NVIDIA details the Grid, a card built for powering cloud computing

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/06/nvidia-grid-unveiled/

NVIDIA's CES 2013 press conference is still ongoing, but the chipmaker is already unveiling something we've only seen teased before: the NVIDIA Grid, a card used for cloud computing across PCs, smart TVs, and smartphones. CEO and founder Jen-Hsun Huang detailed the new card on-stage, which you can see above in a rack of 20 grid servers. Huang says the rack pushes out roughly 240 NVIDIA GPUs worth of power, or about 200 teraflops -- equivalent to approximately 700 Xbox 360s. The Grid was given a tease earlier this year; the card will assist in pushing serious horsepower to the cloud, so that gaming over the air, across multiple devices becomes a less complicated reality.

During an on-stage demonstration, NVIDIA showed Frozenbyte's Trine running on various devices, all powered by the Grid system. Beyond just looking great, it carried over seamlessly between multiple devices. Huang also detailed NVIDIA's first partners for Grid: Agawi, Cloudunion, Cyber Cloud, G-cluster, Playcast, and Ubitus. Apparently biggies like OnLive and Gaikai are already all set? We'll be sure to get a closer look in the coming days as CES rages on.

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NVIDIA officially unveils Tegra 4: offers quad-core Cortex A15, 72 GPU cores, LTE support

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/06/nvidia-tegra-4-official/

One new SoC per year? That's what NVIDIA pledged back in the fall of 2010 and today at its CES 2013 presser, it delivered with the Tegra 4's official unveiling. The chip, which retains the same 4-plus-1 arrangement of its predecessor, arrives with a whopping 72 GeForce GPU cores -- effectively offering 6x the Tegra 3's visual output and is based on the 28nm process. It also is the first quad-core processor with Cortex A15 cores on-board, and offers compatibility with LTE networks. NVIDIA claims this piece of silicon is the world's fastest mobile processor, and showed a demonstration in which a Tegra 4 went head-to-head against a Nexus 10 in loading websites (you can guess which one won).

The Tegra 4 also introduces new computational photography architecture, which adds a new engine to drive the image processing and significantly improve the amount of time it takes to calculate the necessary mathematics 10 times faster than current platforms. To show off its power, NVIDIA demonstrated HDR rendering on live video. The chip is also capable of implementing HDR in burst shots and with LED flash. The idea, NVIDIA says, is to eventually make our mobile cameras more powerful than DSLRs, and this is certainly a step in the right direction.

Gallery: NVIDIA CES 2013 press event

Continue reading NVIDIA officially unveils Tegra 4: offers quad-core Cortex A15, 72 GPU cores, LTE support

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Mobile, NVIDIA

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HP unveils an avalanche of monitors ranging in size from 20 to 27 inches

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/hp-announces-monitors-ces-2013/

It's pretty clear HP is all about monitors at this year's CES -- in fact, that's pretty much all it announced, with the exception of a couple laptops. All told, we've detailed 10 models here, and that's not even counting that USB-powered one we wrote up in a separate post. You can find all the gory details after the break, because we're assuming you don't want Engadget's home page taken up by paragraphs on resolution, contrast ratio and brightness ratings. (Or do you?) For those of you who just plan on skimming, all you really need to know is that the displays range in size from 20 to 27 inches, and cost anywhere from $130 to $500. And some of them, like the one pictured above, are damn gorgeous. Meet us past the break where we'll break down all the particulars.

Gallery: HP's CES 2013 monitor lineup

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Filed under: Displays, HP

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Lego Mindstorms EV3 arrives tailored for mobile, infrared and more hackability

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/lego-mindstorms-ev3-arrives-tailored-for-mobile-apps/

Lego's Mindstorms kits were born into a world where the PC reigned supreme for control; the company is ushering in 2013 with an acknowledgment that its build-it-yourself toy part of a much wider universe. Its updated Mindstorms EV3 runs on new Linux firmware that's ready for Android and iOS control out of the box, creates an overall more hackable platform and allows further programming on the core Intelligent Brick itself; accordingly, there's an SD card slot for local storage. A built-in infrared sensor expands the possibilities for a more autonomous design, as well -- Lego suggests that EV3 constructs can follow other moving gadgets, or even their creators, around the room. It should also be the first Lego bundle with its own 3D construction guide, as a new app built with Autodesk's help lets builders see the process from every angle. We won't have the chance to put a kit together until the EV3 line ships in the second half of the year, but Lego already expects the core unit to sell for $350.

Gallery: Lego Mindstorms EV3

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Filed under: Household, Robots

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Source: Lego

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HP intros its first USB-powered monitor, the U160; goes on sale this month for $179

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/hp-u160-usb-monitor/

In case you haven't noticed, HP's presence at CES 2013 pretty much boils down to monitors: the company just unleashed nearly a dozen models and, uh, very little else. As it is, we decided to round up most of the new displays into a single news post, but there's one we felt deserved its own story. That would be the U160, HP's first USB-powered monitor. Now of course, this is hardly the first USB display to hit the market, but it is the first made by HP, which seemed noteworthy enough, given how big a player HP is in the monitor space.

In any case, this has a matte 15-inch screen with 1,366 x 768 resolution, and comes with a built-in leather case allowing you to prop it up for presentations and whatnot. It weighs 3.4 pounds and measures 1.2 inches thick, which for comparison's sake means it's slightly heavier than whatever Ultrabook you're carrying around. Interestingly, HP won't discuss the other specs in great detail, except to say that the contrast ratio and brightness levels are comparable to most notebook screens. So we guess you'll just have to take HP's word for it? In any case, if you've been looking for a travel monitor and fancy this one, it goes on sale this month for $179.

Gallery: HP U160 USB monitor

Filed under: Displays, HP

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