This Nintendo DS title is a must have for music fans who are into
making their own music. The KORG DS-10 re-creates the classic interface
of the famous KORG MS-10 analog synthesizer and makes it mobile for you
to take everywhere you go.
The KORG DS-10 is launching today in the UK and will start shipping in the U.S. starting November 4th (pre-order on Amazon.com).
The KORG DS-10 lets you produce tracks on the Nintendo DS that are
as basic or complex as you like. Turn dials, compose drum beats or
connect sound gates on the Touch Screen, or simply slide your stylus
around to create new sounds.
You can add into the mix the ability to collaborate with up to
seven friends wirelessly and the option of saving six of your creations
for later use, and it’s easy to see how KORG DS-10 helps you to
experience the joy so many musicians have already felt in working with
the classic synthesizer from Korg.
See also the KORG DS-10 product page.
Friday, October 10, 2008
KORG DS-10 Synthesizer for Nintendo DS starts shipping
Microsoft to improve Vista's problematic UAC in Windows 7
Microsoft plans to improve the much-maligned user account control feature in the next version of its Windows client OS, acknowledging
that the new security feature it built into Windows Vista has caused unnecessary problems for users.
On the company's Engineering Windows 7 blog, Microsoft called UAC one of the "most controversial" features of Vista, and said it will tweak UAC in Windows 7 so it works
more closely with Microsoft's intended goal for the feature.
Microsoft added UAC to Vista in an effort to improve the security of the system and give people who are the primary users
of a PC more control of its applications and settings. However, UAC turned out to be more of a headache for many users than
a benefit. (Read a story about the 11 patches due out next week from Microsoft.)
"UAC was created with the intention of putting you in control of
your system, reducing cost of ownership over time and improving the
software ecosystem," according to the post, which is attributed to Ben
Fathi, corporate vice president of development for Microsoft's Windows
Core Operating System Division. "What we've learned is that we only got
part of the way there in Vista and some folks think we accomplished the
opposite."
UAC prevents users without administrative privileges from making unauthorized changes to a PC. But because of how it was set
up in Vista, it can prevent even authorized users on the network from being able to access applications and features they
should normally have access to.
UAC does this through a series of screen prompts that ask the user
to verify privileges, and it may require a user to type in a password
to perform a task. Vista users reported that these prompts would
interrupt a user's normal workflow, even during some mundane tasks,
unless a user is set as Local Administrator. UAC prompts became so
problematic that competitor Apple even spoofed them in a television commercial.
Microsoft said that in Windows 7, it will work to reduce UAC's "unnecessary or duplicated prompts in Windows and the ecosystem,
such that critical prompts can be more easily identified," according to Fathi's blog post. It also plans to make the prompts
"more informative" so that users can make better choices about how to proceed once prompted, and will provide "better and
more obvious control" over UAC in Windows 7.
Continues : http://www.networkworld.com/
Will the next MacBooks be better gaming systems?
MacBooks have been enormously popular since their introduction, but
their reliance on Intel-integrated graphics has made them almost wholly
unsuitable for most of the graphically-intensive games on the market.
They’ll do just fine with “casual” games and with older games, but
newer games either don’t work at all or run so poorly that it’s hardly
worthwhile to even try them.
Game publishers have responded by
noting that “Intel GMA graphics are not supported” in many newer games;
in some cases, they’re able to eke out enough frames per second on
newer MacBooks equipped with the GMA X3100 chipset to make it
worthwhile, but that creates a fair degree of confusion for
non-technical MacBook users—do I have a supported machine or not?
This
is particularly critical because the MacBook has been hugely popular
with college students and other young adults, and it only makes sense
that they’ll want to play a few games in their leisure time.
There
has been some suggestion in technical circles that Apple is going to
make the move to a different motherboard design with its next
generation of MacBooks, to a system that uses more sophisticated
graphics hardware from Nvidia or AMD (owner of ATI). If that comes to
pass, and I hope we’ll find out next week, then that’s an excellent
thing—the more powerful graphics in MacBooks, the better.
