Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Download Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 With Awesome New 3D Tab Interface Now [Firefox]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/421043640/download-firefox-31-beta-1-with-awesome-new-3d-tab-interface-now

The first beta of Firefox 3.1 is available now, and it's worth braving the occasional perils of betaland to check it out. Truly, the killer feature is the new 3D tab interface. It's beautiful, it's functional, it's awesome. Javascript performance is jucied by the new TraceMonkey engine (take that, Chrome!), though you have to enable it. And it's location-aware, no Geode plug-in necessary. Not yet in the mix are the promised porn mode or smarter session restore, but it's a good start. Word of warning: Your add-ons aren't compatible without some tweakage. [Mozilla via Lifehacker]

Nokia's N-Series Wants to be Touched More [Nokia]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/421051677/nokias-n+series-wants-to-be-touched-more

After Nokia set its first touchscreen phone, the 5800 XpressMusic, into the wild, one executive teased that they will be launching a new touchscreen smart phone for the N-series, wedged neatly between the iPhone and Blackberry Storm. "We will have a lot of touch screen phones coming up, including an N-series device very soon," Nokia India's Marketing Director Devinder Kishore said. Although official details and release dates have yet to be announced, the new touchscreen is rumored to hit the markets early 2009. [Cell Passion via IntoMobile]

NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M, 9600M GT get official in new MacBooks

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/420733675/

Filed under: Laptops

As expected, Apple has tapped NVIDIA's new GeForce 9400 M as the base graphics for its new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and updated MacBook Air, which Steve Jobs himself says is five times faster than the current Intel integrated graphics they've been using. That's aided in no small part by the chipset's 16 parallel graphics cores, not to mention a generally beefier GPU that occupies a full 70% of the die area. If that's not enough for you, Apple is also throwing NVIDIA's 9600M GT into the MacBook Pro, which'll give you two GPUs and either 256MB or 512MB of memory. That power will unsurprisingly come at the expense of some battery life, however, with the 9600 cutting things back to four hours from the five hours you can expect with the discrete GPU switched off. In the Q&A after the announcement, Apple also confirmed that it'd be the first taking the chipset to market, but that anything further is up to NVIDIA. Expect to hear more about that tomorrow, when NVIDIA is supposedly making its own announcement.

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Apple's all-new MacBook Pro packs new NVIDIA GPUs, glass trackpad

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/420733674/

Filed under: Laptops

Oh, don't act so surprised. A refresh of Apple's long-in-the-tooth MacBook Pro line was pretty much the only sure thing slated for today's event, and Apple certainly delivered. As for looks, you probably know the score by now: chiclet keyboard, Air-inspired aluminum stylings, and a glossy screen that's flush with a new iMac-like black bezel (there's no non-gloss option for the purists out there). What's new is confirmation of a multi-touch glass trackpad, which suspiciously rids the computer of a single mouse button and adds some new gestures like app switching. Apple's also put in some effort on slimming down the computer, bringing it down to a mere 0.95-inches thick (though at 5.5 pounds it's a hair heavier than the original), but much of the real excitement happens under the hood. There's a new internal structure, that rumored "brick" of aluminum that helps Apple make the new Pro thin, strong and leaves room for the real goodies: the specs. Apple's using NVIDIA's new 9400M GPU + chipset 1-2 punch for integrated graphics, supplemented by 9600M GT switchable discreet graphics chip for heavy lifting, and pumping out those graphics over a Mini DisplayPort connector, if you'd like to supplement the LED backlit screen. As expected there's an SSD option, with drive accessible underneath the battery. The 15.4-inch base model retails for $1999, with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM and both GPUs. Step up to $2499 and you get a faster CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 320GB HDD. The 17-inch MacBook Pro comes in a similar configuration with a 2.6GHz processor, starting at $2799, but sans the redesign and GPU love. Hit the jump for a breakdown of the configurations.

Gallery: Apple's new MacBook Pro

Gallery: New MacBook Pro Official Pictures

Continue reading Apple's all-new MacBook Pro packs new NVIDIA GPUs, glass trackpad

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Apple MacBook aluminum and glass super-shiny hands-on

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/420798570/

Filed under: Laptops

We just got our grubby, oily hands all over this pristine, all glass and aluminum MacBook. We sullied it on your behalf, but our initial impressions mostly positive: it's small, incredibly, ridiculously solid feeling, and we actually don't hate the all-clicking trackpad much at all. (If your thumb muscle memory makes you click at the bottom where the button used to be, it works and feels pretty much the same.) Of course, the glare of the glass screen is a MAJOR issue for us, and will be pretty much forever. There's just no way we'll be able to love it, so our eyes will be peeled for after-market add-ons to cut that down a bit. But in terms of the rest, it's pretty clear this is the best MacBook -- and best mainstream consumer laptop -- Apple's made to date.

Gallery: Apple MacBook aluminum and glass super-shiny hands-on