Pentium D 805 Discontinued

Market demand for the Desktop Intel® Pentium® D processor 805 has shifted toother Intel® processors. The products identified in this notification will bediscontinued and unavailable for additional orders after the "Last ProductDiscontinuance Order Date" (see "Key Milestones" above).

QMax To Offer Creative inPerson Conferencing Service In SG

Creative Technology Ltd. and QMax Communications Pte Ltd today announced thatCreative, inventor of Creative inPerson™, a wireless video conferencing system,has unveiled the revolutionary Creative inPerson Conferencing Service andappointed QMax as a service partner in Singapore. This joint partnership bringstogether a worldwide leader in audio and video innovations and the premiumservice provider of wireless Internet access in Singapore.

Creative introduced Creative inPerson, a breakthrough in video conferencingtechnology, design, price and ease-of-use at the Consumer Electronics Show inJanuary 2008 in Las Vegas, USA. The portable, wireless Creative inPerson systemenables business executives to enjoy a high resolution video and audiomulti-party call with multiple offices participating from around the world at afraction of the cost of other video conferencing systems - bringing expensivevideo conferencing outside the corporate boardroom. Each party can join aCreative inPerson conference from a Creative inPerson system, through a PC withthe Creative inPerson inVite, and even from a cell phone for voice call.Business executives can experience high resolution video display on the system'sseven-inch screen with high quality audio on its built-in speaker, or output toa large screen LCD or plasma display. With its breakthrough price and ease ofuse, all of the employees in a company can communicate via Creative inPerson,dramatically reducing the need for travel, increasing productivity, saving cost,and at the same time, reducing their carbon footprint.

As part of the collaboration, QMax will provide the support and service elementsof Creative inPerson Conferencing. The unique and cutting-edge infrastructureand technology behind Creative inPerson is brought together by Creative andInnoMedia Pte Ltd in a joint technology partnership announced today. QMax willbe using the infrastructure and technology to provide the Creative inPersonConferencing Service in Singapore. Through this relationship, Creative inPersoncustomers will benefit from QMax's excellent customer service and itsexperienced round-the-clock helpdesk support. In addition, onsite servicesprovided by the QMax team will also be rendered to corporate customers who mayrequire a higher level of quality assistance.

"QMax has a strong and credible track record in providing services toenterprises in Singapore. By leveraging on its close relationship and intimateknowledge of the business enterprises' needs in Singapore as well as keyelements of QMax's highly successful support network, we are confident that ourcustomers will enjoy the service level which they so truly deserve when usingCreative inPerson, the premium product in video conferencing today," said WilliePng, Vice President of Video & Imaging for Creative. "Partnering QMax gives usthe assurance that our Creative inPerson customers in Singapore will be wellsupported with a quality Internet network as well as a perfect platform todifferentiate our premium products and services in the video conferencingarena."

Creative will continue to develop Creative inPerson which will revolutionise theway people communicate, while QMax will build on its core expertise and itscommitment in enhancing the service component of this new product by leveragingon its understanding of business enterprises in Singapore and their diverseneeds.

"Creative is the ideal partner for QMax, sharing our vision in providing anaffordable and uncomplicated wireless conferencing solution that meets businesscommunication needs in Singapore," said Alex Tan, Director of QMax. "Creative isa worldwide leader in innovative audio and video technology and we are proud tohave them as a strategic partner in delivering this breakthrough in videoconferencing."

Pricing and Availability
Creative inPerson and Creative inPerson Conferencing Service provided by QMax inSingapore will be available on 17 March 2008. Creative inPerson is available atthe suggested retail price of S$ 1,200.00 with QMax monthly service fee atS$ 25.00.

Nexus Announces LOW-7000 R2 CPU Cooler

Nexus LOW-7000 R2 CPU Cooler

Nexus has launched the LOW-7000 R2,its latest version of the low-profile LOW-7000 CPU Cooler with supportfor AM2/3 sockets. Measuring 138x123x70.3mm and weighing 475gm, theLOW-7000 R2 is designed for use in a HPTC.


