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Written by Hanners
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:43 |
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Naturally, it goes without saying that AMD aren't exactly big fans of NVIDIA's PhysX technology, but are game developers only implementing PhysX in their game titles to get money from NVIDIA? Developer relations head honcho at ATI Richard Huddy believes so.
Speaking to THINQ, AMD’s senior manager of developer relations, Richard Huddy, said: “What I’ve seen with physics, or PhysX rather, is that Nvidia create a marketing deal with a title, and then as part of that marketing deal, they have the right to go in and implement PhysX in the game.”
There’s nothing wrong with this, you might think. However, Huddy spends a lot of time talking with game developers in his role, and he reckons that most devs would much rather Nvidia kept its hands off. “The problem with that is obviously that the game developer doesn’t actually want it,” he says.
“They’re not doing it because they want it; they’re doing it because they’re paid to do it. So we have a rather artificial situation at the moment where you see PhysX in games, but it isn’t because the game developer wants it in there.”
Thinq has Richard Huddy's comments in full. View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:30 |
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It's been somewhat forgotten in the midst of all the talk about Fermi and NVIDIA's next-generation GPU architecture, but NVIDIA's cross-licensing dispute with Intel is still rumbling on towards a court date later in the year. So, what does the GPU giant's CEO think about the situation?
Sometimes companies spar out their differences behind closed doors, and sometimes they have guys like Jen-Hsun Huang at their helms and the whole world gets to know how they feel and what they intend to do about it. The Tegrasaurus Rex has taken a recent interview with Fortune magazine as an opportunity to eloquently lay out his side's case in the epic cross-licensing dispute between NVIDIA and Intel, and to let us all know that he sees "no reason" to settle with the Atom-making giant. Describing Intel's argumentation as "completely nonsense," NVIDIA's fearless leader tell us that he's eagerly anticipating the court clash scheduled for later this year.
Engadget has more, including a full video intereview with Jen-Hsun Huang. View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 17:03 |
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It appears that Gigabyte are catching up to ASUS in terms of the number of motherboards being sold - Could this trigger a price war between the two companies?
Gigabyte Technology's motherboard shipments are estimated to have reached 3.1-3.3 million units for the first two months of 2010, tied up with Asustek Computer's shipment estimate of 3.2-3.3 million units, according to market watchers.
To maintain its lead, Asustek is expected to start cutting its motherboard prices shortly which may trigger price war in the motherboard industry, sources from channel vendors noted.
DigiTimes has the story. View or post comments. |
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Written by Quinn1981
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 13:38 |
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I know many of you use Ad Blocking software and with good reason. At one point in the internet's history, ads reached an all time silly exposure to a reader and there are still many sites that pack every inch of their pages with animated ads, huge background site sponsor ads and the ever popular Google Ad. While the entire advertising industry has taken a bit of a dip thanks for the economic woes we all face, it is still a very viable and needed source of income for many sites.
I've been putting a good number of sites on my whitelist for Ad Block Plus and I recommend that you do this as well! As far as I know, there's not many sites taking sponsorships from chip makers (and with good reason) and not many have the numbers and resources to make a profit from ads. We are one of the sites that needs as much revenue as possible just to cut even and I simply ask that you consider unblocking our ads originating from our domain to help us pay the bills. I think you'll find our ads are very much out of the way and don't get between you and the content you want to read.
Did you know that blocking ads truly hurts the websites you visit? We recently learned that many of our readers did not know this, so I'm going to explain why.
There is an oft-stated misconception that if a user never clicks on ads, then blocking them won't hurt a site financially. This is wrong. Most sites, at least sites the size of ours, are paid on a per view basis. If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us (bandwidth being only one of them), but provide us with no revenue. Because we are a technology site, we have a very large base of ad blockers. Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us. Just like a restaurant, we have to pay to staff, we have to pay for resources, and we have to pay when people consume those resources. The difference, of course, is that our visitors don't pay us directly but indirectly by viewing advertising. (Although a few thousand of you are subscribers, and we thank you all very, very much!)
Read this story from Ars to better understand why you should consider helping technology sites pay the bills.
