Current Top 5 Graphics Cards

With all the new PC games coming in recently (StarCraft II and Civilization V being prime examples), we think it’s about time we revisit the Top 5 graphics cards in the market right now. Listed below are the cream of the crop, the best money can buy. However, some cards are also the best performance you can afford within your budget. Note that we are not providing specific cards from different manufacturers (e.g. MSI, ASUS, ECS, Zotac, Gigabyte, etc.) as each of these provide the below 5 cards in various configurations and at slightly different clock speeds, cooling solutions and prices from the standard Nvidia and ATI reference cards.

Our main criteria for this list was best performance on a single card, so let’s start things off with…

ATI HD 5970

A year on and the HD 5970 2G is still the best graphics card on market. This is one card that can be easily overclock well beyond factory settings, even outperforming a pair of HD 5870s in CrossFire. Sadly this is also the most expensive card on the list, with a MSRP of $599 but actual retail prices touching around the $700 mark.

Still, the HD 5970 is the best money can buy right now on a single 30cm PCB, and slapping two HD 5850s on a single board is no easy feat. At the end of the day, if you just want one (really huge) card sticking inside your chassis without the hassle of CrossFire, then this is your weapon of choice.

Ford ME to show new driver connect tech at GITEX 2010

Press release:
Ford returns to GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK this October, as official automotive partner for the third year straight, featuring yet another industry –first technology, MyFord Touch. The latest driver connect technology from Ford debuts on the new 2011 Edge, the GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK Official Car, which makes its Middle Eastern debut at the show which runs 17-21 October 2010 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Powered by SYNC®, MyFord Touch redefines how drivers interact with their vehicles, replacing many of the traditional vehicle buttons, knobs and gauges with clear, colorful LCD screens and 5-way buttons. The screens can be personalized to display information relevant to each individual driver using a simple button click, voice command or touch screen tap.

“Once again we are presenting a new innovation from Ford, that promises a smarter, safer and simpler way to connect drivers with in-car technologies and their digital lives, and GITEX is the perfect platform to debut the latest MyFord Touch technology,” said Theo Benson, Ford Middle East’s Regional Marketing and Product Director.

“MyFord Touch will pioneer the next-generation vehicle experience for customers around the region as it addresses the infotainment explosion, launching vehicle interiors into the realm of popular personal electronics, such as laptop computers, mobile phones, digital cameras and MP3 players. We are really excited to show everyone this exciting new feature which debuts on the new 2011 Edge crossover,” added Benson.

Trixee Loh, Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, said:  “As we celebrate the 30^th anniversary of GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK, Ford Motor Company once again joins us as a partner, pushing the boundaries of transport innovation. As the largest ICT event in the Middle East and Africa, GITEX is the foremost partnership platform for Ford to showcase their cutting edge creations to tech-enthusiasts from around the world. The technology in the 2011 Ford Edge illustrates perfectly GITEX’s pioneering approach to innovation and the commitment to superior quality that we have advocated in the past three decades.”

The 2011 Ford Edge, this year’s GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK Official Car, makes its Middle Eastern debut at the Ford stand in the Consumer & Electronics section, inside Sheikh Saeed Hall. Ford’s popular crossover utility vehicle that just recently hit the 400,000 milestone worldwide, has experienced a dramatic freshening which includes extensive exterior redesign, improved materials and craftsmanship on the interior, class-exclusive technologies – including MyFord Touch – new powertrains and a segment leading performance.

MyFord Touch blends the strengths of the most proven interfaces in consumer electronics – including MP3 players and mobile phones – with a new generation of Ford’s award-winning SYNC system.

“MyFord Touch simply redesigns the in-car interface, mirroring how consumers interact with most devices in their lives using touch-sensitive buttons, touch screens, thumb-wheel controls and voice recognition,” concluded Benson. “We are excited to offer it in the region and are confident that this new system will prove as popular as SYNC.”

Apple makes most headlines, according to research

The media goes all bombastic, ballistic when it comes to Apple, we all know that. And now we have a research to prove that fact.

According to Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, a year-long study of the penetration of certain companies in the headlines of 52 tech news outlets in the US, Apple came up top with 15.1 percent of articles, with Google following at 11.4, and Microsoft almost creating no buzz with just a mere 3 percent.

For Apple, the launch of the iPad and the iPhone 4 in addition to the ‘death grip’ controversy was probably the leading factor in making the most number of headlines. Google, even though staying away from any hardware production, has managed to create buzz around its Android mobile operating system, and at the inhuman speed at which it manages to release updates for its products and service has played a large factor in catching media coverage.