Nexus LOW-7000 R2 CPU Cooler - Top


4 6mm Pure Copper Heat Pipes with “Heatpipe-On-Core” Technology

Featuring 4 6mm pure copper heat pipes with “Heatpipe-On-Core”technology and ultra-thin aluminum fins, the pure aluminum cooler (madeusing SkiveTek technology) is able to dissipate the heat built-upefficiently. Equipped with a silent 120mm PWM fan running at speeds of500 to 2000 RPM depending on the actual CPU load, the LOW-7000 R2 CPUCooler is barely audible at 24 dBa during operation. Pricing andshipping date has not been announced yet so users who want an efficientthermal solution for their new/upcoming Intel/AMD HPTC can keep an eyeout for the LOW-7000 R2 CPU cooler.

Features
Fully compatible with Intel Socket LGA1366/1156/775 and AMD AM2/34 x 6mm pure copper heatpipes with “Heatpipe-On-Core” TechnologyPure aluminum heat sink with SkiveTek-TechnologyPush-pin mounting for IntelPWM controlled 120mm Sleeve Bearing fan at 500-2000 RPM7cm high – ideal for HTPCsNews via [Nexus]

No New Single-core Athlon 64 This Year

Despite introducing Athlon 64 X2 desktop PC and dual-core Opteron server processors, AMD will continue to tout single-core processors for certain applications. AMD plans to continue offering single-core Athlon 64 FX chips such as 2.6GHz Athlon 64 FX-57 (San Diego based) that will arrive within weeks for gaming desktops. However, AMD no longer intends to deliver new, single-core Athlon 64s this year originally expected to launch Athlon 64 4200+. AMD will tout the Athlon 64 X2's multimedia aptitude and will position its current and future single-core Athlon 64 FX chips as having the highest performance on games.

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 Release Slides leaked

Chinese website IT168 has leaked slides from the release presentation ofNVIDIA's upcoming GeForce GTS 450. While there are no major surprises,the slides confirm several rumours. The reference design of the GeForceGTS 450's body is identical to the reference GTX 460. It features 4 SMor PolyMorph Engines with 48 SP or CUDA Cores each (much like GF104,unlike GF100), for a total of 192 SP. The core is clocked at 783 MHz,with the shaders at 1566 MHz. 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 memory clocked at 900MHz mean a low bandwidth of 57.6 GB/s, well below the likes of the HD5770 and predecessor GTS 250. The GTS 450 features 32 TMUs, and lookslike a fully enabled GF106 part. In essence, GF106 is GF104 cut in half.



The GTS 450's power consumption is decent, with TDP listed at 106W. However, we have seen actual TDP and NVIDIA's figures vary in the past. Performance wise, the GTS 450 is expected to be somewhere between the Radeon HD 5750 and Radeon HD 5770. The HD 5770 has a near identical TDP of 108W, but the HD 5750 consumes only 86W. All three cards, as expected, use a single 6-pin PCIe connector.



NVIDIA's key selling points will be similar to the GTX 460 - excellent price/performance and high overclocking potential. Expected to retail at $130, the GeForce GTS 450 is slightly cheaper than the Radeon HD 5750, despite performing approximately 10% better. Heavily factory overclocked versions will be available, upto 900+ MHz. In fact, the some GTS 450 may hit 1 GHz. From a stock speed of 783 MHz, this is incredible overclocking potential. Sporting a GTX 460-like cooler, the GTS 450 provides ample cooling performance, with Furmark load temperatures only 72C at default fan settings.

Overall, the GeForce GTS 450 is looking like a strong product. One might suggest that the card could do better with more memory bandwidth, but as it stands, it is still extremely competitive against the Radeon HD 5750. However, the problem for NVIDIA is that the GTS 450 won't be competing against the HD 5700 series for long. Being 11 months late means AMD's Radeon HD 6700 series is set to release in one month's time, on October 12th. At the same time, the GTS 450's likely direct competitor will be the Radeon HD 6600 series, though we are not sure when it will release. Till then, we hope AMD drops the price for the Radeon HD 5700 series to finally ignite some life into the mainstream ~$150 segment.

