Technologypublic

Prototype-Razor1911.iso

2009-06-12T12:06:00.006+08:00

Hey everyone, am sure you all are as excited as me. This game is going to be the boom this year ;) ...and i finally found a working torrent of this game, the link will be provided below (Tested it my self) and to make sure if your PC is capable of running it please check the system requirements below:

Minimum System Requirements
- Operating System: Windows(R) XP (with Service Pack 3) and DirectX(R) 9.0c
- Video Card: 256 MB 3D hardware accelerator card required - 100% DirectX(R) 9.0c with Shader Model 3 support*
- Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo 1.86 GHz or AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 4000+ or better
- RAM: 1 GB of RAM for Windows(R) XP / 2 GB Windows Vista(R) systems
- Hard Drive Space: 8 GB of uncompressed hard disk space (Plus 500MB for swap file.)
- Sound Card: DirectX(R) 9.0c compliant sound card
- DVD-ROM: 100% Windows(R) XP/Windows Vista(R) - compatible 4X DVD-ROM drive or better (600 K/sec sustained transfer rate) and drivers
- Peripheral: 100% Windows(R) XP/Windows Vista(R) - compatible mouse, keyboard and drivers

*Supported Chipsets for Windows(R) XP and Window Vista(R)
All NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 7800 GT 256 MB and better chipsets
All ATI Radeon(TM) X1800 256 MB and better chipsets

*Important Note: Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipsets listed here may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by Prototype(TM). Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX(R) 9.0c and DirectX(R) 10 compatibility.

DOWNLOAD

Please let me know if you encounter any game problems, and always make sure you update your AUDIO and GRAPHIC drivers to the latest....enjoy

Prototype Release Dates - PC and its features...

2009-06-07T11:25:00.007+08:00

Prototype on PC has a confirmed release date on Tuesday 09 June 2009. It is 2 days left until you can play Prototype on your PC in the USA.

In Prototype, players take control of Alex Mercer – a dark, genetically mutated shape-shifter with no memory of his past, hell-bent on solving the mystery of his existence as he tears through a densely populated New York City moving with Parkour-style fluidity and consuming anything that gets in his way.

‘Deceive or Destroy’ gameplay allows gamers the choice to either blend in with the population and covertly progress through the story, or fully unleash Alex’s powers, and move through New York City like a walking slaughterhouse, taking control of military vehicles, and causing destruction at every turn

General Features

Deadly Shape-Shifting Action: Alex Mercer is a shape-shifter with amazing powers of combat, destruction and deception
A Fresh Take on a Stale Genre: Taking the open-world genre to breathtaking new heights, PROTOTYPE is an original IP featuring Alex Mercer, an all-new anti-hero framed within a conspiracy-drenched storyline that gives open-world/action games a fresh and well deserved kick in the pants
‘Deceive or Destroy’ Gameplay: PROTOTYPE’s ‘Deceive or Destroy’ gameplay allows players the choice to either blend in with the crowded population and covertly progress through the story, or fully unleash Alex’s powers, moving through New York City as a walking slaughterhouse - shape-shifting in plain sight, consuming civilians on the street, commandeering military vehicles, including Apache helicopters and Abrams tanks and causing destruction at every turn
Unprecedented Locomotion and Agility: Being more than human, nothing in PROTOTYPE’s bustling New York City setting is an obstacle for Alex. Players will vault over hundreds of cars, run vertically up the sides of skyscrapers, scale huge distances in single jumps and more
New York City Hunting Ground: PROTOTYPE’s open-world playground is New York City done right! The city is jam-packed with thousands of pedestrians, hundreds of cars and is truly a bustling, thriving representation of the world’s most famous city
Developer Pedigree: No stranger to the open-world game development space, Radical Entertainment is the developer behind PROTOTYPE, and touts a wide catalog of successful titles, including the highly acclaimed The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Simpsons Hit & Run and Scarface: The World is Yours.

I'll be letting you all know when i get the game from Torrent or any release scene...though i hope RELOADED will be the first to show up ;) for now...here's a gameplay video from the Xbox360 version of the game (i hope the PC version has the same graphic quality as the Xbox360's) Enjoy

LaCie debuts LaCinema Black PLAY and RECORD HD media players

2009-06-04T16:26:00.003+08:00

LaCie's LaCinema Black MAX is but a few months old, and already the aforesaid company is expanding the family. The newest two are the LaCinema Black PLAY and RECORD, both of which enable users to stream HD media over their network, house content internally with up to 1TB of space and connect sans wires via WiFi. As expected, there's a built-in UPnP client to suck down content from a networked PC or Mac, and it'll even handle 1080i upscaling of SD material. Oh, and if you couldn't guess, the RECORD also enables TV tuning and recording if you're into that type thing. Both can be ordered up right now starting at $429.99.

