NVIDIA revs up pro graphics lineup

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/nvidia-revs-up-pro-graphics-lineup/

Squabbles with Intel aside, NVIDIA’s engineers have been keeping busy, and the company’s got a whole slew of new high-powered workstation graphics chips to talk about this morning, along with new SLI virtualization support. The new gear ranges from the Quadro NVS 295, which’ll drive two 30-inch displays for under $100, all the way up to the monster 4GB Quadro FX 5800, which packs 240 CUDA cores onto a PCI Express x16 card for $3150. The 5800 and baby brothers Quadro FX 3800 and 4800 all support SLI Multi-OS, which allows workstation users to tap into the cards using multiple OSes in Parallels — the HP Z800 is the first machine off the line to offer the capability, but more will follow. Pretty geeky stuff, head to the read links for more info.

Read – Workstation graphics press release
Read – SLI Multi-OS press release

Filed under: Desktops

NVIDIA revs up pro graphics lineup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Western Digital enters SSD market via $65m SiliconSystems acquisition

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/western-digital-enters-ssd-market-via-65m-siliconsystems-acquis/

Man, the consolidation efforts are really heating up. Just days after Cisco forked out a small fortune to acquire Pure Digital, HDD mainstay Western Digital has penned a check for $65 million in cold, hard cash in order to acquire SiliconSystems, Inc. Said outfit is an Aliso Viejo, California-based supplier of solid-state drives for the embedded systems market, and rather than wasting any more time falling behind in the SSD realm, WD figured it prudent to just buy the technology it needed to position itself as a legitimate competitor. WD has already made clear that it hopes to sell SSDs for the netbook, client and enterprise markets, and given that integration will begin “immediately,” we’re hoping to see some shipping products sooner rather than later.

Filed under: Storage

Western Digital enters SSD market via $65m SiliconSystems acquisition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Asus makes optical-endowed Eee PC 1004DN official

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/asus-succumbs-makes-eee-pc-1004dn-official/

What’s that, didn’t trust last week’s DigiTimes rumory confirmation of the new 1004DN addition to the Eee PC family? Rest easy, as Asus has come forward and made the first optical-offering Eee officially official. The machine packs a Super-Multi DVD writer, what looks to be the same pinkie-friendly chiclet keyboard as the 1000HE, a 1.66GHz Atom N280 processor, up to 120GB of storage, and even a fingerprint scanner. Price and release date are still undecided, but it shouldn’t be long before we find out just how well those legendarily long-winded Eee batteries fare at spinning up your Battlestar Galactica boxed sets.

Filed under: Laptops

Asus makes optical-endowed Eee PC 1004DN official originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype Coming to iPhone Tuesday, BlackBerry in May [Skype]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bYXsHkJ6NX4/skype-coming-to-iphone-tuesday-blackberry-in-may

Landing a day earlier than predicted, Skype’s official iPhone client will show its green ‘n’ white face in the App Store tomorrow. The other conspicuously neglected market, BlackBerry owners, can expect a client by May.

The iPhone client feature set is more or less what we’ve come to expect from Skype mobile apps: free Skype-to-Skype calls, SkypeOut support, pretty interface integration (they went with the iPhone aesthetic over the Skype desktop aesthetic, thankfully) and instant messaging to other users. You can even snap a profile picture from within the app. The app will also support 2G iPod Touches with external mics.

But! For those of you who held onto the vain hope that an official client might be able to somehow skirt the universal App Store ban on voice over IP over 3G (VoIPo3G?), forget it—you won’t be able to Skype unless you’re connected to a wireless network, and text messaging has been entirely excluded. You can’t even top up your SkypeOut account or purchase other services like voicemail, which, by the way, can’t be accessed from the app.

Not to poop on Skype’s party, but this announcement leaves me with questions—specifically, why should I download this? Third party apps like Fring picked up Skype’s slack a long time ago, and lump in multiprotocol IMing, something which gives them a distinct advantage over this official client on the one-app-at-a-time-plea! se iPhon e. Skype told CNET that their app will have better voice quality (and probably lower latency), but aside from that was unable to offer many significant advantages over other apps. [CNET and NYT —Images from CNET]

Skype Coming to iPhone Tuesday, BlackBerry in May [Skype]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bYXsHkJ6NX4/skype-coming-to-iphone-tuesday-blackberry-in-may

Landing a day earlier than predicted, Skype’s official iPhone client will show its green ‘n’ white face in the App Store tomorrow. The other conspicuously neglected market, BlackBerry owners, can expect a client by May.

The iPhone client feature set is more or less what we’ve come to expect from Skype mobile apps: free Skype-to-Skype calls, SkypeOut support, pretty interface integration (they went with the iPhone aesthetic over the Skype desktop aesthetic, thankfully) and instant messaging to other users. You can even snap a profile picture from within the app. The app will also support 2G iPod Touches with external mics.

But! For those of you who held onto the vain hope that an official client might be able to somehow skirt the universal App Store ban on voice over IP over 3G (VoIPo3G?), forget it—you won’t be able to Skype unless you’re connected to a wireless network, and text messaging has been entirely excluded. You can’t even top up your SkypeOut account or purchase other services like voicemail, which, by the way, can’t be accessed from the app.