Any
new, top-tier games that come out from companies such as Blizzard,
Electronic Arts, Aspyr Media, and MacSoft will demand incredibly
sophisticated lighting and shading effects—effects that are well beyond
the capabilities of the MacBook now. Without a dramatic overhaul to the
graphics architecture of the low-end Mac laptop, these systems are
going to be obsolete for anything but the most casual entertainment
game titles.
Think this problem is specific to games? Think again. Maybe you’ll remember last summer, when Apple announced Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard.” Snow
Leopard is going to bolster Mac OS X to get the most out of Intel-based
hardware. One of the technologies Apple will introduce is called Open Computing Language (OpenCL). And it will leverage discrete graphics hardware unlike anything we’ve seen before on the Mac.
OpenCL
is the first broad attempt at an industry standard for what’s known in
industry parlance as “General-Purpose Computing on Graphics Processing
Units” (or GPGPU). It will enable the operating system to redirect some
computationally-intensive processes to the graphics hardware.
Graphics
chips found in today’s computers are capable of very advanced
parallel-processing tasks, such as physics modeling, image processing,
and much more—activities that can be complementary to the dual-chip and
multiprocessor design increasingly found in the average computer. ATI
and Nvidia have competing GPGPU technologies: ATI calls its version
“Close To Metal” while Nvidia calls its “Compute Unified Device
Architecture” (CUDA). OpenCL is an attempt to create a single standard
that programmers can use to access graphics hardware for general
computing tasks, regardless of who makes that hardware.
Unfortunately,
for all of this, the hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of MacBooks
Apple currently has out in the world are a lost cause. Those laptops,
while perfectly suitable for a wide variety of tasks in their own
right, come up pathetically short in gaming and other tasks where a
speedy graphics processor is a requirement.
The first step
that needs to be taken is to introduce a MacBook that actually has
sophisticated-enough graphics hardware to accomplish these and other
tasks. Hopefully Apple is on the ball here and we’ll get our first
glimpse of that product next Tuesday.
From : http://www.macworld.com/
Those who dump Microsoft Windows for Apple Macintosh are inevitably happier
MacDailyNews Take: The Dark Side is Microsoft, Mr. Tech Guy. Those people finally crossed over into the light, took the red pill, woke up and finally bought themselves Macs.
"And it’s not hard to see why. Both the iPod and iPhone remain the gold standard in personal-service hardware -- two near-miraculous pieces of machinery, as practical and well-designed as they are addictive," Stephens writes. "Who wouldn’t be tempted to thrust their daily computing chores into the 21st Century at long last, and with the same company that made music and communication so much fun?"
"But first the downside... most people who switch from PC to Mac must also learn to navigate the inevitable 'two-timing' challenge. Unlike longtime Apple owners, a PC user also faces the irreducibly backbreaking chore known as 'migration' -- i.e., relocating all of your resident programs, games, and vital work processes to a new and different computing platform. Laziness and/or technical difficulties often follow, so that in many cases this transformation is never fully realized, leaving our poor idealistic Mac owner with a shameful PC crutch sitting back home in his den -- not to mention the massive headache of switching back and forth from machine to machine, depending upon the task at hand," Stephens writes.
MacDailyNews Take: It's not as hard as Stephens makes it out to be. In fact, the easiest way is to let Apple do it. If you buy a Mac at an Apple Retail Store and bring in your old Mac or PC, a Genius can move all your files for you. For free. Or you can use a USB or FireWire hard drive or a local network to transfer photos, music, documents, and more. Learn how to move data (files) from a Windows PC to Macintosh computer here.
Stephens continues, "The general Microsoft Windows graphic interface was likely lifted from the Macintosh decades ago anyhow, and for all the MS-Windows iterations since that time, the Mac operating system still enjoys a well-deserved reputation for stability and dependability far beyond that of XP. Besides, if it is Windows interoperability you want, the Mac operating system now comes preloaded with Apple’s “Boot Camp,” a built-in Windows interface that allows all Microsoft-related software to run locally, as if it were resident on a genuine PC."
