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Netflix will reportedly add 1080p streaming and 5.1 surround sound to its portfolio later this year -- though the initial audience may be slim. The service currently offers 720p streaming when paired with an HD-friendly system, such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or Roku, which typically requires a connection speed of about 5Mb/s or better. Streaming media in 1080p may require an even faster connection, but Netflix hasn't commented.

It's worth noting that only one in 12 Netflix users subscribe to the Blu-ray service, and a mere 6% of the service's library is currently available in HD -- a selection Netflix has called "underwhelming." It's unknown how much content will be available in 1080p at launch, but the presently limited array of HD videos is bound to increase as the world adopts HDTVs and Blu-ray. An exact release date is also unclear.

Sharp and Samsung have called truce after nearly three years of bickering over LCD panel and module patents. The electronic-makers have inked a cross-licensing agreement that ends all ongoing patent infringement suits, and gives each firm access to patents owned by the other. Bound by a confidentiality pact, neither company will disclose details of the terms, but the conditions are in favor of Sharp, according to a company representative.

Sharp began the dispute back in August 2007 by filing a suit in a Texas court, alleging LCD modules manufactured and used by Samsung in its LCD TVs, computer displays and cell phones, infringed on five of its US patents. A few months later, Sharp extended the suit to South Korea, and Samsung responded with charges in Japan and the US. The battle eventually made its way to Europe and before the US International Trade Commission.

The new agreement reportedly terminates all previous rulings made by the ITC, including a US import ban on Samsung's infringing products.

IBM is set to launch its long anticipated Power 7 processor today, in hopes of keeping a competitive edge against main competitors in the Unix server business Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

The new Power 7 CPU can have up to eight cores capable of running four threads each, virtually turning a single processor into a 32-core chip. This compares favorably against any current generation Intel or AMD server-level product. The Power 7 processor is manufactured on a 45nm process, will come in four, six and 8-core varieties, and use three levels of cache, a 32kb per core L1 cache, 256kB per core L2, and a 32MB L3 cache shared by all cores. The Wall Street Journal estimates that sales for Unix servers dedicated to cancer research, financial institution analytics and electrical grid management amount to about $14 billion per year.


In addition to the new IBM Power 700 servers being launched today, the Power 7 processor will be at the heart of the Blue Waters petascale supercomputer project that is expected to be completed in 2011 using no less than 25,000 eight-core Power 7 CPUs running at 4.0 GHz, that's about 200,000 logical cores.

Just last week we were discussing Net Apps' data about OS usage and browser preferences, where Windows 7 was hitting a 10% worldwide market share by the end of January. That's an estimate for the general population, but how about PC enthusiasts and gamers?


For that, we rather look at Steam's hardware survey. According to their January figures, Windows 7 64-bit surpassed Vista 32-bit as the second most popular OS among users running the Steam client with a 19.50% share. Windows XP 32-bit remains on top by far with 42% use, while the 32-bit version of Windows 7 is fourth with 9%, a clear indication that the move to 64-bit will take place in this OS generation.


It's also interesting to observe CPU adoption trends, where 2-core processors are the most ubiquitous consisting of 56% of all computers connected to Steam. Quad-core CPU usage keeps growing and currently stands at 24% versus 19% back in September, while single core models have dropped in about the same proportion from September's 23% to last month's 18%. Intel processors are used in 69% of machines versus 30.9% for AMD. The green camp also loses in the GPU department where Nvidia dominates with 65% of all installed graphics cards. The well regarded GeForce 8800 remains as the most popular GPU despite its age (we reviewed it back in 2006). More details on these and other interesting stats are available here.

Amazon seems to be gathering resources to launch a touch-enabled Kindle e-reader. The company is reportedly purchasing Touchco, a startup specializing in touchscreen technologies. The firm of six will be merged into Amazon's Kindle hardware division upon acquisition. Terms of the agreement remain under wraps, and an Amazon spokewoman declined to comment on speculation, as did Touchco's co-founder.