View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 10:37 |
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As you might have heard elsewhere over the past few days, major US computer hardware retailer Newegg were found to have shipped counterfeit Intel CPUs to a number of customers. After much investigation, accusation and assumption, it appears as if the story has now become a little clearer regarding exactly how this happened - Let's just hope it's a one-off.
"Newegg is currently conducting a thorough investigation surrounding recent shipments of questionable Intel Core i7-920 CPUs purchased from Newegg.com.
Initial information we received from our supplier, IPEX, stated that they had mistakenly shipped us "demo units." We have since come to discover the CPUs were counterfeit and are terminating our relationship with this supplier. Contrary to any speculation, D&H Distributing is not the vendor that supplied us with the Intel Core i7-920 CPUs in question.
Newegg’s top priority is to proactively reach out to all customers who may have been affected to ensure their absolute satisfaction. We have already sent out a number of replacement units and are doing everything in our power to resolve the matter promptly and with the least amount of inconvenience to our customers.
We have always taken pride in providing an exceptional experience for each customer, and we apologize for any inconvenience to our valued customers. We take matters like this extremely seriously, and are working in close cooperation with Intel and the appropriate law enforcement authorities to thoroughly investigate this incident."
[H]ard|OCP has the latest on this saga. View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Monday, 08 March 2010 09:35 |
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Looking for a high-end Intel P55 chipset motherboard with an eye towards some hardcore overclocking? ASUS' Maximus III Formula might be just the board to tempt you as part of the company's Republic of Gamers range, and today we take a look at this particular part to see if it can live up to its potential.
ASUS' motherboard layouts always tend to impress, and the Maximus III Formula sticks to that clean but effective layout, which should prevent anything too major in the way of component placement conflicts or the like.
The rear of the motherboard offers up a single PS/2 port for a keyboard, nine USB 2.0 ports (one of which is offered up for ASUS' RoG Connect functionality), a single FireWire and eSATA port and a Gigabit RJ45 network jack.
ASUS Maximus III Formula motherboard review View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Monday, 08 March 2010 08:53 |
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Rumours about a "PSP 2" in some shape or form seem to crop up relatively frequently, but the latest speculation surrounding the future of Sony's handheld console business suggests that a next-generation PlayStation Portable might not be a dedicated console at all, but rather a smartphone of some description.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Sony is planning to release a smart-phone capable of downloading and running PSP games along with a portable device that blurs distinctions between netbooks, electronic book readers as well as portable game consoles. The two devices are expected to compete against various multi-function products that are already available and are incoming from various makers.
Quite naturally, Sony would not confirm or deny plans to release certain products, but, fairly speaking, it would be natural for Sony to diversify its PlayStation Portable business: not everyone wants to carry a number of devices, but would prefer one or two universal gadgets despite of quality of experience. Therefore, Sony’s plans to release a PlayStation Smartphone and a slate-type PC are completely logical.
X-Bit Labs have the story in full. View or post comments. |
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Written by Hanners
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Monday, 08 March 2010 08:46 |
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For many years, there's been quite a gulf in terms of both image quality and size when it comes to comparing a digital SLR camera with a compact digital model. To try and bridge this gap, Panasonic introduced their Micro Four Thirds range of digital cameras, looking to offer features and image quality that come close to a DSLR but in a device which comes closer to a compact camera in size. With the company introducing two new offerings in this range, Hardware Zone have spent some hands-on time with both of them.
The Micro Four Thirds digital camera system looks set to stay, as Panasonic reveals their latest cameras in the line - the Lumix DMC-G2 and the DMC-G10. The G2 is the update to the very first Micro Four Thirds camera released to market, the G1 which debuted in late 2008. The G2 features a brand-new touch-sensitive, articulating LCD screen, with touch controls. The G10 is the G2's sister model, looking similar but lacking some of the G2's features, think of it as the more affordable, entry-level offering in the G-series.
Besides the two new cameras, Panansonic is also launching a new lens, the new LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. with MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilization), which is a 35mm camera equivalent of 28-84mm.
We've had the G2 and G10 prototypes in our office for a while now, enough to gleam some first impressions. We'd like to point out that these are prototypes, and while most of their aspects should already be set in stone, the finished model may differ in some details. The new 14-42mm lens can be seen on the G10.
You can read their full preview right here. View or post comments. |
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