1-Bit Music...

An electronic circuit is assembled inside a CD case with a headphone jack on the side. The device plays back 40 minutes of low-fi 1-bit electronic music—the lowest possible digital representation of audio. Available now from Cantaloupe Music or as a limited art edition.

Perich works with the same chips to create 1-Bit Video and his machine drawings, pen-on-paper drawings executed by machine that explore randomness and order.

1bitmusic

Nvidia GTX card cheaper

Its a great chance for geeks.Run and get it now.Just check the prices :).

NVIDIA HAS slashed the price its newest GTX 260 and 280 GPUs in response to ATI's offerings which are looking pretty good. Last night, Nvidia said the GeForce GTX 280 will be in the shops for $499 and the GTX 260 for $299. Both cards were only released four weeks ago. The GTX 280 was selling for $649, while the 260 was priced previously at $399.

The Inq

Pioneer - 400 GB optical discs

Memory size is always been of our interest friends.I have posted many news on HDD or other data storage devices which provides huge memory sizes.This one must be included in that list.Pioneer has claimed that they will represent a optical disc with a storage capacity of 400GB!

Pioneer has developed a 16-layer read-only optical disc which can store 400GB of data.The per-layer capacity is 25GB, the same as that of a Blu-ray Disc, and the multilayer technology will also be applicable to multilayer recordable discs.

Pioneer said,

"Multi-layered discs have been difficult to develop because 'crosstalk' from adjacent layers and transmission loss mean that getting a stable signal from the disc is often nearly impossible."

So it means if this thing got OK signal, then it will be used for data storage in corporates which needs such devices for daily data backup.Thus this will replace the slow tape drives which are in heavy usage now a days.Lets hope this happens,so we can have better and fast solution for data backup/storage.

Pioneer will present the details of this research at the International Symposium on Optical Memory and Optical Data Storage 2008 in Hawaii on 13 July.

source: vnunet

Dell is always Hell - charging to downgrade to XP!

I had never liked dell configurations for desktops specifically.I prefer assembled ones.And for laptop, i suggest HP/IBM.

But this is something different weird thing friends. Dell has announced that it will stop selling new computers with Windows XP from now on, unless buyers spend an extra $50 to downgrade their operating system!

What is this?I mean this is something like buying some gas for your car and you will be charged for cleaning and air feeling!I think dell thinks that people will not take vista and they will get benefit. And yeah, sure if people will want XP then dell gets some more bucks on each purchase!

I suggest you,first, don't purchase dell :D. And if you, then take it as it is. And install yourself Windows XP you owning at home.So no need to pay extra $50.

As Microsoft said,

"Last year you told us you weren't quite ready to say goodbye to Windows XP. We listened. That's why we delayed our plan to stop selling it until June 30, 2008."

,dell planned to get money from this also.So clever. :)

Windows XP Future | vnunet

Dell engaged in fraudulent case

What you think? what will happen? And what should court do if they find Dell guilty? I think every customer who is affected must get amount or new machines from Dell? :) Whatever, but now even big and reputed companies are also not left from being sued!

A New York State Supreme Court said Tuesday that Dell and its financial services arm misled customers.

he company was accused by the state of New York of offering no-interest or no-payment financing options for its products while Dell Financial Services would fail to honor them.

Dell told Reuters it "disagrees" with the ruling.

"We are confident that when the proceedings are finally completed, the court will determine that only a relatively small number of customers have been affected,"

according to the company's statement.

news.cnet.com

Samsung 1 TB HD, Only $199!

Large HD is now a must have thing. Not even corporates and industries, but home users are also using large HDs. See mine,I have 250GB WD 16MB Buffer SATA2 in just 74$!. PC usage is increasing day by day. Now everyone wants big space, Jet speed and less price. And that's what we are getting here.

Samsung has announced a low-cost 1 Terabyte HD, that will be available to consumers in June, at an affordable price of $199. Specs with 5400RPM rotational speeds, and offering the highest capacity per disk for one terabyte hard drives, at 334GB per platter, will keep the size limited and boosted up performace. Also Samsung says the drive uses up to 50 per cent less power than other one TB drives and has technology to keep it quiet through operation.

Media hunger is increasing with HD movies, Gaming and pictures. Also if big thing in less money is available, people will be attracted to it. Let's hope this will give best performance as samsung said.

3G iPhone To Launch June 9

Gizmodo has got this amazing shaking news. He says, he got news from someone very close to this release ;). It means, its a leak from internals!:)

Ok, jokes apart, it describes that this release will bring some new logics also for sell policies and pricing structure.

And it's also possible that they have some tie-ups with services providers and carriers for marketing structure. Where apple will go? I mean this iPhone will boom the cell market.