MacDailyNews Take: Not exactly. You still need a copy of whatever version of Windows you plan to slum with on your Mac. Boot Camp comes with every new Mac, and it lets you run Windows natively — as if your Mac were a crappy PC. If you want to run Mac OS X and Windows side by side, you can purchase Parallels Desktop for Mac or VMware Fusion. Install one of these applications, along with the Windows Installation CDs, and you can slum it with Windows programs right next to your Mac applications, without having to restart.
Stephens continues, "I’ll leave you with just one final question: Have you ever seen an Apple store empty? Me neither."
Full article, which contains even more disinformation, but with an overall positive tone towards Mac switching despite it all, here.
Source : http://macdailynews.com/
One More Thing From Apple: New Laptops
fever pitch, a new email from the company arrived: an invitation for a
media event focused on that very business, which will take place
Tuesday at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. The invitation shows a
single spotlight on the company’s logo on a notebook computer.
Analysts expect the company to unveil new versions of its MacBook
and MacBook Pro notebook computers, including a model that would be
priced below $1,000 for the first time. Some analysts are expecting the
laptops to start at under $800, compared with $1,099 now.
Though Apple took the word computer out of its name, the Macintosh
is still very hot and crucial to the company’s business. In the quarter
ended in June, Mac revenues grew 43% from the previous year. Notebook
sales accounted for 61% of that, growing 42% from a year earlier.
If Apple releases a sub-$1,000 MacBook, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene
Munster says it could increase demand by 15% more than the 20% growth
that Wall Street is already expecting for the quarter ending in
December. That could help give investors much needed confidence in the
stock, which has been slammed on concerns that the economic slowdown
could be hurting demand for its products.
Source : http://blogs.wsj.com/
SA International releases Photoprint 6 for Mac
professional sign making, digital printing and CAD/CAM for CNC
Machining industries, has announced the release of ‘PhotoPRINT Family
6’ for Macintosh.
The Photoprint family of products is designed
to give customers solutions tailored to different workflow
environments. Small to medium production users can choose from either
Photoprint SE or DX, engineered specially for their OS 10.4 or 10.5
Macintosh computers. Large production environments will continue to
choose the Photoprint Server or Server-Pro products for Windows to
accept both PC and Macintosh files over their network. The New
Photoprint 6 Mac products now open up even more opportunity for OSX
users, giving them the latest design and production tools for print,
cut and hybrid print/cut jobs.
The true native application,
Photoprint 6 Mac is a universal binary application designed for Intel
and PowerPC Macintosh computers with OSX Leopard or OSX Tiger.
Incorporating a multitude of new and improved design, production and
colour management features, this newest Photoprint Mac release far
surpasses previous versions for Mac. Users will enjoy enhancements like
increased processing speed, a fresh user interface, expanded drivers
for the latest printers and cutters, improved preset management and
more. The highly-anticipated program is now available for purchase
through SAI’s network of resellers.
Said Sarit Tichon, senior
vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, ‘These new Photoprint
6 Mac products answer the call from Mac users by offering several
different workflow solutions for different Mac printing workflows.’
Headquartered
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, SAI has additional offices in Belgium,
Brazil, China, Japan, Germany and Puerto Rico. For additional
information visit: www.SAintl.biz.
Source : http://www.graphicrepro.co.za/
Look who’s buying Vista Home Basic (hint: it’s not home users)
Who’s buying new PCs with Windows Vista Home Basic? Judging by the
name, you’d assume those OS editions would be loaded on underpowered
machines headed for tract homes in the burbs and studio apartments in
the city. But you’d be wrong.
Based on my observations of the PC market over the past year or two,
I think consumers have rejected Home Basic in favor of Home
Premium. But small, budget-conscious businesses have embraced the
low-end OS.
In
one large sample I looked at, nearly three out of every five machines
destined for small business included Windows Vista Home Basic.
Small-business buyers are apparently able to look past that name, and
PC makers are happy to accommodate them. The primary appeal of Home
Basic isn’t technology, it’s cold hard cash. Vista Home Basic runs
Windows apps just fine, and it’s dirt cheap. Dell, one of the world’s
two largest PC suppliers, in fact, is pushing Home Basic as the
preferred option for many computers aimed at the small business market.
