google has dominated the headlines in the last weeks. Most prominent has been Google maintaining that the deal will go ahead as planned, despite protests from various different regulators, members from the California delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Association of National Advertisers.

The deal, originally scheduled to roll out early October, will be delayed for no more than one month during which the two companies will continue talks with the DOJ.

While most see the deal as a negative move for the market as a whole (read up on the protests from the Advertisers and California delegates here and here), CEO Eric Schmidt not only said that the deal was designed to meet government standards but hinted that the drama surrounding the antitrust investigation stems from Microsoft, which is apparently “busy helping everyone get upset about these things.”

Yahoo! also attempted to put competitors fearing a monopoly situation at ease, claiming the move was engineered to improve Yahoo!’s own business and that the company’s sponsored search connection with Google would ultimately shrink over time.

Yahoo! remained aloof about the possible delay, commenting, “We have had discussions with regulators and look forward to responding to their questions about this agreement.” However, Google squashed any doubts about the delay with its statement regarding the situation:

"The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice."

If called off, the deal could put Yahoo! in an awkward position. Largely seen as a scapegoat from a Microsoft acquisition, the deal with Google is a necessary move for Yahoo! to retain a certain level of buoyancy in the market. If the deal were to fall through, the company may have no choice but to reconsider Microsoft’s offer.

(Via Washington Post)

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By Marcus Yam - Source : Tom's Hardware

New MacBooks are on the way, that much is certain, but the word on the street is that one crucial new feature comes from a metal brick.

According to 9to5Mac, the MacBook “Brick” is special new manufacturing process by Apple intended for a new chassis for upcoming products. Apple’s new technique involves the use of 3D laser technology and water jets to carve out precise structures from a brick of aluminum.

Creating a chassis in such a manner yields one that is custom crafted, seamless and requires fewer screws and fasten points. It should also be stronger and more rigid, while also being lighter.

Sources say that Apple has supposedly created a new factory specifically for this process. Currently, Apple designs its own products but outsources manufacturing to Chinese companies for the actual production.

While Apple products already set themselves apart with trendy and pleasing designs, the "brick" technology could take it to a whole new level – one that combines both new form with improved function – and setting it further apart from other notebooks.

Such a new manufacturing process may also lend credence to the purportedly leaked MacBook pictures from the summer, which showed an aluminum chassis that wore the logo of just “MacBook.”

Current MacBooks are made of plastic, while the aluminum casings are reserved for the more spendy MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. The new aluminum “brick” process could usher the regular entry-level MacBook into new and improved aluminum casing superior to what’s found in the MacBook line today.

In typical Apple fashion, we’re left speculating on what the next thing from Cupertino will be. No one will know for sure until Steve Jobs unveils the next-generation of MacBooks on stage, but such a media event has yet to be set.

More than one sign points to October 14 as being the unveiling date, which would make sense as the ones on the market today are out of production, and Apple needs something new to sell throughout the holiday season.

Stay tuned.

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By Steve Seguin - Source : Tom's Hardware

Performance DDR3 memory that requires a voltage higher than 1.65V may permanently damage Core i7 CPUs.

It looks like Intel’s upcoming Core i7 platform will have tight limits on the maximum DIMM voltages that can be safely used. According to information uncovered at the Inquirer, motherboard manufactures have been told by Intel that DDR3 memory when set to use voltages higher than 1.65V can burn out the CPU of upcoming Core i7 platforms.

Images of an unreleased Asus X58 motherboard in its apparent retail packaging show a sticker placed across the DIMM slots stating “According to Intel CPU SPEC, DIMMs with voltage setting over 1.65V may damage the CPU permanently. We recommend you install the DIMMs with the voltage setting below 1.65V.” According to the Inquirer, Asus had said it is safely running memory kits at 1.7V in its labs, but beyond that voltage you are on your own.

When Tom’s Hardware contacted Intel on the matter, Intel told us that it could not comment since details regarding Core i7 platform overclocking have not yet been made public. Intel did say however that it feels that knowledgeable overclockers will be pleased; a statement that agrees with early reviews of the Core i7 platform.

What we do know about Intel’s upcoming Core i7 platform is that it does not use a Front-Side Bus, making CPU overclocking essentially independent of the RAM. According to Fudzilla however, CPU and memory voltages on the Core i7 platform are synchronous, creating a potential limit for extreme overclocking if the CPU can only handle 1.65V safely.

What this also means is that consumers wishing to use current generation performance DDR3 memory with a Core i7 system may be in for a disappointment. Much of the performance memory currently available use a voltage greater than 1.7V, such as Patriot’s Viper 4GB 2000 MHz DDR3 memory that operates at 2.0V. It is expected that memory manufactures will release DDR3 memory kits designed for the Core i7 platform with some manufactures already announcing such plans. For example, A-Data’s recently announced a tri-channel DDR3 memory kit that operates between 1.65V to 1.75V and offers a latency setting of 7-7-7-20 2T for DDR3-1333+.

Unlike Intel’s Core 2 platform, the Core i7 platform uses triple channel memory, meaning memory kits designed for the Core i7 platform will come with three memory sticks instead of two. This fact alone might help prevent consumers from accidentally buying memory kits incompatible with Core i7 systems. Intel is expected to release the Core i7 platform in November for the upper mainstream, performance and enthusiastic markets.

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By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Hardware

To prevent piracy, are ad-sponsored PC games the way of the future?

They might be, and FileFront is one of many file hosting sites that are testing the waters by offering popular PC titles to download and play for free. While ad-sponsored gaming is nothing new, the latest fiasco surrounding Electronic Art’s recent release of Spore and its usage of SecuRom may force PC gamers to find alternate methods to calm the addiction.

Then again, offering older games with ad-support could be just another way to keep those popular titles out on the street and earning revenue. Last year Ubisoft was one of the first publishers to offer its games for free including Far Cry, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Rayman Raving Rabbids and Ghost Recon. But does this advertising scheme actually work?

According to Massive Inc., a dynamic advertising network embedded in many games bought today, the company believes that the system actually does work (story). In a test conducted by Nielson entertainment, the average purchase considerations - based on ad campaigns that ran on the Massive network - increased by 41 percent. Additionally, the average ad recall increased by 41 percent whereas average brand familiarity increased by 64 percent. The study included over 600 gamers playing Need for Speed: Carbon on the Xbox 360 and PC.

A few new ad-sponsored games have appeared online since last week including Full Spectrum Warrior, Area 51, The Suffering and Beyond Good & Evil. While there’s no complaint filed here in terms of downloading free games, one has to wonder how these will effect the overall gameplay. For some, this won’t matter as long as the hard-earned cash remains tucked away in the wallet. For others, the cost of actually purchasing the game online or through offline retail outlets may justify the game’s pricetag.

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