Already iPhone has covered a very big share in market, though it was costly in starting. Let's see what happens after the release.

HP's Teen Edition

HP's director of future innovations, Ameer Karim, has announced that HP will be launching a fall line of "Teen" PC products. HP has hired a council of teenagers who will help design the products, and even HP's website.

"That's a major transformation for a company like HP, which has been much more focused on an older crowd," said Karim.

Going from business friendly to teen friendly is a big step. Currently the devices that will be designed are unknown, however more details will be available in the future.

Does HP have some new innovations up their sleeves, or will we see new prices for standard PC specs? :)

news.com

Asustek and Gigabyte - Intel P45 chipset launch

In an attempt to gain an edge in the competitive motherboard market, Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology have already unveiled motherboards featuring the new Intel P45 chipset for media review, as they gear up for the official June 2008 launch of the P45.Intel reportedly will officially launch its 4-series chipsets at Computex 2008, while motherboard makers will start shipping products later that month. However, Gigabyte's good sales performance in motherboard equipped with Intel 965 and P35 chipsets have brought significant competitive pressure on Asustek and both companies are circulating P45 boards for media reviews. As the P45 will have a long product life cycle of 18-24 months, the product is expected to be a crucial revenue driver for leading Taiwan-based makers of motherboards, the sources indicated.

via: DigiTimes

Lenovo ThinkPad X300

A slim notebook that almost matches that of the Air, but with slightly more functions and features, this new ThinkPad is aimed squarely at its core group of users - executives of the well-heeled variety.

As the first ThinkPad to bear the Lenovo logo, the X300 spent one and a half long years in development and was originally conceived as a 10-inch notebook, though things didn't quite work out when the engineering team started to put parts together. While it could be done, the consensus by the Lenovo team then was that a 13.3-inch screen was better for watching movies and as such, prototypes were then manufactured accordingly. Despite that, one characteristic that stayed unchanged was the portability of the X300.

The X300 also has more connectivity options compared to the Air in the form of a LAN port with native WiMax available in the later part of 2008 and HSDPA support via USB dongle.

via HardwareZone

Price of 3G iPhone about to Cut to $200

AT&T is planning to put some extra shine on the even sleeker new Apple iPhone.

When the 3G iPhone is introduced this summer, AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone sales partner with Apple, will cut the price by as much as $200, according to a person familiar with the strategy.

AT&T is preparing to subsidize $200 of the cost of a new iPhone, bringing the price down to $199 for customers who sign two-year contracts, the source says. Apple is expected to have two versions of the new iPhone, an 8-gigabyte-memory and a 16-gigabyte-memory model with price tags widely expected to be $399 and $499.

AT&T and Apple declined to comment.

AMD Readies Puma Laptops for Launch

AMD is preparing to show its Puma Laptop Platform to the world, with the launch penned for June during the Computex trade show. Around 100 laptops based around the Puma platform are being readied in time for the launch

The Puma platform highlights includes:

* AMD Turion X2 Ultra CPU (Griffin)
* Both Intergrated Graphics & HD3400 Discrete GPU (Using Hybrid technology to switch between the two to save power)
* WIFI a/b/g/n

AMD won’t be alone in introducing a new laptop platform though; their main rival Intel is also set to release its Atom low power CPU and its Centrino 2 platform at the same event.

VIA is also set to try to take some market share releasing its Isaiah processor, which is scheduled to be available during the middle of this year.

Western Digital launches world's fastest SATA disk

The 300GB VelociRaptor from Western Digital. Said to be 35% faster than previous WD Raptors, the 10,000 RPM drive features a 3Gbps SATA interface, 16MB cache, and impressive 1.4 million hour MTBF thanks in part to the IcePack Mounting Frame. The IcePack heat sink not only keeps the drive spinning extra cool, it also bumps the 2.5-inch HDD to a required 3.5-inch drive bay. Available exclusively on Alienware's ALX gaming desktop this month and then up for grabs for everybody with $300 to burn starting mid-May.

Western Digital Product Page

500,000 GB MP3 Player!

Can you even imagine an MP3 player with a 500,000 GB capacity? It’s pretty much beyond belief. The most generous player today can only hold around 40,000 songs – they’d hardly make a dent on this.

The thing is, it could easily happen. Scientists at the University of Glasgow have created a nanotechnology breakthrough that could increase storage capacity by 150,000 times. It could mean 500,000 GB on a single chip and inch square.

The Glasgow scientists worked to create the molecule-sized switch that’s at the heart of it all.

More @ digitalTrends

MSI and Gigabyte to launch low-cost PCs

Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology are planning to launch their low-cost PCs by the end of the second quarter this year, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report citing sources at the two makers.

MSI showcased its Wind notebook at CeBIT 2008, which will feature either an 8.9- or 10-inch panel and will be priced between 299-699 Euros (US$470-1099).