Touchco's interpolating force-sensitive resistance technology is said to be considerably cheaper than the capacitive touchscreens used in the iPhone and iPad, and it can detect an unlimited number of simultaneous touches. The technology can be used in full-color LCDs, and Amazon may opt for such a display on the next Kindle to more effectively compete with the iPad and other such devices.

This also jibes with Amazon's plans for a Kindle SDK and applications store, along with news that Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows platform strategy will be leaving to work on the Kindle.

According to a Toshiba executive, the electronics company might be preparing to exit the LCD display market. At a recent financial briefing senior vice president Fumio Muraoka was quoted as saying, "Our LCD display business has been worsening, and we are in very difficult circumstances… We are now discussing all options including withdrawal from the business."

The news comes only weeks after Toshiba unveiled its new Cell TV at CES 2010. The company's LCD display business recently recorded an operating loss of $211 million between April and December 2009 -- and the situation has only gotten worse. Muraoka blames the decline on poor sales, which stems from a shrinking demand, price decline, and a strong yen.

The LCD unit was originally a joint venture with Panasonic, but Toshiba purchased Panasonic's 40% stake in March 2009.

Microsoft ended a string of disappointing quarterly financial results yesterday, as it announced the numbers for its second quarter of fiscal 2010 yesterday, which ended on December 31 2009. Fueled by a strong demand for Windows 7 and well-managed costs, the company saw a 14% jump in revenue to just over $19 billion, while profit rose an astounding 60% to 6.6 billion.

The Windows division alone was responsible for $6.9 billion in sales revenue. Of course that figure includes all currently supported versions of the operating system, but Microsoft said more than 60 million Windows 7 licenses were sold in the three-month period, making it the fastest-selling operating system of all time. Certainly a significant achievement considering it was released in a relatively shaky economic climate.

Its Business Division also surpassed market estimates and posted $4.7 billion in revenues. However, this was still a 2.8% decline over the same period last year. Online services dropped 4.6%, despite Bing's rise in market share, while the entertainment and devices unit responsible for the Xbox saw revenue fall 11%.

Engineers at Princeton University have developed power-generating rubber films that could use energy from everyday body movements such as breathing and walking to power cell phones, pacemakers and more.

The "piezo-rubber chips" are made of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) nanoribbons embedded in silicone rubber sheets and produce electricity when flexed. PZT, said to be the most efficient piezoelectric material, is able to convert 80% of applied mechanical energy to electrical energy, making it 100 more times efficient than quartz, according to Princeton professor Michael McAlpine.


Currently, up to 100 PZT strips can fit in a millimeter of space, and since it's being placed on silicone, the technology is biocompatible. McAlpine says the chips could be implanted in the body to perpetually power medical devices, and the body wouldn't reject them. It could also be used in shoes to generate power from walking, and much more.

Interestingly, while the chips create electricity when flexed, the reverse is also true, they flex when electrical current is applied, opening the door for even more possibilities. Princeton didn't mentioned when the technology might find mainstream use.

Worldwide shipments of computer graphics chips climbed to unexpected levels in 2009, with annual growth projected to continue through 2011, according to Jon Peddie Research. Shipments increased 14% year-over-year during 2009, reaching 425.4 million units in "an amazing comeback, in this year of retrenching and recession."

The firm forecasts that rate to double this year, and slowing to 10.3% in 2011. In the final quarter of 2009, Intel headed the pack with 55.2% market share, a 7.5% increase on-year, followed by Nvidia with 24.3%, down 6.3%, and AMD held 19.9%, up 0.6%.

Intel's gain is the result of strong Atom sales and growth in the desktop segment, while AMD's boost stems from the integrated notebook segment. Interestingly, AMD supposedly lost market share in discrete desktop and notebook graphics because of the 40nm shortage, while Nvidia picked up a little share in the discrete desktop sector.

Some of the pioneers behind the MP3 format have introduced a new music file type that can include things like lyrics, videos, artwork, and blog posts. Called MusicDNA, the format was developed by Dagfinn Bach, who worked on the first MP3 player, and among the investors is Karlheinz Brandenburg, who is credited with inventing MP3.

