Hexus

"Toshiba has spun out six new laptop-friendly hard drives, including a 400GiB whopper that sports the world's highest data density to date, the company claimed.

The 400GiB MK4058GSX contains two platters spinning at 5400rpm and which cram 477MiB into every square millimetre. It connects to the host over a 3GiB/s SATA link. The 2.5in form-factor drive is 9.5mm high and has 8MiB of cache.

Toshiba touted the drive's energy efficiency as well as its capacity - it consumes up to 0.6W. And it's Toshiba's first halogen-free 2.5in hard drive.

If it's performance you're after, Toshiba also launched five 7200rpm drives with capacities ranging from 80GiB to 320GiB, and one or two platters. Again, they're 3GiB/s SATA drives, 2.5in in form-factor and 9.5mm thick. They have 16MiB of cache.

It's not the first 7200rpm 2.5in HDD to hit 320GiB - Fujitsu claimed that crown back in March. However, these boys consume up to 0.9W.

Toshiba didn't provide prices for the drives, but it did say the 7200rpm units will go into mass-production next month. The 400GiB HDD will be punched out in September."

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Engadget

"What is the TrasnferJet Technology?

It is a very simple Close Proximity Wireless Transfer technology which will allow you to transfer high-resolution video, music, pictures just by touching two devices together to automatically initiate transfer of files.
According to the different manufacturers, this new technology should allow a high speed transfer of large data files, and achieving a theoretical transmission rate of 560 Mbps and an effective value of 375 Mbps.
Why not?


Tokyo, July 17, 2008 - Sony Corporation, Canon Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Hitachi Ltd., Victor Company of Japan, KDDI Corporation, Kenwood Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Nikon Corporation, Olympus Imaging Corporation, Pioneer Corporation, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., Seiko Epson Corporation, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, Toshiba Corporation today announced an agreement to form a consortium to develop specifications for interconnecting products using “TransferJet” a new interoperable wireless transfer technology that enables rapid transfer of high resolution video, music and images. The “TransferJet Consortium” (www.transferjet.org) plans to promote a wide range of products and services incorporating TransferJet technology with the aim of accelerating its adoption throughout the consumer electronics industry.

TransferJet wireless technology enables a high speed data transmission rate of 560Mbps, while eliminating the need for complex setup and operation. Directly touching two compliant electronic products together allows files to be transferred automatically, without the need for an access point. For example, touching a TV with a digital camera enables photos to be instantaneously displayed on the TV screen. Alternatively, downloaded music content can be easily enjoyed by touching a mobile phone to a portable audio player. TransferJet can be used as a universal interface across all consumer electronics devices.

The “TransferJet Consortium” will develop specifications and guidelines ensuring interoperability between products incorporating the technology, establish licensing schemes and administer the use of the TransferJet logo. The Consortium will also promote the advantages across industries and to consumers. Through these initiatives, the Consortium will aim to create and expand the market for TransferJet products."

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VR-Zone

"There was a lot of hype surrounding the NVIDIA GT200 before it was launched. Fans weren't happy when NVIDIA took them on a long ride with the G92 core, which is found in both the GeForce 8800 GTS 512, and the GeForce 9800 GTX. To make things worse, the G92 could not give any substantial gains over the aging G80 core.

Many were disappointed when Nvidia's flagship GeForce GTX 280 1GB was officially launched, as performance was not 'as good as what many had expected it to be'. On average, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 could not even outperform the older GeForce 9800 GX2, which is based on two separate GPU cores, by even 30%.

ATI launched the RV770-based Radeon HD 4850 512MB shortly after NVIDIA's launch of the GT200. Suddenly, NVIDIA's GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB looked like a severly-overpriced piece of equipment as benchmarks of the Radeon HD 4850 showed that it could keep up with the G92 for a much cheaper US$199. To make things worse, a CrossFired Radeon HD 4850 setup runs just as fast as a single GeForce GTX 280 1GB card. Things did not get better when ATI launched the Radeon HD 4870 512MB at US$299 which has about 75% the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 1GB (priced at US$649 back then). A CrossFired Radeon HD 4870 at US$600 wiped the GeForce GTX 280 out of the door."

Read The Full Review

CPU3D Review: ZEROtherm ZEN FZ120 CPU Cooler

Today we take a look at the new kid on the block, the ZEROtherm Zen FZ120 CPU cooler. The Zen CPU cooler is built around tower design, and utilizes a clear 120mm fan for its cooling duties. The feature list is pretty expansive and among them is effective 8-line Heat pipe effect, honeycomb structure for optimized air flow, 120mm fan for max air-flow and PW (Automatic Fan Control).

           

"... Considering you can acquire this monster for only around $39.00 USD it becomes a real value. Big-time air cooling for people on a modest budget "

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.

Techreport

"As Carl Icahn fights on to put Yahoo in the hands of Microsoft, the folks in Redmond are looking at alternative acquisition targets. Quoting the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News reported yesterday afternoon that Microsoft planned to meet with AOL officials later that day.

