Intel is trying to convince entry-level gamers to accept integrated graphics with a new hardware vertex shader for its G965 graphics chip. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the company showed off some demos of popular first person shooters on the chip and also challenged journalists to pick out the integrated graphics-powered computer against a computer running a discrete card.
Samsung has begun shipping what the company claims is the first hybrid hard drive on the market. The new MH80 series is making its way to “select OEM customers” and will be available in retail outlets soon, the manufacturer said.
Denver (CO) - Archos today introduced a new portable media player that it says is the first of its kind with a 7" screen and Wi-Fi capabilities.
The Archos 704-WiFi has a screen resolution of 800 x 400 pixels and is presented in a 5"x7" size. The device comes with an 80 GB internal hard drive, enough for around 100 hours of video.
St. John’s (Antigua) – Slysoft claims to have bypassed virtually any copy protection technology that is integrated in the high-definition disc formats HD DVD and Blu-ray. Following the previously announced HD DVD ripper, the software now also supports Blu-ray discs and allows you to play both formats on computers without HDCP chips.
Tokyo (Japan) – Fujitsu today announced the first 7200 rpm notebook hard drives that come with a 3.0 Gb/s Serial ATA 2.5 interface, as opposed to the widely available 1.5 Gb/s port.
The new MHW2 BJ series drives effectively double the maximum data throughput from 150 MB/s to 300 MB/s. According to the manufacturer, the platters of the drives, which are available in 80 GB, 120 GB and 160 GB capacities, spin with 7200 rpm and enable a read seek time of 10.5 ms and a write seek time of 12.5 ms.
The Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) has posted a revision of the SATA specification, which includes enhancements for native command queuing and small form factor environments.
Columbus (OH) - Following a later than expected launch of the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ and 6000+ processors, prices of AMD’s mainstream CPUs have dropped to levels lower than we've seen over the past 21 weeks. AMD is in a critical phase where it needs to stabilize its processor prices and maintain competitiveness with Intel at the same time. Consumers are benefiting from a competition that is still heating up.
Silicon Valley startup M2Z Networks is inching closer towards its proposed nationwide wireless broadband network that promises to provide free Internet access to 95% of the U.S. population.
Intel will be offering a slightly upgraded version of its 945GC integrated graphics chipset for Core 2 Duo, Pentium D and Pentium 4 HT processors beginning in early April of this year.