MSI now shipping Wind Top AE1900 Black / Dual Core

2009-06-04T16:24:00.002+08:00

MSI's traditional Wind Top AE1900 -- you know, the one with the white and clear frame -- started shipping here in the US just over a month ago, but now two new family members are joining in. The AE1900 Black and Dual Core models have just landed down in a handful of respected e-tailers for right around $600, so if you've managed to hold off this long and prefer darker shades of most anything -- well, what are you waiting for? Full release is post-break.

MSI, a worldwide leading manufacturer of computer components and systems, is thrilled to release the Wind Top AE1900 in black and with the dual core processor option. The Wind Top AE1900 is MSI's revolutionary new all-in-one touch screen desktop PC with eco-friendly operation and a sleek form factor. The AE1900 will use 80% less energy then traditional desktop PCs at normal operation. Impressively, the AE1900 will never consumer more then 50 watts of power.

Additional features include an 18.5-inch widescreen and a built-in DVD rewriter for optimal versatility. The SRS Premium Sound along with the color matched keyboard and mouse make the Wind Top AE1900 the complete everyday computing solution.

Palm Pre review

2009-06-04T16:20:00.001+08:00

The Palm Pre. It's not just a phone, it's a myth, an idea, possibly a legacy... and a really, really long time coming. It's almost impossible to believe, but the crew at Engadget has been talking about a Linux-based Palm phone since way back in 2004. Through the now-distant years that followed, we were speculating, pontificating, and wishfully-thinking about a new device from a company that we'd come to expect innovation from. But we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited so long, in fact, that we actually penned a lengthy open letter to Palm, pleading for the company to get back on its game. Only when the picture looked really, truly bleak for the folks in Sunnyvale (you know, like $2 a share bleak) did we actually see a spark of hope -- two sparks, in fact -- called the Pre and webOS.

Yes, this is epic stuff. The Pre (and its accompanying operating system) could likely decide the fate of the company largely credited with ushering in the age of the do-everything phone. Since Palm's announcement at CES this year, news surrounding the Pre has been a veritable whirlwind of activity: rumors, half-truths, hate, love, fear-mongering, fanboyism, rampant gadget-lust... and even a little late night celebrity for the pint-sized phone. Finally the time has come to put rubber to road and get into the guts of this thing once and for all. Can the Pre and webOS live up to the hype -- the kind of hype we haven't seen since the launch of the original iPhone -- or do they snap under the pressure? Read on for the full review.

NEC CRV43: 43-inches of curve on sale July

2009-06-04T16:16:00.002+08:00

See that? All 43-inches of this curved NEC monitor with 2880x900 pixel resolution can be yours in July. Ok, it'll cost you $7,999 but it's, well, it's curved! The CRV43, first spotted at CES in January 2008 and again on video in 2009 (where it was expected to cost $6,499), measures in with a 200 nits brightness rating, 10,000:1 contrast, 0.02ms "Rapid Response," covers 99.3% of Adobe RGB color gamut, and packs at least one USB2.0 jack and DVI-D and HDMI 1.3 connectors. Unfortunately, gaming is not listed amongst its targeted uses so you'll be on your own to find a release supporting the CRV43's 32:10 aspect ratio. Unfortunately, there's some junk in that trunk so deftly hidden by the glamor shot above. See what we mean after the break.

Metal Gear Solid serie coming to Xbox

2009-06-04T16:13:00.001+08:00

That sound you just heard? That’s the sound of a gazillion fanboys and girls screaming, cheering, or gasping in unison. Yes you read the title correctly. Hideo Kojima has announced at the E3 Microsoft keynote, that the Metal Gear Solid franchise is coming to the Xbox 360.

This isn’t just your standard run of the mill Metal Gear Solid franchise, it’s an all new title called Metal Gear Rising and it won’t star Solid Snake it will star the hero of MGS2: Sons of Liberty Raiden. This comes as a bit of a surprise, because over the last couple weeks Kojima had started a countdown teaser site showing nothing but a clock and thunder filled sky. After the initial countdown was over, another clock was revealed, this time showing the face of Big Boss. There was a ton of speculation as to what exactly could be coming down the pipeline from Kojima; and Famitsu jumped into the fray by announcing that it would be a new PS3 Metal Gear game.