Take Dell’s Vostro 200,
which is aimed squarely at the small-business market and starts at $269
with a Celeron 430 processor, 512MB of RAM, and no monitor. A much more
capable machine with a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 19-inch
monitor sells for $449. All three machines in this line come with
Windows Vista Home Basic. To upgrade to Vista Business or downgrade to
XP Pro is another $99, which represents a huge percentage of the system
cost.
The phenomenon is equally pronounced if you look at the Vostro notebook line, where more than half of all available configurations, 13 out of 24, include Vista Home Basic. By contrast, Dell’s consumer notebook line
offers 34 separate configuration, of which only three start with Vista
Home Basic. The remaining 90% come with Vista Home Premium (only one
model includes Vista Ultimate by default).
You can see the same mix of Windows versions if you go to a business-focused reseller like CDW and look at a list of the cheapest available desktop computers,
sorted by price in ascending order. Five of the 10 PCs on the list,
including models from HP Compaq and Lenovo, come with Vista Home Basic.
(Once you get past those low-end PCs, however, almost all computers
sold at CDW include Vista Business.)
So how popular is Vista Home Basic, and who’s buying it?
Who’s buying Vista Home Basic? See the details by segment –>
Security Update 2008-007 for Leopard and Tiger released
Apple has released Security Update 2008-007 for both Leopard (Mac OS X
10.5.5) and Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4.11). The new release is available via
Software Update or the following download links:
- Security Update 2008-007 Server (Universal) [199MB]
- Security Update 2008-007 Server (PPC) [123MB]
- Security Update 2008-007 Client (PPC) [70MB]
- Security Update 2008-007 Client (Intel) [161MB]
- Security Update 2008-007 Server (Leopard) [125MB]
- Security Update 2008-007 Client (Leopard) [31.MB]
Among the security enhancements in this lease:
- Finder "A maliciously crafted file on the Desktop
which causes Finder to unexpectedly terminate when generating its icon
will cause Finder to continually terminate and restart. Until the file
is removed, the user account is not accessible via Finder's user
interface. This update addresses the issue by generating icons in a
separate process. This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X
v10.5. Credit to Sergio 'shadown' Alvarez of n.runs AG for reporting
this issue." - QuickLook "A signedness issue exists
in QuickLook's handling of columns in Microsoft Excel files may result
in an out-of-bounds memory access. Downloading or viewing a maliciously
crafted Microsoft Excel file may lead to an unexpected application
termination or arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the
issue by performing additional validation of Microsoft Excel files.
This issue does not affect systems prior to Mac OS X v10.5. Credit:
Apple." - Network A heap buffer overflow exists in
the local IPC component of configd's EAPOLController plugin, which may
allow a local user to obtain system privileges. This update addresses
the issue through improved bounds checking. Credit: Apple.
For a full list of enhancements, see this document.
Source : http://www.macfixit.com/
Apple Likely to Unveil New Laptops
Apple
Inc. next week is expected to unveil new laptop computers -- including
a model that sets a new low price point for the company -- as it sets
its sights on one of the fastest-growing categories in the business.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company issued invitations to media and
analysts on Thursday for an event Tuesday that indicated the event
would focus on its portable Macintosh line. The invitation shows a
single spotlight on the company's logo on a notebook computer.
An Apple spokesman declined to provide further details, but the
company is widely expected to unveil new versions of its MacBook and
MacBook Pro notebook computers, including a model that would be priced
below $1,000 for the first time.
Some analysts are expecting the laptops to start at less than $800, compared with $1,099 now.
That would bring Apple closer in line with the rest of the industry, which is aggressively cutting prices.
If Apple unveils more affordable laptops as expected, it could give
investors much needed confidence in the stock, which has recently
fallen to levels few would have expected it to reach just a few months
ago. The stock has shed about 25% since Sept. 26 on worries that
slowdowns in the North American and European economies are finally
beginning to affect even Apple.