Reference: IT168.com, Donanimhaber

NVIDIA 28nm Kepler production in Q4 2011, release in 2012

In a talk with Fudzilla, NVIDIAs PR Representative Ken Brown revealed that next-gen 28nm Kepler is on track to hit production by the end of this year. However, the release of retail SKUs, will only be in 2012, presumably Q1. This roadmap is no surprise and has been rumoured even before Keplertaped out.

Interestingly, in the mobile arena, rumours suggest NVIDIA has opted to release Fermi 28nm shrinksfirst. As these chips follow a similar schedule to Kepler, it is unlikely that these shrinks will be available on the desktop, except for maybe entry level GPUs. As is usual, the top Kepler part (GF110 replacement) will release first for the desktop. However, it might be too power hungry for a notebook release and the performance chip (i.e. GF114 replacement) will only release later. Hence, Kepler parts on the notebook will probably follow later in 2012.

The rumour mill has been grinding away on the AMD side of the fence. In the last financial call, then interim CEO Thomas Seifert confirmed that next-gen 28nm GPUs were on track for 2011. AMD/GloFo have also indirectly confirmed the AMD Radeon HD 7000 branding. However, as we head closer to Q4, little in the way of solid information has surfaced on to the internet about the Radeon HD 7000 series.

Source: Fudzilla

NVIDIA Demos PCI Express Technology

NVIDIA is demonstrating its PCI Expressarchitecture at the Consumer Electronics Show. PCI Express is the nextrevolution in I/O interconnect standard that NVIDIA will deploy in futuregraphics solutions as the next step in delivering the bandwidth and featuresrequired for high-resolution graphics, games, and other graphically-intensiveapplications.

PCI Express significantly increases bandwidthbetween the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) byenabling a balanced distribution of bandwidth to those applications that requireit the most. NVIDIA's PCI Express bridge chip, an industry first, affords theflexibility to instantly adapt a variety of the Company's award-winning GPUs tothe new PCI Express bus technology with the full capabilities and throughputoffered by PCI Express.

"To create a sixteen lane PCI Express bridge chip that works without performancedegradation is a huge technological advancement," said Dan Vivoli, executivevice president of marketing at NVIDIA. "The use of a PCI Express bridge chipgives NVIDIA a decisive competitive advantage in what is the most excitinggraphics bus transition in recent history."

"Intel has been working with PCI Express validation collaborators such as NVIDIAto implement this exciting new I/O interconnect standard," said Randy Wilhelm,vice president, Desktop Platforms Group and general manager, Client PlatformDivision at Intel Corporation. "The validation of NVIDIA products with PCIExpress will help ensure interoperability with future leading-edge Intelplatforms."

NC State researcher develops quot;clickjacking rootkits quot;

Android has seen increasing numbers of threats from malwares and viruses recently. As the popular open sourced platform becomes even more widespread, so will the threats. Researchers at NC State have found a hole in the Android GUI and services that allows malwares to disguise itself as a normal app. The team developed a “clickjacking rootkit” that allows malwares to hijack a phone’s regular icon and replaces it with its own user-information-theft software.

The clickjacking rootkit allows people to disguise their malwares in the form of legitimate Android software. What this means is that icons of a normal (non-harmful) software gets replaced with a malware, and when a user clicks on the seemingly “normal” icon he will launch an application that may seem to function normally, but underneath it are hijacking codes that steals user information.

This vulnerability, as you will see in the video demonstration, is apparent in Android ICS 4.0.4. The rootkit hasn’t been tested on previous Androids, but the chances of this vulnerability existing on previous platforms are high. Android Jelly Bean 4.1 is still being investigated, and until then we cannot assume that any Android OS is secured.

The rootkit exposes how various malwares can infect an Android phone and steal user information. Even harmful apps can pass as being “normal” and un-harmful can still be downloaded from Google Play. All this is possible because the vulnerability doesn’t require root access.

Source: ncsu.edu via androidauthority.com