Source: New York Times.

You can now kill Gmail conversation view

Google has announced that it will be introducing a ‘kill switch’ to one of the bullet-point features of its Gmail service: conversation view.

The decision was made to allow “legacy solution” users (i.e Microsoft Outlook) who aren’t used to view their email in conversation form to switch over more easily. Users will now able to view their emails in the traditional non-threaded style.

“Conversation view is perhaps Gmail’s most hotly debated feature. Threading enthusiasts say they spend less mental energy drawing connections between related messages and that their inboxes are much less cluttered. On the other hand, email traditionalists like many former Outlook users think conversation view just complicates something that has worked for years. Russ Midford, Senior Information Systems Engineer at Sanmina-SCI, sums it up well. “I personally prefer threaded conversations, but as an administrator who still needs to support some long-time Outlook users on Gmail, the unthreaded option is like gold,” Google wrote on their official blog.

We really hoped everyone would learn to love conversation view, but we came to realize that it’s just not right for some people. So today we’re introducing another valuable choice. Users who prefer a traditional inbox can toggle off conversation view to see email as individual messages in chronological order. Some actions commonly associated with unthreaded email can be accomplished with searches in Gmail, so check out our tips on advanced search operators.

It’s hard to imagine emails without the convenience of the conversation view, but users who are put off by the style can now choose to not have it.

Source: Google Blog.

Local distributor believes tablets and smartphones will be popular at GITEX 2010

Jacky’s Electronics, a large local distributor of electronics (as you may have guessed by its name), thinks that the tablet-PC like Apple iPad and Galaxy Tab will get a lot of attention at this year’s GITEX Shopper 2010. Although it still maintains that laptops will probably have the lion’s share in their sales chart.

“While laptops will probably contribute to 60% of our sales at GITEX Shopper, we do expect to see tablets and smartphones generate more consumer interest this time around. Tablets are positioned as devices where you ‘consume’ content whereas laptops are traditionally used for ‘creating’ content so we can expect to see the tablet continue to grow for the foreseeable future,” said Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer, Jacky’s Electronics LLC.

“Last year, BlackBerry phones were among the most popular products at GITEX Shopper but this time, we see Android-run smartphones such as those from Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG taking the spotlight. Nokia is also making a strong comeback with their latest smartphone, the N8 at the event. Apple iPhone 4 will also most likely be on sale and we expect to see a lot of excitement surrounding this with possible data plans from etisalat and du,” added Panjabi.

“This year’s GITEX Shopper is extra special since we are celebrating our 40-year anniversary. We are rolling out innovative promotions and special discounts on most product categories,” Panjabi concluded.

Lexmark’s new All-in-one printer goes touch, wireless

Press release:
Lexmark International, launches The Interact S605 all-in-one printer features a 4.3inch capacitive touch screen and wireless connectivity for students and teachers.

A Web service designed to allow users to easily capture and store information, memories, and content in any environment, today announced the launch of a back-to-school giveaway open to all.

Students and teachers alike will find the shortcuts available under Lexmark’s Forms and Templates SmartSolutions category helpful for getting their school work done.  Users will be able to print graph and lined paper as well as blank sheet music and wall calendars all from the touch screen on their printers. Without having to search the Web, create a document and utilize the computer itself to access blank templates, these new SmartSolutions will save users a great deal of time and energy.

In addition to those helpful examples, Lexmark’s also announcing additional forms and templates including stationery, fax cover sheets and student certificates, all of which will be available for use beginning in October.

The Interact S605 all-in-one printer features a 4.3inch capacitive touch screen and wireless connectivity so that students can easily access their Evernote account via the printer without ever having to turn on a computer.

Western Digital To Launch New WD TV!

Quote : We just heard from a little bird that Western Digital will be
launching a new WD TV model this November, with general availability
in December. The new WD TV will be similar to the current WD TV Live
and support DTS, as well as network streaming.

However, it is not meant to replace the WD TV Live, or the WD TV Live
Plus. This model will be a new addition to the WD TV family, and all
other WD TV models will continue to be sold.

Link : http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=692

ASRock 870iCafe Motherboard

“The AMD 870 is the current value chipset for AMD processors without integrated video. Let’s see if the ASRock 870iCafe is a good choice for users looking for a value socket AM3 motherboard in the full ATX form factor.”