Google plans to sell eBooks this year

2009-06-04T16:09:00.001+08:00

Google has told publishers that it will start selling eBooks by the end of the year, according to newspaper reports. The search giant is preparing to take on the likes of Amazon by selling eBooks directly to consumers, the New York Times reports.

Google already allows people to search for and read extracts from books, via its controversial Book Search service. That same service also provides links to leading book stores such as Amazon and Waterstone’s, where people can buy print and electronic versions of the titles.

SilverPac SilverFrame, slightly better picture frame

2009-06-04T16:00:00.002+08:00

SilverPac have announced their SilverFrame Advanced Digital Picture Frame (ADPF) at Computex 2009, and as the name might suggest this is miles apart from the cheap photo display you can find in Best Buy bargain bins. The ADPF runs Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 and supports Windows SideShow and Windows Live FrameIt for displaying online content on its 10.1-inch 1024 x 576 touchscreen.

What that means is that the frame will not only show local photos, play video and stream music from across a network, but it can sync with your calendar, show emails and allow for replies, and view photos from Picasa, Photobucket, Facebook and a Windows Live account. Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0, infrared (for the remote control), a multiformat memory card slot and both full-sized USB and a micro-USB port.

E3 2009: Microsoft Unveils Motion Camera

2009-06-04T15:29:00.001+08:00

Earlier today at Electronic Entertainment Expo, Microsoft unveiled their rumored motion controller solution to the masses. But unlike the waggling, accelerometer-enabled hardware of most immersive gaming peripherals, Microsoft’s solution uses full body motion as detected by an intelligent motion and audio sensor camera, which they’ve tentatively dubbed Project Natal. We’ve seen camera interactivity in console gaming before with the Xbox Live Vision camera and the PlayStation Eye Toy, but Microsoft promises that Project Natal will go above and beyond any gaming tech we’ve seen before.

Project Natal uses several technologies simultaneously to capture and replicate a player’s motion on-screen and in-game. Natal, which could be readily described as a Wii sensor bar on sterois, uses an RGB camera, intelligent depth sensor, and multiarray microphone to collect voice commands, video, and movement with realtime physics, which is then processed by a brand new processing unit and proprietary software. As you would expect the RGB camera is used for video and picture capture, as well as facial recognition, but the real technological meat and potatoes of the device is it’s depth sensor and processing. Project Natal’s depth sensor detects 3-D space through the use of a monochrome CMOS sensor and an infrared projector. The pairing of these two technologies, Microsoft says, makes Natal capable of detecting movement, orientation, and gestures in any lighting environment. Project Natal’s processing is what brings all of the data together, and can differentiate between players and their environment, as well as detect specific body parts, from arms and legs to even a player’s head.

Surprisingly, Microsoft not only unveiled the initial details of Project Natal to the media today, they also demoed the product live and in person. Members of the development team demonstrated two tech demos — a painting game and a kickball-style game. The painting game essentially has players using virtual cans of paint to splash on a canvas and create images. The painting game really showed the technology’s ability to detect arching movements and swift, but subtle hand motions. The kickball scenario, on the other hand, displayed how the camera could intelligently detect a player’s arms, legs, and head’s orientation and velocity in 3-D space. For the kickball game, the player swatted, kicked, and headbutted kickballs to knock down distant objects.

What was impressive about both demos was the speed and efficiency of the device. As far as we could tell, there was little or no lag between a player’s motion and the in-game reaction. Equally impressive was how effectively the camera detected the precise angle of a player’s thrusts, jabs, and kicks, and how accurate the subsequent in-game representation was. Still, these were fine-tuned demos and prepped to perfection, but it is a promising start.

Source: IGN

Sony’s PSP Go leaks out before E3

2009-06-04T15:09:00.002+08:00

Look up there, folks. That’s the future of Sony’s hopes and dreams in the handheld gaming sector. With just hours to go before the company’s official E3 2009 press event, it looks like the pieces are all coming together. First a UMD-less game release, then a highly credible mole giving the PSP Go a name, and now — live action shots. The images here were sourced from an obviously slipped June 2009 Qore video, and aside from giving us a look at the slider-based system (which, let’s be honest, looks a ton like the questionably successful mylo), we’re also told that it’ll tout 16GB of internal memory, built-in Bluetooth and an undisclosed memory slot. If all goes well, it’ll ship this Fall for a price to be determined, and it’s actually not slated to replace the PSP-3000, as both of ‘em will attempt to live on store shelves harmoniously… at least for awhile. Oh, and don’t worry — we’ll be on hand in LA to bring you all the impressions we can muster early next week.

