Intel’s new tech makes it possible to download HD movies in a sec

You think your thousand dirham 30mbps internet line is fast? How about downloading the entire printed catalog of the Library of Congress in a min and a half? Okay, sounds boring. How about downloading a large collection of 1080p HD movies in a couple of seconds? Sounds cool, right; and this will all be possible with the new tech by Intel that uses silicon and light to achieve the ridiculous amounts of speed we will see in the eventual future.

Gizmodo writes, “Intel detailed their breakthrough to the press at an event today, marking the milestone of impressive 50 gigabits per second transfer speeds using an underlying technology that could go much, much further. We’ve covered the promise of fiber optic speeds before, but nothing like this. Intel CTO Justin Rattner explained just what “silicon photonics” even means, why the world needs it, and what it promises in the near future.”

So what are ‘silicon photonics’? For as complicated as it sounds, it’s quite simple (if you are an science nerd that is): silicon photonics is nothing more than the combination of silicon and optical technologies which converts electrons into photons and back again, resulting in a data we all know: 0′s and 1′s. Since the technology uses existing ones, it will be much cheaper to produce and be quickly accessible for mass consumption.

Source: Gizmodo.

New Blackberry 6 screen caps

Douglas Soltys from the Blackberry blog interviews RIM’s director of User Experience group, Joey Benedek providing information over the new OS ‘home screen evolution’ and some some additional screenshots of the new user interface of the new operating system. Check them out in our gallery below.

Blackberry had also showed off the OS 6′s new media capabilities earlier this month, video of which has been embedded below for those who missed out previously. Have a go:

Source: Blackberry Blog.

Gigabyte’s On/Off Charger charges iPhone 4 40% faster

Press release:
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co., Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards and computing hardware solutions is proud to announce that GIGABYTE On/Off Charge technology also works on the iPhone 4. GIGABYTE first announced On/Off Charge in April this year by demonstrating how it speeds up iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch charging from a PC’s USB port whether the PC is operational or shut down.

A derivative of GIGABYTE’s highly acclaimed 3x USB Power feature, On/Off Charge technology emulates iPhone 4 chargers by providing the current that the device requests, unlike standard USB ports whose current is capped. The result is a 40% quicker charge even if the PC is shut down. Tests in the GIGABYTE labs showed a maximum current of 0.92A to the new iPhone 4. A video demonstration is available here:

“We want to assure our customers that they will be able to continue enjoying the benefits of On/Off Charge should they choose to upgrade to the new iPhone 4,” commented Tim Handley, Deputy Director of Motherboard Marketing at GIGABYTE Technology Co. Ltd. “On/Off Charge behaves just like iPhone 4 chargers in providing the amount of current that the device requests throughout its charge, without force-feeding or damaging the device battery.”

GIGABYTE On/Off Charge comes in two flavors: a backwards compatible On/Off Charge driver* that was made available in April, 2010, from the official GIGABYTE utility web page, and an On/Off Charge front panel connector that is available on a full range of GIGABYTE motherboards. The On/Off Charge front panel connector features a special controller combined with the On/Off Charge driver that allows the computer to detect the current required by iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch products.

Samsung extends its Camcorder lineup to Kuwait

Samsung Digital Imaging Company Inc., a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, announced its latest camcorders line-up in Kuwait, the C20 and F40, allowing consumers to capture the moments with the new ultra-zoom and easy-to-use features.

“The Samsung C20 and F40 are ideal for a wide-range of consumers, said Mr. Ram Modak, General Manager of the Digital Imaging Division of Samsung Gulf Electronics. “These camcorders appeal to consumers’ demand for simplicity and features that allow them to capture the right moments and get great results with minimal effort. The host of new features and functionalities make the camcorders even more intuitive and easy to use. The new range can truly be used by anyone, anywhere and at anytime.”

C20
The new Samsung C20 comes fully equipped with a wide range of new features including the signature Touch of Colour (ToC) design, Active Angle Lens, improved video resolution and Intelli-Studio. These varieties of features allow users to never miss a moment with their user-friendly C20 camcorder. The ToC design features a hint of color that is naturally blended into the deep black body of the camcorders to create an attractive crystalline appearance. The new model boasts the Samsung’s Active Angle Lens design allowing users to hold the camcorder in a more natural position with its 25 degree downward angled lens.