Though Apple took the word computer out of its name, Macintosh
computers are still crucial to the company's business. In the quarter
ended in June, computer revenue grew 43% from the previous year to $3.6
billion. Notebook sales accounted for 61% of that, growing 42% from a
year earlier.
Apple's sales could still be hurt by the economic slowdown because
it relies on the U.S. and Western Europe -- some of the most troubled
markets -- for the bulk of its sales.
Source : http://online.wsj.com/
Hands On with the ASUS Eee PC 1000
But What About the Hardware?
So the software worked very well for me but what about the hardware?
How did the Eee PC feel while I was using it? Some of it was good and
some wasn't.
Here's my list of what I liked and didn't like:
- The buttons on the touch pad are too hard to push. I'm used
to the ones on my Macbook Pro which are thinner and easier to push.
ASUS needs to fix this as it's somewhat irritating. - The buttons are made of metal and let your finger slide too easily.
Something that would help your finger grip the button would work better. - The trackpad seemed very nice. It worked about as well as my
Macbook Pro's and the same double finger gesture seemed to work to let
me move up or down while browsing a Web page, etc. - The keyboard is okay but nothing to write home about. It's large enough to be quite usable though and relatively comfortable.
- The screen is clear and easy to read. Even sitting near a bright window I had no problem reading it.
- The battery's charge seemed to last for quite a while and I have to
say that it worked very, very well for me. The long battery life is
definitely a plus for the ASUS Eee PC. - Overall the unit is small but a bit chunky in an odd way. I'd like
to see it slimmed down more so that it feels even lighter and looks
less blocky when closed. I may be nitpicking here though but that's
okay. Nothing wrong with having a wish list for a cool product like
this. I think I may be suffering from Macbook Air envy so take my
"chunky" comment with a grain of salt. - For some reason I could not get the ASUS Eee PC to connect to my
wireless connection though it did connect to another wireless
connection without a problem. Not sure what the problem was with mine
but I just couldn't seem to get on my network. Strange.
Overall if I were writing a review of the ASUS Eee PC, I'd give it a
thumbs up. It's not perfect but, given its price, it doesn't need to
be. It's a very usable portable computer that fits into its niche well
and doesn't try to be all things to all people.
As long as you understand that you probably won't be disappointed if you decide to buy one.
Source : http://www.extremetech.com/
ASUS R710 GPS with HUD announced
Asus officially announced today the Asus R710 portable GPS device with head up display feature.
The R710 features a 5 inch touch-screen and a rather elegant user
interface. The killer feature is though the PathFinder HUD. HUD
displays are usually rather expensive options of in premium cars. Last
year GlobalTop introduced a low cost GPS HUD, but it did not really convince.
It is hard to say at this point if the Asus R710 HUD works better.
Other features of the Asus R710 PND (Portable Navigation Device)
include Bluetooth, 2 GB Flash ROM, 64/128 MB SDRAM, micro SD card slot,
USB, Built-in latest SiRF star III chip, light sensor, Windows CE 5.0
and media player.
There is no word on pricing and shipping dates for the R710 yet.
Via this Asus announcement.
Intel to examine AMD split for x86 licensing violations
Intel, predictably, has confirmed that it has concerns regarding
AMD's plan to split itself into two separate corporations, and it intends
to investigate whether or not the specifics of its rival's business
plan break the terms under which AMD is allowed to license x86
technology.
"We certainly
have to evaluate it," an Intel spokesperson told Infoworld. "It certainly could be a change in the competitive landscape."
We agree. AMD's plan to split itself into two companies—one focused
solely on CPU/GPU design and the other a foundry—will, for better or
worse, change the shape of the processor market. The deal is of
particular concern for Intel, of course, because it holds the x86 CPU
patent that drives the modern computing world. AMD, in fact, would
never have held an x86 license at all, had IBM not insisted on a second
source for x86 processors when it negotiated to purchase 8088/8086
chips from Intel waaaaaaaaaaaay
back at the start of the PC industry. Once upon a time, AMD's right to
possess that license was a point of bitter contention between the two
companies. AMD's 80386 clone was both substantially delayed and avoided
by OEMs (out of fear of Intel retribution) as a result, but AMD
eventually triumphed in court and won the right to possess its
license.