Official Specs :

A few more official specifications are flowing from the Full Qore video (pardon the sync issues). Here’s the dirt:

3.8-inch display (resolution is undisclosed)
43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000
16GB of Flash storage
Bluetooth built-in; supports handset tethering and BT headsets
No UMD drive
Memory Stick Micro slot
New Gran Turismo, Little Big Planet and new Metal Gear Solid (!) on the way
Full PlayStation Network support (movie and TV rentals / purchases)
Integration with PlayStation 3 (works the same as the PSP-3000 does)
Sony views each of its products as “10-year lifecycle products,” so the PSP “needs to live on.”

Sony’s PSP Go Gallery : Here

Microsoft presents Zune HD with WiFi

2009-05-28T11:30:00.001+08:00

Microsoft has introduced a version of its Zune portable entertainment device that’s capable of playing high definition video and music files.”Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.

Zune HD combines a built-in HD radio receiver with hi-def video output. It also features Wi-Fi capability, a Web browser, and an organic, light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen. The screen uses the 16:9 wide-format ratio with a resolution of 480 x 272.

Mozilla chairman unfazed by Google Chrome

2008-11-20T12:33:00.003+08:00

Things just got a lot more complicated for Mitchell Baker, the Mozilla Foundation's chairman and "chief lizard wrangler."

Gone are the days when Microsoft's Internet Explorer was the sole rival for Mozilla's Firefox. A new open-source browser, Google Chrome, has come to town, and it's from the company that provided $66 million of the Mozilla Foundation's $75 million in 2007 revenue.

There are other browser alternatives--Opera and Safari, for example--but Chrome is likely to catch on with the same techno-savvy, early-adopter, Google-proficient crowd that's been so passionate about Firefox. Baker, though, isn't worried.

For one thing, she argues, Mozilla gets its Google revenue from shared advertising revenue generated when people use Mozilla's built-in Google search abilities. In other words, Mozilla is just another advertising partner--a status Google was willing to extend to a far greater competitor, Yahoo, though, of course, Google backed away from that deal when threatened with a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit.

For another, she doesn't feel threatened by Chrome's market share. That's not to say she's complacent about it, though. I asked her opinion about Google, Chrome, the new HTML version 5, the future of the Web, and other matters on Tuesday. Here's an edited transcript of our chat.

Q: Mozilla pulled in $75 million in 2007. How significant is that figure?
Baker: It's a significant number to us. It's about what we expected. We're happy with it. It's an amount of money that allows us to be sustainable, plus has some savings. And it's generated in way that allows us flexibility and freedom.

It's only a 12 percent increase over Mozilla's 2006 revenue, which had grown faster. Surely, there are more users doing more searches. Why is the growth rate tapering off?
Baker: As in many cases, there's (effectively) a discount with bulk and volume. With volume, you often get paid less per unit. The revenue per search isn't linear.

Mozilla gets paid by Google for the browser search box and the start page, both of which default to Google, correct?
Baker: That's correct. But the one thing most people forget is, we have an arrangement not just with Google but also with Yahoo. The combination of Google's market share and the default piece means the vast majority (of Mozilla revenue) comes from Google. We also get a small amount of revenue from Amazon.

Is the revenue based on Firefox downloads? Search queries?
Baker: It's analogous to what you see on Web sites with Google AdSense (in which other sites show Google ads, and Google shares the resulting revenue when people click on those ads). It's a mechanism for ad distribution.

So Mozilla is funded by ad revenue?
Baker: That's right. It's not the AdSense program, but it's from ad revenue.

Are you concerned the revenue will dry up, now that Google has Chrome?
Baker: We're careful, and we watch. But are we particularly worried? No. We expect Chrome to have some amount of market share, but we don't expect it to balloon. Our market share continues to grow, and we expect it to be healthy. The relationship between Google and Mozilla is good, in a business sense, for both organizations.

What effect has Chrome had on Firefox development?
Baker: It hasn't changed the way we work--our open-source and community way. Google is full of very smart people and more resources than the rest of us could imagine. We expect to see interesting and innovative things come out of Google and Chrome. We hope so. Good ideas move around in the browser world. New things showing in Chrome can benefit all of us. One thing about Mozilla is, we do not have the not-invented-here syndrome.