Whether the it is being used for documenting or to capture priceless moments with family and friends, the C20 offers you the highest quality video and still images. With these remarkable resolutions of 720 x 480, the features offer the ability to easily capture a quality, crisp video.
A further premium design enhancement is Samsung’s play-edit-sharing program called Intelli-studio. The built-in intelli-studio software gives users the ability to connect the camcorder to any computer via USB and edit and play your video without having to install supporting software. The built-in intelli-studio software also helps simplify the way users upload and share their footage using today’s popular video‑sharing Web sites

F40
The Samsung F40 comes fully equipped with fresh and innovative features that provide consumers with impressive quality, unforgettable memories, and flexible features. Samsung’s F40 offers an incredible 65x Intelli-Zoom lens (52x optical zoom), which allows users to bring distant images into focus and zoom closer in the action. The improved optical zoom ensures photos to provide users sharp images whether or not the focus is distant. The new camcorder also provides enhanced image quality with its high-performance 1/6” CCD sensors.

Preserving every special memory is easy with the extended battery life and built-in memory of the new Samsung F40. The camcorders provide consumers with over four hours and 10 minutes of battery life on a single charge.  When combined with the use of H.264 compression, consumers can store up to six hours and 20 minutes of video per every 16GB of internal memory.

With Samsung’s new feature of the play-edit-sharing program called Intelli-Studio 2.0, users are given the unprecedented freedom and flexibility to view, edit and upload content to the web from any PC with their camcorder and USB cable. The simplicity of uploading and sharing footage provides users with flexibility.

Gigabyte X58A-UD9 review

X58 motherboards are a dime a dozen nowadays, but it takes a truly exceptional board to stand out from the crowd, especially if you’re being asked $700 (AED 2,400) for it! I mean, at that price this thing has to be a monster, feature filled to the brim, allowing you almost limitless overclocking possibilities and future proofed for at least half a decade. Gigabyte’s latest flagship motherboard, the X58A-UD9 is just that, except that it won’t be the biggest and most expensive motherboard on the planet in half a year.

The X58A-UD9 is definitely big, measuring in at 13.58″ x 10.31″ (34.5cm x 25.35cm), this XL ATX motherboard won’t even fit in most of the cases currently available in the market. However, Gigabyte was kind enough to provide a list of compatible cases from various vendors that can swallow this behemoth. Despite its size, the UD9 is still jam packed with circuits, transistors, controller chips, heatsinks and, of course, the 7 PCI-Express slots.

The overall layout of the board seems nicely put, with ample room for shuffling around wires and cables. The only complain I have is the molex connector for additional GPU power, placed adjacent to the Northbridge controller. Should you decide to use the Hybrid Silent-Pipe attachment on the Northbridge, it’s almost impossible to use that additional molex connector. Not that you would need it anyway since the base of the heatsink and the top of the Northbridge is covered with fins. This oxymoronic design choice basically means that there’s no point in providing any further cooling (water or air) since there’s no direct contact between the chip and the heatsink, eliminating any chance of effective cooling. Still, throughout our testing the Northbridge temperature never rose above 49°C.

Otherwise the UD9 is spacious enough to be easily used as a testbed, with the onboard Power and (curiously small) Reset buttons, and a conveniently placed LED POST display that runs through all the codes as the PC boots up, ideal for error checking.

Going through the laundry list of features provided onboard the X58A-UD9, we have 6x DDR3 2200+ connectors for Triple Channel goodness. Going to the bottom we see the 7x PCI-E slots, 4 of which (running at x16 speeds) provide the Quad SLI and Crossfire support. Moving to the right side we see 8x SATA ports, 2 of which give a blistering 6GB/s transfer speeds thanks to the Marvell 9128 chip. On the back panel we have 8x USB ports, 2 of them being eSATA combo versions and another 2 running on 3.0 speeds powered by the NEC chip. Finishing things off are the standard IDE and Floppy connectors at the edge, complimented by USB and Audio connectors for the front panel.

And then you have your regular old power connectors, of which the X58A-UD9 requires a few extra. There are 2x 8-pin power plugs and 2x molex connectors onboard for some extra juice you’ll need if you decide to do a 4-way SLi or Crossfire setup. Finally you have the shiny, nickel-plated LGA 1366 socket which will accept a Core i7 processor, especially the 980X Extreme.