Link: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/ASRock-870iCafe-Motherboard/1100

VisionTek Radeon HD 5550 1GB PCIe

The graphics card market is almost entirely centered on creating the
fastest, high-yield (except in the case of fermi) products possible.
Not everyone, however, needs the hottest running, graphics cycle
crunching product available. Yet, thanks to the research done to
produce those aforementioned high-end enthusiast graphics cards, new
technology is made available to simultaneously make more efficient
low-end video processing products. Thus, through AMD’s 40nm
“Evergreen” manufacturing process (known for such monsters as the HD
5970), the ultra efficient HD 5550 video card has been developed. It’s
a low-profile video card that still manages to pack 320 stream
processors, AMD’s Unified Video Decoder, Dolby over HDMI, and DirectX
11, with a maximum load of 45 Watts (minuscule compared to the 5970′s
300 Watt load). Today, we are going to evaluate VisionTek’s branded HD
5550, a video card that differs from the reference board by using 1GB
of GDDR2 (instead of GDDR3 or 5). The card does, however, have an
actively cooled heatsink, a feature that is removed from many of the
other 5550 cards. Read on to discover if VisionTek has the HTPC,
workstation, slimline, and low-budget gaming card that the market
deserves!

http://reviewstash.com/viewtopic.php?id=1298

Microsoft Gulf announces beta availability of Internet Explorer 9 public beta

Press release:
Microsoft Gulf today announced the beta availability of its new web browser, Windows Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). The new browser delivers a fast, clean, trusted and interoperable online experience that takes full advantage of Windows 7, putting the focus on the sites and applications people care about.

The new version also takes advantage of the power of modern PC hardware to improve all around web browsing performance. This comprehensive approach to performance includes the introduction of a new scripting engine, Chakra, that uses common multi-core Central Processing Units (CPU) in PCs to deliver significant performance gains. Internet Explorer 9 is also the first browser with full hardware acceleration, harnessing the power of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), reallocating much of the graphic processing to the GPU instead of the CPU.  By using the GPU, Internet Explorer 9 unlocks the 90% of the PC’s power that went previously untapped by web browsers. And lastly, IE 9 comes equipped with a robust set of built-in security, privacy, and reliability technologies that keep customers safer online.

“Internet Explorer 9 uses the power of Windows and the whole PC to bring you a better web,” said Wilson Xavier, Windows Business Group Lead, Microsoft Gulf. “With Windows and Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft lets customers reimagine the role of the browser to deliver an experience that makes your web feel as native as your favorite PC applications.  The result is a more beautiful web experience. It creates the foundation for a wave of compelling, immersive, websites and applications that deliver an experience like what people expect from an application running on Windows. We are helping the web go native and unlocking the Beauty of the Web.”

The worldwide beta availability was accompanied by over 70 top websites and global brands who created new experiences to show off the capabilities of Windows Internet Explorer 9 at the Beauty of the Web event in San Francisco. Developers and designers from partners  around the world showcased how they have used Internet Explorer 9’s capabilities to tap into the power of the PC hardware, Windows 7, a new user experience and support for modern standards like HTML5 to create immersive sites. Together these partners reach over 800 million visitors or  about two thirds of the active people on the web.

“With Internet Explorer 9’s platform, Microsoft creates opportunities for brands to engage customers in new ways and drive not only more site traffic but also more value in the online experience,” said Rami Saad, Director of Emerging Technologies, Publicis Groupe Media. IE9 takes a big step forward in browser innovation for the way people use the web today. Today’s visual-heavy web demands measures such as hardware accelerated graphics; making Internet Explorer 9 the best version of Internet Explorer that Microsoft has released to date.”

Clean Site-Centric Design Integrates with Windows 7 and Makes Sites Shine

Internet Explorer 9 puts the focus on the applications with a clean experience, Windows 7 integration, and more pixels dedicated to the website, not the browser, allowing your sitesto shine. Browser controls are reduced and framed in “glass” so that, while they are discoverable, people see their web content first and foremost.  Additionally, the design principles in Windows 7 carry through to Internet Explorer 9 so that sites appear more like native applications on the PC.  This includes features such as:

• Pinned sites. With pinned sites, a user’s favorite websites can be accessed directly from the Windows taskbar with having to first open the browser, making it quick and easy to get to the content you care about
• Jump Lists. With Jump Lists you have a quick and easy way to get to a common web site task without having to first launch the browser
• Tear-off Tabs and Windows Aero Snap Tabs. You often need to use more than one website or page to accomplish a task. Tearing off a tab by dragging it away from the browser, and using Windows Aero® Snap is a great way to show two sites or pages side by side

To download the new Internet Explorer 9 Beta and experience many of these  new sites visit www.BeautyoftheWeb.com.

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