Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Sunday, May 02, 2010

GeForce GTX 480M Brings Fermi Goodness to Laptops This June [Geforce Gtx 480m]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5529117/geforce-gtx-480m-brings-fermi-goodness-to-laptops-this-june

GeForce GTX 480M Brings Fermi Goodness to Laptops This June The crazy power requirements demanded by the Nvidia GTX 480 would seem to imply it's relegated to desktop land and yet, this rumor exists: A version of this beastly minotaur graphics card could be headed to notebooks in June.

We know this because Eurocom jumped the gun and listed a GeForce GTX 480M option on their web site this week.

While specifics remain light, and this is technically unconfirmed, we can nevertheless glean a few details from the listing. Mainly, power requirements will still be high, in line with the card's existing reputation, and that the card is an option only for the larger 17- and 18.4-inch "desktop replacements" Cheetah, Panther and Leopard (which makes sense).

Again, release—according to Eurocom—is about a month away.

Editor's Note: Pictured is the The $500 GeForce GTX 480, available as of April 12. [Eurocom via Engadget]

The H.264 Encoding Boom [Formats]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5528936/the-h264-encoding-boom

Earlier this week, Steve Jobs said quite confidently that alternatives like H.264 have already made the lion's share of web video available to devices that don't support Flash. This chart shows why he's probably right.

TechCrunch scored these numbers from Encoding.com, a service that has encoded over 5 million videos in the last year, including those of Brightcove, MTV, and MySpace. At this time last year, 69% of the video they were encoding was in Flash, either VP6 or FLV; now it is only 26% combined. H.264, on the other hand, went from 31% to 66% over the same period. The numbers don't lie.

Unless, of course, the numbers do lie. There's no way to tell how closely Encoding.com's work reflects the internet at large, and this doesn't mean that H.264 video is replacing Flash video, just that it's snuggling up alongside of it. And lest we forget about the games—the precious games! When it comes down to it, Flash's longevity will likely be tied to its use for stuff besides video, and, of course, many of the reasons we said HTML5 isn't going to save the internet still apply.

Still, the president of Encoding.com seems to think his numbers hold true for the greater web, and as TechCrunch points out, with H.264-friendly YouTube accounting for 40% of the internet's video, he might be right. Whether or not these alternatives replace Flash for web video remains to be seen—and won't be clear any time soon—but these numbers show that H.264 could be coming up fast on its heels. [TechCrunch]

Sony EX3 prototype 3D camcorder spotted, destined for retail channels?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/02/sony-ex3-prototype-3d-camcorder-spotted-destined-for-retail-cha/

Well what do we have here? We've just been handed a picture of what we're told is Sony's EX3 prototype 3D camera, with changeable lenses and a penchant for capturing life in the third dimension. That's unfortunately all we really know at this point, but if this two-eyed beaut does go to market (and we hear that it most certainly will), it looks like Panasonic's 3D camcorder will have some healthy competition. And hey, we're all for having more options.

Sony EX3 prototype 3D camcorder spotted, destined for retail channels? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 00:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Nokia N98 leak validated by N8, is there a QWERTY slider brewing up in Espoo?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/02/nokia-n98-leak-validated-by-n8-is-there-a-qwerty-slider-brewing/

Just gaze upon those curves up above and tell us what they remind you of. Yes indeed, the Nokia N98 -- which seemed so futuristic we were inclined to dismiss it as the product of a hyperactive imagination -- is today looking all too credible thanks to the obvious design similarities it shares with the officially released N8. Starting with the distinctive tapered edges with contrast coloring, moving through the black bezel-sporting display, and jotting down to the positions of the Nokia and N00 logos as well as the Options menu, the viewer can't help but be convinced that this February leak came with no small portion of truthiness to it. Now, we don't live anywhere near Espoo, so we can't tell you whether this was just a precursor to the N8, which lost its physical keyboard and N9x naming scheme to become the beastly media phone we know today. But wouldn't it be lovely to believe Nokia's working on all cylinders and planning to introduce a 4-inch QWERTY variant of its new flagship?

Nokia N98 leak validated by N8, is there a QWERTY slider brewing up in Espoo? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 04:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/02/nvidia-gtx-480m-will-bring-fermi-to-laptops-this-june-crazy-pow/

We had an inkling NVIDIA wouldn't keep the Fermi goodness just to the desktop and here's our first pseudo-official confirmation. Rushing in ahead of any announcements, Eurocom has started listing a GeForce GTX 480M part, replete with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and a $345 markup relative to ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 5870. It's not clear whether the 100W number refers to the TDP or power requirements of NVIDIA's new GPU, but it's safe to expect both to be pretty high. The MXM 3.0b interface provides a 256-bit linkup between the GPU and CPU, lending plenty of bandwidth, but it also demands plenty of PCB real estate. As a result, Eurocom is offering the GTX 480M on its 17-inch Cheetah and Panther and 18.4-inch Leopard desktop replacements, but not on its 15.6-inch Cougar. Man, no love for the Cougars. According to the listing, we're only a month or so away from release.

[Thanks, Jacob]

NVIDIA GTX 480M will bring Fermi to laptops this June, crazy power requirements and all originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 May 2010 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source