The meeting was to take place over a "possible combination" of the two companies. Microsoft and AOL hadn't formalized a deal at press time, but they'd allegedly been talking for "several months," and a team from AOL previously traveled to Seattle for talks.

Microsoft isn't the only one contemplating a deal with AOL. We noted back in April that Yahoo and AOL also held talks over a possible deal, in which the former would take control of the latter and then receive an investment from Time Warner plus a 20% stake in the resulting entity. Reuters mentioned yesterday morning that Yahoo was still in negotiations with the rival Internet firm. According to Reuters, Time Warner is scrambling to reach a deal before Yahoo's August 1 shareholder meeting, which could see a Microsoft-friendly board take the reins if Icahn gets his wish."

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According to NetworkWorld ... Apple is the third largest PC vendor in the US!! ... What do you reckon?

NetworkWorld

"Apple is moving up the charts, toppling Acer to become the third largest PC vendor in the U.S., according to a survey from Gartner. Apple defied a weakening economy to record a 38.1% growth rate in U.S. PC shipments, according to Gartner. Overall PC shipments in the U.S. grew just 4.2% to 16.5 million units during the quarter.

The company shipped 1.4 million units compared to Acer's 1.33 million, according to Gartner's survey. Dell held the top spot, shipping 5.25 million units and growing 11.9% year-over-year, followed by HP.

IDC also released a survey on Wednesday that had Apple and Acer running neck and neck."

LINK

The guys over at the Inquirer has reported some interesting news on the benefits of having Ageia Physics on 4 of the latest graphic cards.

The INQ

What about that darn physics thing, especially how the Ageia Physx support in the new Nvidia GTX cards affects the CPU portion of the 3DMark Vantage benchmark, letting the marketing droids repeat the "affected" scores to their benefit? And, the ATI fanboys complaining (cough!) how Nvidia rigs all and sundry?

Since, usually, physics calculations depend heavily on the CPU and are well threaded, we built a platform where there's a minimum skew possible due to Nvidia's on-chip Physx support: the eight core, 4GHz Intel Skulltrail, liquid cooled with Asetek LCLC set.

We also pulled out the old Asus Ageia Physx PCI card, and ran all graphics card combinations both with and without it. What were the cards used? Asus GTX280 TOP 1GB, with a GPU running at a very decent 650MHz, was the highest end entry, while Leadtek GTX260 896MB card played the less expensive slower cousin here. Two reference ATI cards, the HD4870 and HD4850, both with 512MB memory and reference clocks, filled in the picture."

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No way ... the computer mouse gone !! You can't be serious ... I love the mouse.

BBC

"It's nearly 40 years old but one leading research company says the days of the computer mouse are numbered. A Gartner analyst predicts the demise of the computer mouse in the next three to five years. Taking over will be so called gestural computer mechanisms like touch screens and facial recognition devices.

"The mouse works fine in the desktop environment but for home entertainment or working on a notebook it's over," declared analyst Steve Prentice. He told BBC News that his prediction is driven by the efforts of consumer electronics firm which are making products with new interactive interfaces inspired by the world of gaming .

... The mouse was invented by Dr Douglas Engelbart while working for the Stanford Research Institute. He never received any royalties for the invention partly because his patent ran out in 1987 before the PC revolution made the mouse indispensible.

With a 40 year anniversary planned for later in the year, Mr Dooley said Gartner's prediction for the mouse was too gloomy given that the developing world has still to get online. "

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Massive profits reported by Intel ... it's good to see that the economic downturn hasn't affected some key industries. It's not as bad as it seems ... so far.

Dailytech

Business is not so bad in the PC business afterall ... that's according to Crave @ CNet.

Crave - CNet

"Despite concerns that a weakening U.S. economy would slow spending here and elsewhere, the PC market is chugging along respectably.

The market's success was foreshadowed Tuesday by Intel, whose solid quarter demonstrated that there's continued demand for notebook PCs particularly. Shipments of PCs worldwide grew 16 percent in the second quarter of this year, led by the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions, according to IDC. Shipments were down in the Asia-Pacific region, usually a strong market for growth, but the results were even worse in the U.S., where units shipped grew 3.6 percent, according to IDC. That's the second straight quarter of sluggish growth for the U.S.: Q1 of this year saw 4.6 percent growth.

What we learn from the slowdown in the Asia-Pacific region is that these other international regions are not entirely independent of the U.S. slowdown.

"We haven't seen the impact on international PC shipments yet," said IDC analyst Loren Loverde. "What's remarkable about Asia is we're just starting to see that slower growth."

In the U.S., Dell put a bit more distance between itself and chief rival Hewlett-Packard, though both continued to do well. HP was up 16.8 percent, just slightly ahead of the market overall. Dell grew 12 percent in the second quarter, which is down from the previous two quarters of 15 percent growth each, but it's clear the company is righting the ship. Its retail strategy, now in place for a year, is working, and its stated goal of growing its international business also appears to be on track, said Loverde. "

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