Despite the two nF200 controller chips, do keep in mind that the 4-way SLi or Crossfire will only work efficiently when plugged into PCI-E slots 1, 3, 5 and 7 as these are the ones running at x16 speeds. Slots 2, 4 and 6 run at x8 speeds. This goes without saying, but you will need one hell of PSU to power a quad GPU setup along with the UD9 itself.

One other interesting feature about the X58A-UD9 is its overclocking capabilities. The BIOS will allow you to change the BCLK from 100MHz to 600MHz, the RAM multiplier from 6x to 18x, and the CPU multiplier from 12x to 65x. Voltage is also allowed to be changed for all the standard settings you’d expect; CPU going from 0.50V to 1.90V and Memory going from 1.30V to 2.60V.  Sadly we couldn’t test the overclock as our paltry 1000W PSU only has 1x 8-pin power connector (as opposed to the 2 required), so any overclocking eventually resulted in a complete system shutdown. Ironically these failed attempts allowed us to test the touted 24 phase power management system which effortlessly brought back the system to default settings on a second power up every time.

If you don’t want to fiddle with the BIOS, there’s another way to easily overclock the X58A-UD9. Accompanying the drivers and software DVD is the East Tune software that allows you to easily overclock your machine from Windows itself. A safe way to see whether your hardware is up to scratch before going into the BIOS. Interestingly the Network drivers weren’t picked up by our copy of Win 7 (Professional) for the Realtek RTL8111E chip, so the drivers DVD came in quite handy. That said, pretty much all the utility softwares on the DVD had an updated version on Gigabyte’s website itself, so that should be your first stop after installing the Network drivers.

Wicked Lasers – Spyder II 300mW Green Laser

Quote: I remember being a young kid, taking that $5 red laser pointer with the different end caps to school. I would shine it on the white board and annoy the teacher, or even mess with pets while at home. I thought that it was bright, and that beam seemed to travel forever. I remember watching star wars and laughing at the fact that they could use “light sabers” to cut limbs like butter. There was no way that a laser could do that. I was wrong. Although not the most powerful laser produced by Wicked Lasers, the Spyder II is a force to be reckoned with. The model we will take a look at has an intense 300mw beam that can run constantly for up to 80 min. Is this just an over rated toy, or a truly awesome tactical laser? Join us as we find out.

LINK: http://www.techwarelabs.com/wicked-lasers-spyder-ii-300mw-green-laser/

PixelSkin HD for iPhone 4

Link: http://igadgetlife.com/reviews/review-of-pixelskin-hd-for-iphone-4/

Quote:
” Today we will be reviewing one of the eight case choices from the folks at Cupertino. Speck’s PixelSkin HD for iPhone 4 is being offered in lieu of the Apple Bumper among with six other case models. I have been reviewing Speck iPhone 4 cases this past month and have found their quality and style to be top notch. The PixelSkin HD for iPhone 4 continues that trend. ”

Samsung Captivate Review

“Guy walks into an AT&T store and says, “I want a touch-screen smartphone, but I’m concerned about the iPhone 4 antenna issues.” Until the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate, AT&T sales staffers could only perform stuttering a Ralph Kramden prevarication. But will iPhone purchasers or returners be captivated by the Captivate’s capabilities? It’s a more social-network-centric device than iPhone, with a large 4-inch, crisp “super” AMOLED screen. While it suffers in a basic features comparison with iPhone, that’s also like arguing that U2 sucks because they haven’t sold as many records as The Beatles.”

Link to the review:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cell-phone-reviews/samsung-captivate-review/

MSI P55A-GD65 Motherboard

“Right now MSI has 14 different motherboard models based on the Intel P55 chipset. Let’s take a look at the P55A-GD65 (a.k.a. MS-7585), a stripped-down version of their P55-GD85.”

Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/MSI-P55A-GD65-Motherboard/1057

ASUS Matrix 5870 Review

ASUS thought of the overclocker when manufacturing this card. Proof of this can be seen by the cards “Probelt.” The Probelt will allow the user to check GPU, Memory, and PCI-E voltage at anytime with a multimeter. The card is also equipped with ASUS’s “Super Hybrid Engine.” The SHE should give us 54% better OC stability, as well as scoring 19% better then the average 5870. Not only that but ASUS included an “Extreme Cooler”, which should give us a 13% cooler card. ASUS even included a “Real-time Hardware Loading Monitor” built right into the card.”

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