Not to poop on Skype’s party, but this announcement leaves me with questions—specifically, why should I download this? Third party apps like Fring picked up Skype’s slack a long time ago, and lump in multiprotocol IMing, something which gives them a distinct advantage over this official client on the one-app-at-a-time-plea! se iPhon e. Skype told CNET that their app will have better voice quality (and probably lower latency), but aside from that was unable to offer many significant advantages over other apps. [CNET and NYT —Images from CNET]

GeoBulb LED light bulb uses just eight watts, rings up at $120

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/29/geobulb-led-light-bulb-uses-just-eight-watts-rings-up-at-120/

Ah, progress. Right around two years ago, we spotted a LED-filled light bulb that used “just” nine watts and cost a staggering $65. Now, we’ve got yet another option that sucks down even less power and costs nearly twice as much. C. Crane Company has been working on its so-called GeoBulb for a solid three years now, but at long last the device is shipping to affluent homeowners and headstrong Earth lovers. The bulb can provide as much light as a traditional 60W incandescent with just 7.5W, and it features a 30,000 hour (10 years) lifespan with typical usage. Now, the hard part: choosing between cool, soft and warm white.

[Via Times-Standard]

Filed under: Household

GeoBulb LED light bulb uses just eight watts, rings up at $120 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Xenon, Neon join Samsung Magnet and Impression on AT&T

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/lg-xenon-neon-join-samsung-magnet-and-impression-on-atandt/

Outside of the smartphone realm, AT&T’s really stepping up its game in the feature phone game, too — so let’s take this clockwise from the top left, shall we? First up, we have the brightly-colored Samsung Magnet, targeted squarely at the teen audience looking for serious texting power in a cheap package. Pricing hasn’t been announced, but it should be easy on the wallet; it’ll be available in the next few weeks. Next is the Impression — also from Samsung — which we’d previously known as the a877, the very first handset to officially launch on a US carrier with a full AMOLED up front. The screen’s 3.2 inches of organic touchscreen awesomeness, accompanied by a 3 megapixel cam and a full HTML browser, all launching on April 7 for $199.99 on contract after rebate. Down below, we have the LG Neon — a phone that’s already launched up north on Rogers — offering a full landscape QWERTY keyboard in addition to a touchscreen display for a low price, thanks in no small part to its lack of 3G data. The launch day hasn’t been set for this one, but it’ll come shortly. Finally, we have the long-rumored Xenon, featuring 3G, a 2 megapixel cam, QWERTY slide, GPS, and your choice of colors — black, blue, or red — all for $99.99 when it launches on April 8.

Filed under: Cellphones

LG Xenon, Neon join Samsung Magnet and Impression on AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T pulls trigger on Nokia E71x and Samsung Propel Pro

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/atandt-pulls-trigger-on-nokia-e71x-and-samsung-propel-pro/

Kicking off what’s sure to be a fun-filled week of announcements surrounding CTIA out in Vegas, AT&T’s smartphone lineup just got a little beefier thanks to the official introduction of a couple devices we’ve been expecting for a hot minute now. First up, the Nokia E71x is just about ready for shelves, bringing WiFi, AT&T Navigator (which hopefully won’t preclude the use of Nokia Maps and other GPS-enabled apps), and all of the lauded physical design characteristics you’re used to from the original, unbranded E71. The best thing here might be the price — just $99.99 on contract after rebate, thankfully beating rumors of $200 and $150 by a country mile; it’ll hit shelves “in the coming weeks.” Next up is the Samsung Propel Pro, a device that shares very little in common with its Propel namesake other than a form factor, mainly because this sucker’s a full-out smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.1. It’s got WiFi, a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard (naturally) and will be available on April 14 for $149.99 after all your discounts have been applied and your two-year agreement is filed away.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

AT&T pulls trigger on Nokia E71x and Samsung Propel Pro originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG’s GD900 with (multi-touch?) transparent keypad gets S-Class UI

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/lgs-gd900-with-multi-touch-transparent-keypad-gets-s-class-u/

The recent glut of telephony news can mean only one thing: CTIA Wireless 2009 is getting ready to kick off in Vegas baby, Las Vegas. In the runup we have LG upping the hype on its 13.4mm-thick GD900 handset first outed in Barcelona at February’s MWC show. This time, however, the 7.2Mbps HSDPA slider with world’s first transparent glass (not plastic as originally assumed) keypad will be functional, running LG’s new S-Class UI on the 3-inch display. We know that the GD900 features vibrational haptic feedback and that the transparent keypad seems to double as a touch-sensitive mouse pad (like that on your laptop) when surfing the internet or navigating the UI — it also seems to support gestures like writing “M” to launch the MP3 music player and multi-touch such as pinch to zoom on photographs. The GD900 will launch in Europe and Asia sometime in May. No US release announced so we’ll have to make the most of our time with it this week in order to clear up all the mysteries presented by the Korean press release. One more pic showing an apparent finger-swipe rotating the UI after the break.

[Via Akihabara News and Engadget Korea]

Continue reading LG’s GD900 with (multi-touch?) transparent keypad gets S-Class UI

LG’s GD900 with (multi-touch?) transparent keypad gets S-Class UI originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia 5800 XpressMusic software update available: faster, better, updater

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/nokia-5800-xpressmusic-improved-with-free-software-update/

Nokia’s hot selling 5800 XpressMusic handset just got a little bit better. Available now, the free update promises faster Internet data, built-in dictionary with text-to-speech support, an improved overall UI and eMail experience, and better in-device search. Nokia’s also tweaked the cameras adding still image support to the front-facing video-call camera and a burst mode for capturing multiple snaps while holding the shutter button. There’s also a new Application Update feature that identifies and downloads updates to your installed applications automatically. Giddy up.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic software update available: faster, better, updater originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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