DigiTimes.com

Rockbox - open source firmware for mp3 players

Rockbox is an open source firmware for mp3 players, written from scratch. It runs on a wide range of players:

* Apple: 1st through 5.5th generation iPod, iPod Mini and 1st generation iPod Nano
(not the Shuffle, 2nd/3rd gen Nano, Classic or Touch)
* Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
* Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5, M5L, M3 and M3L
* iriver: H100, H300 and H10 series
* Olympus: M:Robe 100
* SanDisk: Sansa c200, e200 and e200R series (not the v2 models)
* Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series (not the S series)

It has been in development since 2001 and receives new features, tweaks and fixes every day to provide you with the best possible music listening experience. Rockbox aims to be considerably more functional and efficient than your device's stock firmware while remaining easy to use and customizable. We believe that you should never need to go through a series of menus for an action you perform frequently. We also believe that you should be able to configure almost anything about Rockbox you could want, pertaining to functionality. It is written by users, for users.

Another top priority of Rockbox is audio playback quality. Rockbox, for most models, includes a wider range of sound settings than that device's original firmware. A lot of work has been put into making Rockbox sound the best it can, and improvements are constantly being made. All models have access to a large number of plugins, including many games, applications, and graphical demos.

You can load different configurations quickly for different purposes (e.g. a large font for in your car, different sound settings for at home). You can even customize your While Playing screen to display only and exactly what you want to see when your music is playing. In addition, Rockbox features a wide range of languages, and all supported models also have the ability to talk to you - menus can be voiced and filenames spelled out or spoken.

RockBox.org

HP Releases its First Linux-powered Laptop

At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the University of Texas Supercomputing Center April 8, Hewlett-Packard announced the release of its first Linux-powered computer to be sold in the United States, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1.

HP was expected to offer a Linux desktop, and now it has finally done so. It’s not, however, the Linux desktop that many users expected. Instead of being a general-purpose consumer system or business PC, the Mini-Note is meant for the education market.

TechaChino

JScreenFix - fix stuck pixels!

JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.

A stuck pixel is a bright dot of colour most noticeable when the rest of the screen is black. Stuck pixels are fairly common on high resolution LCD screens. Stuck pixels sometimes start working again with time unless they appear black on a white background, these are known as dead pixels.

JScreenFix repairs stuck pixels through rapid, repetitive operation and resonance. Most stuck pixels are repaired within 20 minutes.

Dark patches on a plasma screen are the result of screen burn-in. Burn-in occurs on plasma screens if an area of the screen does not change for a long period of time. For TV input, channel logos often burn into the screen. This can also occur on LCD screens and is more correctly referred to as image persistence.

More @ JScreenFix

Microsoft Launches Windows Mobile 6.1

At CTIA Wireless 2008, Robbie Bach unveiled new features for an update to Windows Mobile, which includes enhanced features for socializing like threaded text messaging and features for simpler navigation. He also announced Microsoft’s plans to bring desktop-grade Web browsing experience to the Windows Mobile phone with an upcoming version of Internet Explorer Mobile.

Updates and new phones are expected to be available beginning in the second quarter of 2008. IE Mobile will be available to mobile phone partners in the third quarter of 2008 with the first Windows Mobile phones using the new version to be available by the end of 2008.

For Windows Mobile phones used in businesses, System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 is now available.

The Microsoft Mobile Services Plan (MMSP) was also announced today in partnership with AT&T, O2, Orange, TaTa Teleservices Ltd. and Verizon Wireless. The plan will help businesses with:

• Securing Windows Mobile phones with the same ease and flexibility as Windows-based PCs and providing access to information behind a company’s firewall.
• Helping businesses meet their mobile device management needs through mobile operators with the MMSP.
• Managing and securing phones with Exchange Server 2007 SP1 advanced mobile policies while enabling people to find, share, and use information no matter where they are

Press Release

Dell's Blu-ray Laptop For Under $900 !

Dell is jumping on Sony's Blu-ray bandwagon by offering an optional Blu-ray disc drive on its Inspiron 1525 notebook, with a sale price starting at $879.

Dell has been a backer of Blu-ray from the beginning, and we've actually been offering Blu-ray notebooks for close to 18 months now.

said Dell spokeswoman Anne Camden.

The big news now is we are actually able to offer it at a price that puts it at a mainstream user's reach.

A company release said the disc drive is fully backwards compatible, and will play as well as burn traditional DVDs and CDs. The company is also offering consumers a Blu-ray burner drive, which Dell recommends for backing up and storing files like digital photos, videos, financial records. Blu-ray discs have a significant advantage over standard DVDs, with 50 GB of data available versus 8.5 GB available on a typical DVD disc.

CRN.com