Has it changed your thinking? Google has touted Chrome's JavaScript performance, for example. Has it lit a fire under your developers?
Baker: The JavaScript fire has been lit anyway. I'd say we've been increasing our focus on performance for some time. JavaScript performance...is equal or better than Chrome. We've seen an across-the-board change over the last six to eight months. That was in the works already.

There are some interesting things in Chrome. Everybody seems to have private-browsing features, so we will as well. We're not as convinced that this is as helpful, but it's certainly something that people are looking for.

Chrome has vanishing market share, compared to Internet Explorer. How do you view your competition with Microsoft?
Competition with Microsoft is a bit different. There's no question (that Internet Explorer) as a product is improving. Thank goodness. If 70 (percent) of the world were still using IE 6, it would be much worse world for all of us.

It still does not remotely approach Firefox as a product, and we don't expect IE to challenge Firefox supremacy as the technical innovator in the near-term time frame. We do hope to see IE standards compliance and its modern features improved. The single biggest problem now in moving the Web forward is having to deal with people using back versions of IE.

What are Mozilla's spending priorities in the future?
Baker: We have a few. The mobile space is one. Innovation is another--how to promote innovation that's not locked up in a single proprietary stack. We're not taking about giant amounts of money (but rather) experiments to find out what's important and interesting.

There are some educational and research initiatives on which we'll be increasing our focus in the next year. And there are some initiatives we're looking at in the (Mozilla) labs space. Synchronizing data, not just Foxmarks data (such as bookmarks and passwords) but other data as well. That could require investments. Also, there are technologies to move the Web forward. We're looking carefully at video.

Firefox 3.1 has support for the Ogg video format.
Baker: Exactly.

Is the time line to release Firefox 3.1 in early 2009?
Baker: Yes, that's our plan.

What comes after that?
Baker: We're looking at Fennec releases (a version of Firefox for mobile devices) and at some of the things coming out of Mozilla Labs, like synchronization of services. Will that end up as a project? Were not sure. We're also looking at Thunderbird (Mozilla's open-source e-mail software). Thunderbird 3 should be shipping in the first half of 2009, (bringing) add-ons and ecosystem opportunities there.

And, of course, there's more work on Firefox. The role of Firefox is to display the Web as the Web moves forward. We also think we're in the early stages of graphics and video, and what people do with it.

What do you think of HTML 5, the next version of the standard for displaying Web pages? Will it solve the world's problems?
Baker: We're eager to see it happen. It's certainly not the panacea miracle cure, but it's important. We've spent a lot of time trying to move beyond HTML 4. We have the same issues (as earlier HTML versions) of getting it implemented in browsers.

Because it's a large specification, it's likely that only portions will get implemented. What if some browser isn't going to implement something in HTML 5, what are we doing to do to move the Web forward?

Source: Download

Internet needs £91bn to avoid 'brownouts'

2008-11-20T11:30:00.001+08:00

Internet demand could outpace capacity within the next two to four years, causing global slowdowns and 'brownouts', according to a new report.

Nemertes Research reckons that 2012 could be a crunch year for the web, as the exaflood - an exponential explosion of online content resulting from new applications and video - causes slower responses and time outs, ultimately triggering an 'innovation slowdown'.

If left unaddressed, say Nemertes, the development of next generation applications will be stifled as users find Internet infrastructure incapable of delivering content.

Americans take more than their share of the web

"We project demand to exceed capacity at the access layer of the Internet by 2012, and the situation is slightly worse in North America," says Dr Mike Jude, Senior Analyst at Nemertes.

He estimates the financial investment required to bridge the gap between demand and capacity is about £91 billion worldwide.

The report comes on the same day that the total number of broadband subscribers worldwide topped 400 million for the first time - that's 7000 times the number of broadband connections that existed a decade ago.

Next-gen ultra-high-speed optical fibre connections currently account for about 45 million of those users.

Source: Techradar

Google made deal with Life mag: awesome pics

2008-11-20T11:23:00.001+08:00

Google Inc. has opened an online photo gallery that will feature millions of images from Life magazine’s archives that have never been seen by the public before. The new service, available at images.google.com/hosted/life, debuted Tuesday with about 2 million photos. Eventually, Google plans to scan all 10 million photos from Life’s library so they can be viewed on any computer with an Internet connection. About 97 percent of Life’s archives have not been publicly seen, according to Life.

