Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition nabs NVIDIA GTX 280 graphics

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/313362302/

Alienware was making some noise earlier today about being first out the gate with NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 280 cards, but HP's gaming division isn't about get shown up: it's launching the HP Blackbird 002 Exhilaration Edition which features two GTX 280 cards in SLI today, and it says it'll be shipping almost a month sooner than Alienware for $6,600 -- just over a thousand dollars less than a similar Area-51 setup. That's fightin' talk, people -- hopefully these two will get their prices down to something actually reasonable by the time this is all over.

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Gaze Interaction interface tweaked for gaming

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/313397281/

Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

Remember that Gaze prototype we showed you, oh, not even a week ago? Turns out, a similar setup has received a healthy amount of funding from the EU, and unlike sluggish systems of the past, this one may enable people with severe motor disabilities to engage in 3D gaming. Communication by Gaze Interaction (COGAIN) is designed to speed up the eye-computer interfacing by recognizing when users look off screen; in doing so, the system can switch between modes or perform any number of tasks not easily accomplished by simply peering in a different direction. Reportedly, Stephen Vickers (the creator of this fantastic stuff) is hoping to begin software trials within the next dozen months, though future implementation still remains somewhat fuzzy at the moment.

[Thanks, Iddo]

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HTC developing Atom- and Snapdragon-based MIDs?

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/313427577/

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC's hit us with some sexy new handsets lately, but a new report from DigiTimes says that the juggernaut ODM is getting ready to make some MID waves, and soon. Apparently inspired by the success of the Eee (who hasn't been?), HTC is rumored to be prepping devices based on Intel's Atom and Qualcomm's Snapdragon platforms, as well as up to 10 new phones in the second quarter of the year -- which, conveniently enough, is this quarter. There's no word on what we might be seeing apart from some new Diamond and Touch Pro handsets, but hopefully we'll see soon enough -- or just be left broken-hearted by yet another unsourced DigiTimes rumor.

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Intel spearheads SpectraWatt spin-off to create photovoltaic cells

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/313512832/

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Famed chip maker Intel is doing more than just buying up Renewable Energy Certificates like they're going out of style. It's cranking things up with a spin-off outfit that will soon be creating photovoltaic cells for solar module makers. Intel Capital is pouring some $50 million into SpectraWatt Inc., and it's being joined by Cogentrix Energy, PCG Clean Energy and Technology Fund and Solon AG. Aside from making that dough, the new company will also "concentrate development efforts on improvements in current manufacturing processes and capabilities to reduce the cost of photovoltaic energy generation," and if everything goes smoothly, it should break ground on its manufacturing and development facility in Oregon in 2H 2008 (with product shipping in mid-2009).

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AMD's Cinema 2.0 demo: "you won't just play movies, you'll play in them"

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/313566920/

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

That's a bold promise AMD. Nevertheless, a cinema-realistic gaming experience is exactly what they demonstrated yesterday in San Francisco. Cinema 2.0, according to AMD, is "a milestone achievement in ultra-realistic and interactive visual computing." Perhaps, but then the marketing-speak launches into unnecessary hyperbole with AMD calling its new teraFLOPS chip at the heart of the demo -- the RV770 GPU -- "more powerful than every generation of game console every brought to market combined." Really AMD? Last we counted there were about 13 million Cell processors scattered across the PS3 terra firma. But we'll assume that you're referring to a mythical mashup of a singular PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, etc. with a little Magnavox Odyssey sprinkled on top. Still, you might find the hype warranted when you realize that the demonstration was powered by a single PC loaded with a pair of (future) consumer-grade AMD RV770 graphics cards, Phenom X4 9850 processor, and 790FX chipset. Take a look for yourself in the video after the break.

Continue reading AMD's Cinema 2.0 demo: "you won't just play movies, you'll play in them"

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