The metadata aspect of MusicDNA is reminiscent of Apple's iTunes LP format, also known by the code name Cocktail, and a format called CMX, which several record labels are developing. Both iTunes LP and CMX package interactive features like artwork and lyrics in a single file. These formats intend to recreate the heyday of looking at album art and other extras while listening to music with friends. They would also allow the industry to charge more per file, given the additional content.

But is there more to the story? A key feature of MusicDNA is that it can dynamically update the content of your music file every time you connect to Internet. "We can deliver a file that is extremely searchable and can carry up to 32GB of extra information in the file itself. And it will be dynamically updatable so that every time the user is connected, his file will be updated," said Bach.

Call me paranoid, but couldn't that open the door for various DRM mechanisms? Would you happily adopt MusicDRM -- I mean, DNA -- or are you satisfied with existing music formats?

Acer may have seemed a little bold last week when founder Stan Shih predicted the end of US computer makers, but the company is taking some big steps to trounce the world's largest and US-based PC manufacturer, HP. In a recent interview, Acer's Jim Wong revealed some of his company's upcoming products, services, and strategies.

Acer plans to boost profitability to its highest in six years with the introduction of an online application store as well as the launch of its first e-reader by mid-2010. It also plans to launch its first netbook running Google Chrome OS in the third quarter, and it's developing an Apple-inspired tablet that will run Chrome OS or Windows.

While the company's app store and e-reader will enter markets currently dominated by Apple and Amazon, it believes moving into new products will boost its net income by 3% within two years. The app store will launch with hundreds of programs, while the e-reader will feature a six-inch monochrome display and will initially target European markets.

Acer said it is "aggressively pursuing to become one of the first" to offer a Chrome OS-based netbook so there's a change from the Microsoft-Intel environment. Approximately one million of the 12 to 15 million netbooks Acer ships this year will run Chrome OS, and they will presumably feature an Arm chip, but nothing is official.

As for the tablet, Wang would only say that Acer is "developing something, and we will see what happens." The company may also purchase several operations in China and Japan, as it's still below the top four PC vendors in those markets. Acer previously acquired Gateway, eMachines, and Packard Bell, which now represent 30% of the company's total sales.

Things aren't looking so hot for Nvidia. The US International Trade Commission found the company guilty of infringing on three Rambus patents. The decision may lead to a ban on the import of some Nvidia products -- unless it divvies up, of course.

In July 2008, Rambus filed suit against Nvidia, claiming the company violated some 17 patents. Infringing products included those with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM. Nvidia's general counsel, David Shannon, said the company would continue to contest the commission's initial decision, but if the ITC upholds the ruling, Nvidia may have to license the technology patents in question from Rambus.

That won't come cheap, though. For instance, when Samsung settled with Rambus and licensed its technology for five years, it agreed to pay $200 million upfront, a quarterly sum of roughly $25 million, and to buy $200 million in Rambus stock. Naturally, Rambus is "interested in having productive settlement discussions with Nvidia," but the GPU-maker hasn't caved yet.

In a statement, Rambus said it would continue to "vigorously protect" its patented inventions for the benefit of shareholders and in fairness to paying licensees. MSI, BFG, Biostar, Diablotek, EVGA, Gigabyte, Palit, Sparkles and others were also named in the all-but-defunct memory company's suit.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have announced plans to sell 10 million of their shares over the next five years to prevent a major one-time impact on the stock market. Besides earning the duo approximately $2.75 billion each, based on Friday's closing price of $550.01, the move means Page and Brin will control less than half the voting power of Google shares by the time their plans are completed.

Specifically, it would reduce their combined voting shares from 59% to about 48%. Stockholders might have a bigger say in where the company is headed, but the pair was quick to reassure they remain committed as ever to Google and are integrally involved in its day-to-day management and product strategy.

Although the fact that they are ceding majority control is a significant development we probably won't see any big changes coming out of this. It should be noted that the company's CEO, Eric Schmidt, has 10% voting power, so Google's senior management will still remain firmly at the wheel.

Minnesota judge Michael Davis has drastically reduced Jammie Thomas-Rasset's $1.92 million penalty to $54,000. A jury ordered Thomas-Rasset to pay nearly $2 million after finding her guilty of illegally downloading and sharing 24 songs in an RIAA case.