The photos can be printed out for free as long as they aren’t being used as part of an attempt to make money. Time Warner Inc., Life’s parent company, hopes to make money by selling high-resolution, framed prints. The orders will be processed through Qoop.com. Life’s archives include photos from the Civil War as well as some of the most memorable moments from the 20th century, including the Zapruder film capturing John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Go check it.

Canon US video and printer rebate glitch

2008-11-20T11:08:00.001+08:00

Canon has asked US customers planning take advantage of its rebate program not to cash the checks they have received, following the company handling the rebates filing for bankruptcy protection. The problems relate to rebate checks for video and printer products dated prior to November 14th. Any customer yet to send-in rebate materials should also delay until further notice.

Canon made the following statement: "The third-party rebate processing company that implements Canon’s rebate program covering printer and camcorder products filed a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition on Friday, November 14. Any customer who has received a rebate check for these products dated prior to November 14, should not cash the check as it may bounce. Canon is diligently working on steps to ensure that eligible consumers receive valid rebate checks as soon as possible. More information will be available on our Web site by Friday, November 21.

"We understand this is an inconvenience to customers. We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. Consumers who have questions about our rebate programs should call Canon’s Customer Call Center 1-800-OK- CANON."

Source: Dpreview

Start-up Meraki to sell solar-powered Wi-Fi gear

2008-11-20T11:05:00.003+08:00

Mesh Wi-Fi provider Meraki is going green with a new solar-powered repeater.

The company, which builds low-cost and easy-to-manage Wi-Fi gear, said the Meraki Solar Wi-Fi repeater will ship starting December 4. The price of the solar repeater costs between $749 and $1,499.

Sanjit Biswas, co-founder and CEO of Meraki, said he expects customers in developing markets, where power infrastructure is not reliable or nonexistent, to be especially interested in the product. But he said that there has also been interest among customers here in the U.S. and other developed markets.

"Some people might want to set up a Wi-Fi on their roof or somewhere else they don't have power," he said. "And then they realize how much it will cost them to get an electrician to wire that area."

For this reason, Biswas said that the Meraki Solar repeater is ideal for installations in places like city parks. Even the higher initial cost of the solar equipment will still be cheaper than running power to bay stations and radios throughout a large area like Central Park in New York, he said.

Meraki had announced its solar-powered product last year. But the product was delayed when the company decided to change battery types after receiving feedback that the batteries ran out of power too quickly. The company now uses lithium iron-phosphate, which gives it greater capacity. Biswas says the new battery can store enough energy to power the Wi-Fi radios 24 hours a day seven days a week even during times of limited sunlight.

In addition to its solar-powered repeater, Meraki introduced a new Wi-Fi radio wall plug, which features a hole to screw the unit to an outlet. The design is part of Meraki's push to sell its gear to apartment buildings and complexes. The company has been experimenting with product designs and ideas for better coverage in multiple dwelling units as part of the free network it offers to San Francisco.

Earlier this year, Meraki announced it would help the city provide free Internet access to low-income housing projects as part of its plan to unwire every neighborhood in San Francisco. Meraki, which is based in the Bay Area, sees the San Francisco Wi-Fi network as an important test bed for its products and services.

Source: Cnet

HP Pavilion tx2z Multi-Touch Tablet PC Launched

2008-11-20T11:02:00.002+08:00

Hewlett-Packard announced today the HP Pavilion tx2z (TouchSmart tx2), the company’s first Tablet PC with a multi-touch display.

The 12.1-inch Pavilion tx2z recognizes simultaneous input from more than one finger using “capacitive multi-touch technology”. It enables the use of gestures such as pinch, rotate, arc, flick, press and drag, and single and double tap. In addition, the tx2z supports digital pen input.

HP’s new convertible notebook is configurable with AMD’s Turion X2 or Turion X2 Ultra dual-core mobile processors, up to 8GB of DDR2 system memory, up to 400GB of hard drive space, and a DVD burner. The display uses LED backlight and has a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. It is managed by the ATI Radeon HD 3200 integrated graphics.

The tx2 also includes a built-in web camera, optional fingerprint reader, stereo speakers, wireless G or N card, optional Bluetooth, an Ethernet LAN port, 56K modem, three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, and 5-in-1 media card reader.

According to the product specifications, the Tablet PC weighs around 4.65 pounds with a standard 6-cell battery and a weight saver instead of the optical drive.

The HP Pavilion tx2z starts at 1,149.99 and is available now at the company’s online store.