AMD's right to license x86 technology, however, has never been a
blank sheet of paper giving the smaller CPU manufacturer unlimited
access. AMD and Intel have renegotiated the former's license on several
occasions, most recently in 2001, when AMD agreed to pay Intel
royalties for the right to continue making x86 chips. The full
(redacted) text of the agreement is here,
but let me warn you in advance—it's so stripped down, it's almost
entirely useless. Phrases like: "AMD agrees to XXXX in the event of
XXXX" don't make for enlightening reading. There are, however, two
interesting tidbits.
In the agreement, a subsidiary is defined as: "any corporation,
partnership, joint venture, limited liability or other entity, now or
hereafter, in which a party" owns or controls 50 percent of the assets
(tangible and intangible) of the company, or holds more than 50 percent
of the voting rights. Note that under the terms of the AMD foundry
spin-off, AMD retains 50 percent voting rights, despite the fact
that the Arabs own 55 percent of the foundry
(not of AMD). I'm not sure if AMD Foundry would be considered a
subsidiary of AMD, but if it is, Intel has the right to request a
written statement from AMD affirming or denying that the company in
question is bound by the terms of the x86 licensing agreement.
Intel's x86-64 license
There has been speculation that AMD might threaten Intel's x86-64
license if Intel threatens AMD's x86 license, but this doesn't appear to be possible. According to the terms of the licensing
agreement, "In the event of such termination, the rights and licenses
granted to the defaulting party shall terminate, but the rights and licenses granted to
the party not in default shall survive such termination of this Agreement [emphasis added] subject to its continued compliance with the terms and conditions of this
Agreement."
The question rests on whether or
not Intel's access to the x86-64 patent is covered under the 2001 x86
license or was negotiated separately. Just to clear up some potential
questions, no, Intel did not develop its own "x86-64," and yes, AMD did grant Intel a license. An old Inquirer
article implies
that AMD was less-than-eager to license AMD64 to its rival (implying
that the new technology wasn't automatically grandfathered into the
2001 agreement), but an agreement was in place by April 25, 2002, as
reported here.
The 2001 license took effect on May 4, 2001, which leaves precious
little time for AMD to have "Hammered" out separate agreements. Right
now, it's impossible to determine which of these two scenarios actually
played out, and no evidence on whether or not counter-threatening Intel's
x86-64 license would even be an effective strategy.
Alternatively, AMD may have structured its Arabian deal in such a
manner as to avoid the stipulations and restrictions Intel placed upon
it. Even without the specifics of the license available, we know (or
think we know) a few of these, specifically:
- AMD's x86 license is almost certainly unique to AMD. If
Advanced Micro Devices ceases to be a going concern or is purchased by
another company, the x86 license—and possibly all the patents
associated with it—cease to be valid - Under
the terms of the license, AMD is not allowed to outsource more than a
certain percentage of its processors to third-party foundries.
It's possible—indeed, it seems likely—that AMD built this
deal from the ground up with all of its restrictions in mind. Asset
Lite (a far more appropriate term than "asset smart,") was first
trotted out quite some time ago, and it wouldn't be surprising if AMD
was in negotiations before then, as the entire plan hinged on Arabian
cooperation. With over a year (and possibly two) to consider the
situation, and the terms of the license right in front of it, it's hard
to believe AMD built the plan first, then belatedly went, "Oh,
yeah—Intel."
Bottom line? We'll have to wait and see. From our current vantage
point, all we can do is agree with ol' Chuck that yes, this situation
would be of great concern to Intel. Pulling AMD's license, meanwhile,
even if it has the right to do so, may not be practical. Doing so would
immediately turn the company's alleged monopoly and history of market
abuse into a de facto
monopoly, and would make the company even more of a target for
regulatory agencies than it already is. Even if, somehow, all the cards
turned up in Intel's favor, denying its only competitor access to the
core technology that allows it to compete seems a bit rash.
Source : http://arstechnica.com/
AMD: A Spectator in the CPU Game?
