Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Forty Years Of Intel: Interactive Timeline [Intel]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/339545575/forty-years-of-intel-interactive-timeline

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Intel, the people who likely made the CPU in your computer. To mark the occasion, the people at PC Magazine have put together a pretty comprehensive timeline showing every major generation of Intel processor from the first one to the current Core 2 Quad and Atom series processors. We've all used them at some point in our lives, and I remember my first Intel processor was a Pentium II running at a blazing 233MHz. I loved that laptop. What was your first Intel processor? Or which was your favorite? [PC Mag]

NVIDIA's GeForce 9700M / 9800M laptop GPUs get quasi-official

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/339050551/

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

So it seems that NVIDIA has been sneaking its 9700M / 9800M GPUs into potent gaming laptops for a little while now, but we're finally getting some official-ish verbiage on the new-ish families. The GeForce 9700M GT, 9700M GTS, 9800M GT, 9800M GTS and 9800M GTX should all be available as we speak in some of your favorite portable LAN machines, with the latter capable of a mind-melting 420 gigaflops. For more on the graphical powerhouse that could be sitting within your machine right now, check the read link.

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XIM2 brings your keyboard and mouse to the Xbox 360. But you still suck at Halo.

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/339086214/

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Oh man, remember that one time we tried to balance the teams in your favor, so there were like eight guys on your side, and just two of us? And then we still kicked your ass at CTF? Yeah, well XIM is gonna get you nowhere. Sure, the newly refined mod can hijack the Xbox 360 controller input and allow you to use just about any USB input device with the console -- for instance, a keybord and mouse -- but we're still gonna shoot you in the face while you're trying to remember where that shotgun spawns, steal your flag right out from under you, and then snipe your base's spawn points. Get used to it. Simulated video of us owning you is after the break.

[Via Xbox-Scene]

Continue reading XIM2 brings your keyboard and mouse to the Xbox 360. But you still suck at Halo.

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AMD says it'll detail its Atom-challenging plans in November

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/339253974/

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

AMD has been hinting at its plans to take on Intel's processor du jour, the Atom, for some time now, but brand new CEO Dirk Meyer is now getting slightly more official about it than the company has been previously, and he's promising that AMD will reveal all come November. As the folks at Register Hardware point out, all indications point to that Atom-challenging processor being the "Bobcat," which has been talked about for nearly a full year now. If that past information is correct, it looks like we can expect the chip to debut with a 1GHz clock speed, along with 128KB of L1 cache, 256KB of L2 cache an 800MHz HyperTransport link, support for 400MHz DDR 2 RAM, and a power consumption 8W. No word on how AMD plans to compete with Intel in terms of price just yet, but that'll no doubt be revealed in November, if not sooner.

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GM designing car windshield that does the looking for us

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/339357337/

Filed under: Transportation

Apparently not everyone at General Motors is toiling away in an attempt to get the Volt ready for its 2010 debut, as another sector of the outfit's R&D division is busy creating a windshield that will, at its core, enable us to stop running stuff over. The futuristic glass would utilize lasers, sensors and cameras in order to help drivers see the road's edge better, recognize obstructions and enhance things ahead of us so we'll theoretically react faster. Truth be told, the device is being designed with older drivers in mind, though we don't see why younger motorists won't benefit all the same. Unfortunately, it sounds as if you'll have to keep those toothpicks in your eyelids for a few more years, but at least we're one step closer to full-on autopilot.

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