MSI Wind U120 gets spotted, examined in the wild

2008-11-20T10:45:00.003+08:00

We've already seen a few shots of MSI's forthcoming Wind U120 netbook, but our pals at Engadget Chinese have now taken in one of its first public appearances and, naturally, they've provided plenty of pics for folks to dive into.

That includes some close-up shots of the netbook's slightly revised port situation, some comparison shots with the non-two tone U100, and even another glimpse of that 9-cell battery we've already seen floating about. MSI also had it's full-fledged Bravo EX620 laptop on display, though it's a pretty safe bet that we won't be seeing it 'round these parts anytime soon.

Source: Engadget

PSP 3000 now fully hackable with Datel’s Lite Blue Tool

2008-11-20T10:42:00.002+08:00

The PSP 3000 is now (well, in a few weeks) fully hackable. Datel’s Lite Blue Tool battery is able to put the system into service mode, and from then on you’re able to flash it with custom firmware. You know, for “homebrew.”

Till now, the PSP 3000 was unhackable, precluding gamers from hopping on Usenet, downloading the latest PSP ISO and loading it on their memory stick. Wait, no, I mean homebrew. Sorry. Wink. Nudge. Et cetera.

The Lite Blue Tool comes out on November 28 for $30.

Source: Crunchgear

Samsung S9402 Duos - Dual SIM Phone

2008-11-20T09:45:00.003+08:00

The need to divide the work to privacy leads many people to use two SIM to be activated differently during the day. To make this type of work is especially useful with a dual SIM phone, like the new Samsung S9402 Duos.

It is a design Candybars phone measures 115 x 48 x 16 mm with a total weight of 140 grams. The AMOLED screen size 2 inch has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels for more than 260,000 colors, while the camera of 5 megapixels with autofocus, image stabilization and flash LED.

Features of the Samsung S9402 DuoS include:

* Triband GSM (900/1800/1900 Mhz), GPRS/EDGE connectivity on 1st SIM card;
* Dual band (900/1800 Mhz), GPRS/EDGE connectivity on 2nd SIM card;
* 2″ 262K color QVGA AMOLED display;
* 5Mpix camera with autofocus and LED flash;
* Image stabilization and smile detector;
* Integrated FM Radio with RDS;
* Bang & Olufsen/ICEPower amplifiers;
* 1GB internal memory;
* microSDHC memory card slot (up to 8 GB);
* Bluetooth 2.0 and USB connectivity

Connectivity using the EDGE protocol, while the internal memory of 1GB is expandable through microSD cards. No lack of FM radio, audio components with Bang & Olufsen and Bluetooth. Devoted to high-end market, for the moment do not have information on prices and availability.

HP's Glad Fourth-Quarter Tidings

2008-11-20T09:34:00.001+08:00

Hewlett-Packard gave Wall Street some much needed cheer by revealing that its next results will exceed analysts' estimates

Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd has a simple credo: Follow the numbers. His insistence that employees focus on the bottom line is beginning to pay off.

On Nov. 18, the tech giant countered a spate of recent dour warnings from tech bellwethers, saying fiscal fourth-quarter results would beat analysts' forecasts. HP also issued a surprisingly upbeat outlook for fiscal 2009. "It's surprising, and not," says John Madden, a research director at Ovum in Boston. "This is a company with great financial discipline, and that certainly helps when the economy takes a tumble."

Palo Alto (Calif.)-based HP (HPQ) said profit for the quarter ended Oct. 31 was $1.03 a share, excluding items such as restructuring and acquisition charges related to its recent takeover of tech outsourcing firm Electronic Data Systems. Wall Street was expecting earnings of $1.00 a share, excluding items. "HP delivered another solid quarter as it continues to benefit from its global reach, diverse customer base, broad portfolio, and numerous cost initiatives," Hurd said in a statement. "Our ability to execute in a challenging marketplace differentiates HP, enabling it to increase share, expand earnings, and emerge from the current economic environment as a stronger force."
Cost-Cutting Pays Off

HP didn't elaborate which areas of its sprawling tech empire, ranging from PCs and printers to services and software, were doing well. The company is due to report full results on Nov. 24. Yet the preliminary results stood in stark contrast to announcements from tech giants Intel (INTC) and Cisco Systems (CSCO), which earlier this month pointed to a sharp slowdown (BusinessWeek.com, 11/12/08) in virtually all sectors of the PC and server markets. Retailers Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City, and Target (TGT) also have indicated consumers are conserving cash amid credit market turmoil. "There is just enough demand out there to feed some of the vendors who positioned themselves well ahead of time," says Roger Kay, president of tech analyst firm Endpoint Technologies Associates.