Lost amid the flurry of news on AMD's
exit from the chip-building business is the very real possibility that
AMD could become a fringe player in the rapidly-shrinking CPU market.
As I understand the deal, AMD's split from and minority stake (44
percent) in what was once its own semi-conductor fabrication business
leaves open the possibility that the newly formed Foundry Company,
which will maintain AMD's existing plants and build a new one in
Saratoga, N.Y., will produce chips for other chip companies. And while
no one expects Intel
to show up at Foundry's door, I wonder if, by splitting in two, it
makes it that much easier for Intel to simply devour the Foundry and
use it to build more of its own CPUs, motherboards, and "system on a
chip" (SoC) chips.
I'm having trouble understanding how, by separating fabrication
advances from chip design, AMD will suddenly become more competitive
with its chief rival, Intel. With Foundry courting other manufacturers,
AMD's design secrets will be an open book. One could argue that AMD,
unburdened by the high costs of plant maintenance, updates and
expansion, will reach new chip design and development heights. But I
don't see it that way. If AMD is no longer making anything, then all of
AMD's value will reside in the minds of a group of engineers—people who
now realize that their company won't always have full control over the
critical manufacturing process used in most new CPU designs and who are
likely already being courted by Intel.
As I've said before, AMD lost its way
years ago. It's no longer a cost leader and, and most of the results
from our system tests show that, time and time again, AMD is clearly not the performance leader.
Intel has been pressing its advantage for years. When it rolled out
the remarkable low-power, high-energy Atom CPU for netbooks, AMD had no
immediate response. This corporate restructuring may look better on the
books, but it will not help AMD compete. AMD will now find itself
working with a corporate partner that has its own agenda and catalog of
fiduciary requirements. Innovation—especially these days—may not be at
the top of Foundry's to-do list.
The free radical in all this is Abu Dhabi, which is located next to
Dubai and is the second most populace city in the United Arab Emirates.
This oil-rich emirate (one of, if not, the richest cities in the world)
has cash to burn—and burn, though I can't imagine it has any stake in
seeing Intel falter. Yes, it wants to make money to build yet more
impossibly-tall skyscrapers in its little city, but what does it really
understand about the technology and semi-conductor market?
Obviously, stock holders wouldn't let AMD burn through billions more
to build additional plants (and, no surprise, the stock is climbing on
the news), but this split marks a significant tuning point in the CPU
battleground. In fact, I'd say it's officially transformed into a
playing field where Intel owns a team, the stadium, and most of the
equipment. AMD is becoming little more than an invited spectator.
Source : http://www.extremetech.com/
AMD Ties up with Saudi Company For Manufacturing Semi-Conducters
today announced the creation of a U.S.-headquartered, semiconductor
manufacturing company. At the same time, the Mubadala Development
Company will increase its current investment in AMD to 19.3 percent on
a fully diluted basis.
A press release informs that AMD will
contribute to The Foundry Company its manufacturing facilities,
including two fabrication facilities in Dresden, Germany, as well as
related assets and intellectual property rights. ATIC will invest $2.1
billion to purchase its stake in The Foundry Company, of which it will
invest $1.4 billion directly in the new entity and the remainder will
be paid to AMD to purchase additional shares in The Foundry Company.
The
Foundry Company will also assume approximately $1.2 billion of AMD's
existing debt. ATIC has committed additional equity funding to The
Foundry Company of a minimum of $3.6 billion and up to $6.0 billion
over the next five years to fund the expansion of The Foundry Company's
chip-making capacity beyond the manufacturing facilities initially
contributed by AMD.
These funds will be used by The Foundry
Company to proceed with capacity expansion at its fabs in Dresden,
Germany, including an upgrade of one of its fabs to a state-of-the-art
facility, and to begin construction on a new facility in Saratoga
County, New York, subject to the transfer of previously-approved New
York State incentives.The Board of Directors of The Foundry Company
will be equally divided between representatives of AMD and ATIC. AMD
will own 44.4 percent and ATIC will own 55.6 percent of The Foundry
Company's fully-converted common stock upon its formation.