While tech stocks surged on Nov. 18, led by HP's 14.5% gain, much of the rest of the industry isn't faring nearly as well. HP is benefiting from Hurd's near-obsessive cost-cutting and what analysts consider world-class management of sales and supply chain. In what Hurd calls "data-driven decision-making," every segment of the company now uses metrics regularly to determine which hardware, software, and services merit the most attention. Research and development has been aligned closely with product planning, while a revamped sales organization has been given greater incentive to succeed, with "specialists" bearing responsibility for growth in their particular area of interest. HP also attributed some of its performance to global reach. About 70% of revenue comes from outside the U.S.

Looking ahead, analysts say HP stands to benefit from Hurd's strategic investments in areas such as managing corporate computer networks, which offer new sources of recurring revenue. The company in September completed its purchase of EDS, which specializes in providing IT services to corporations.

Source: Businessweek

Microsoft announces free Morro antivirus software

2008-11-19T19:09:00.004+08:00

Axes Windows Live OneCare and Equipt, just one month after launch....

Microsoft is getting serious about global security, offering a free anti-malware package code-named Morro that has been specially designed for low cost PCs in developing nations.

The software will be available in the second half of 2009 and will provide 'comprehensive protection' from 'the majority of online threats', including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.

Morro is based on - and will replace - the current Windows Live OneCare subscription service, although it has been architected to use fewer computing resources, making it ideal for low-bandwidth scenarios or less powerful PCs.

Also destined for the chop is Equipt, Microsoft's shortlived excursion into consumer software-as-a-service, offering cloud storage of files, updates to Microsoft Office packages and Windows Live OneCare, for an annual cost of £59. Microsoft Equipt launched just one month ago.

Microsoft vs malware

Amy Barzdukas, Senior Director at Microsoft, said: "This new, no-cost offering will give us the ability to protect an even greater number of consumers, especially in markets where the growth of new PC purchases is outpaced only by the growth of malware."

Morro will deliver the same core protection against malware as Microsoft's enterprise solutions, but without the additional non-security features found in many consumer security suites, which probably means password managers, identity protection software and online secure storage.

"By offering basic protection at no charge to the consumer, Microsoft is promoting a safer environment for PCs, service providers and e-commerce itself, since it is through unprotected PCs that the worst threats are introduced to the system as a whole," said Roger Kay, Founder of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

Cross-platform support

Morro will be available as a stand-alone download for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. Windows Live OneCare will continue to be sold until June 30, 2009, and all existing subscriptions to it will be honoured.

Microsoft will end retail sales of Equipt within the next 90 days and halt subscription services in the first half of 2009. The company says that customers who subscribed to this service continue 'to get value from it' until the end of their subscription period - October 2009 - and will provide detailed information about 'customer options' early next year.

If those 'options' are the same as US users of Equipt received, UK purchasers can expect a free license key to Microsoft Office Home and Student (worth about £70) and possibly even a pro-rated refund, which isn't a bad deal.

If you want to take the risk, PC World is still selling Equipt as of this post.

Source: Techradar

Create a Sleek Illustration that Fades from Line Art to Color

2008-11-19T18:49:00.007+08:00

Author: Gavin Steele

In this tutorial, you will work with a few images you chose and you will create a nice looking illustration. The idea behind this illustration was to create a war between reality and line art. I tried to make this one simple, but at the same time to make it look good. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and try it with your own tools and stock - Constantin

This is how the final image will look like!

Click for Large view. File size 6MB. 2200x3000 Poster Resolution

Read more for the video tutorial:

Toshiba adds quiet 500GB laptop drive to lineup

2008-11-19T18:28:00.004+08:00

Toshiba on Tuesday unveiled a new 500GB 2.5-inch SATA drive featuring whisper quiet operation. The flagship MK5055GSX offers an 8MB buffer, and a read/write power consumption of 1.4W. Toshiba claims that the improved servo mechanism not only decreases the operational noise, but also increases durability of the hardware. Pricing was not readily available, but Toshiba expects to ship the drive in January, and will exhibit the drive at CES 2009 in January.

The MK5055GSX offers a free-fall sensor option to protect against falls, and the entire drive is designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as well as complying to other environmental standards.

Source: Electronista