Doug
Grose will relinquish his current role as AMD's senior vice president
of manufacturing operations to become chief executive officer of The
Foundry Company. Hector Ruiz will relinquish his current role as AMD's
executive chairman and chairman of the board to become chairman of The
Foundry Company.
The release further claims that as a result of
the transactions, AMD will strengthen its financial position and
improve its liquidity through The Foundry Company's assumption of
approximately $1.2 billion in debt, ATIC's $700 million payment to AMD
for ownership interests in The Foundry Company and Mubadala's $314
million paid to AMD for 58 million newly issued AMD shares and warrants
for 30 million additional shares.
Mubadala, an existing 8.1
percent AMD shareholder, will increase its stake to 19.3 percent of
outstanding AMD shares on a fully diluted basis. This will be
accomplished through the purchase for $314 million of 58 million newly
issued AMD shares and warrants for 30 million additional shares.
Mubadala will also have the right to appoint a designee to AMD's board
of directors.The Foundry Company will join the IBM joint development
alliance for both silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and bulk silicon through
the 22nm generation. The alliance consists of a group of leading
semiconductor companies collaborating on next generation silicon
technologies.
Upon closing of the transaction, The Foundry
Company will commence operations with approximately 3,000 employees who
will transition into the new company from AMD facilities in Silicon
Valley, New York, Dresden, and Austin. The new company's principal
headquarters will be in Silicon Valley and its research and development
and manufacturing leadership teams and ecosystems will be based in New
York, Dresden, and Austin.
The transaction is expected to close
at the beginning of 2009 following satisfaction of conditions such as
approvals from regulators, transfer of previously-confirmed New York
incentives to The Foundry Company, and the approval of AMD stockholders
for the issuance of common stock and warrants to Mubadala. Prior to
closing, AMD, ATIC and Mubadala will file a joint voluntary notice of
the transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in
the United States (CFIUS), a government inter-agency committee chaired
by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Source : http://www.pcworld.in/
Sony Reconsiders LittleBigPlanet Wipe - UPDATED
"With the LittleBigPlanet beta coming to a close on October 12th at 23:59 GMT, we'll be getting everything ready for the launch of the game," the company said in an announcement posted on the PlayStation Community Forums. "As many of you are doubtless aware, at present we are not planning to make shared creations from the beta test available in the full version of the game, however we're aware that a lot of time and effort has been put into what you've created so far."
"With this in mind we're going to give you the choice!" the message says. "Whether you took part in the LittleBigPlanet beta test or not your opinion counts - would you rather that created levels and items from the beta test were available when the game launches, or would you rather we removed everything and the shared side of the game started from scratch? Vote before Monday October 13th, and we'll go with whichever option receives more votes!"
Sony's change of heart may have been inspired at least in part by levels like this, which vividly demonstrates both the power and flexibility of the game's toolset as well as the creativity and ingenuity of LBP players. Not everything created during the beta period can be saved; Sony said that only levels that have been uploaded already are eligible, while "save game data, offline creations or progress cannot be transferred into the full game." Unsurprisingly, voting is so far skewed heavily in favor of keeping the material created in the beta; while only 562 ballots have been cast at the time of writing, 82 percent want the beta creations kept. Cast your vote here!
Update: According to a report by 1Up, Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans said at the Tokyo Game Show that the decision has already been made - the beta stuff is staying.
Source : http://www.escapistmagazine.com/
Sony upgrades Japanese PS3, confirms Home Beta
Sony is stepping up its game against its rivals to draw attention from holiday shoppers. Beginning on October 30, the base model in the Japanese market will be the 80 GB Playstation, which will include one wireless Dualshock 3 controller by default. The current 40 GB will be offered at “open price” from October 10, the company said.
The new PS3 will be offered in three colors, black, silver and white and will be priced at 39,980 Yen, which translates to about $400. The price includes a copy of the game Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Spec III.
Also, Sony said that the Beta release of its Playstation Home service is on track to launch as open beta within this calendar year. As previously indicated, the increased storage capacity is primarily required by this service – to enable users to buy plenty of games and store photo, music and video content.
Source : http://www.tgdaily.com/