Davis called the fine "monstrous and shocking," and feels his reduced award is still "significant and harsh." The judge said he would have shrunk it further if he could have, and the award is higher than the court might have imposed in its sole discretion.

The new punishment of $54,000 amounts to $2,250 per song, compared to $80,000 for each before Davis shrunk the fee. The absolute minimum penalty is $750 per infringement in copyright cases, while the maximum is $150,000.

Thomas-Rasset has seven days to decide whether she will pony up or request a new trial. Meanwhile, Ph.D. student Joel Tenenbaum, another accused music sharer, is looking for a retrial or a reduction of the $675,000 he was ordered to pay.

AMD reached profitability for the first time in three years during the fourth quarter of 2009 -- and it's got Intel to thank for it. The company did benefit from a lift in the computer market, and a change in its business model, but mostly it was the massive $1.25 billion legal settlement in an antitrust battle against Intel which helped them achieve a $1.178 billion profit on revenue of $1.646 billion. In the same quarter last year, AMD lost $1.4 billion.

Not counting the settlement money though, revenue was still up 42 percent, with $1.2 billion coming from microprocessor sales and $427 million from its graphics business. AMD could have shipped more GPUs but supply from its manufacturing partner TSMC was "heavily constrained" during the quarter.

Other signs of a slow but continued turnaround for the company include a higher gross margin compared to previous periods -- 45 percent versus 42 percent in the prior quarter and 23 percent in Q4 2008. Looking ahead AMD expects revenue "to be down seasonally" this quarter, to completely deconsolidate with its former manufacturing operation, and place a renewed focus on the mobile segment.

While digital music sales witness strong growth in 2009, the international recorded music industry is still in decline, and pirates are still lurking.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the consumption of singles rose by 10% to 1.5 billion in 2009, and Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" led the pack with 9.8 million downloads. Digital album sales were up by 20%, with combined digital revenues reaching $4.2 billion, but revenue from CDs fell 12% in the first half of last year -- a perpetual decline that has lowered sales by 30% since 2004.

The IFPI blames that slump largely on piracy, which is accounts for some 95% of all music downloaded --despite the presence of about 400 licensed music services in 2009. "Mass piracy is continuing to hurt the industry," said IFPI CEO John Kennedy, noting that it also drives investors away from the market.

Lengthy court battles between Rambus and Samsung have concluded in a settlement -- the latter agreeing to pay Rambus a total of $900 million. The payment begins with $200 million up front, followed by $25 million paid every quarter for five years. The victory wasn't completely one-sided, with Samsung also signing a licensing agreement with Rambus for graphics and memory technologies.

Rambus has made a name for themselves in the courts, pursuing many large companies in the past few years for supposed copyright or patent infringements. Their habit of throwing the book at companies like Nvidia and many others, has left them with a tarnished reputation. Some argue that the company is making a business out of lawsuits, but they do still license much of their technology, such as the XDR RAM found inside the PS3.

Boxee has announced that it would add a payment system to the popular media center software this summer, allowing users to view paid content that would otherwise not be available. Content owners will be able to package and price things as they wish, including pay-per-view and subscription, giving them the ability to sell premium content, media from their existing library, or extras that won't be shown on air.


Naturally, Boxee will take a slice of the transaction, but it will reportedly be lower than the 30% that some app stores charge. The company didn't mention specific content partners, what they might offer, or how much they intend to charge, but in combination with the Boxee Box, it's a stride in the right direction for folks who want to break away from cable and satellite TV packages.

Granted, doling out cash is never fun, but it's better than being forced to pay for unwatched channels.

Acer's founder Stan Shih isn't the slightest bit modest about the company's rapid growth, predicting the end of US-based computer manufacturers. AFP quotes Shih as saying, "The trend for low-priced computers will last for the coming years. . . But US computer makers just don't know how to put such products on the market... US computer brands may disappear over the next 20 years, just like what happened to US television brands."

Looking 20 years ahead in the PC industry seems nearly impossible, but Shih's claims aren't entirely unfounded. Acer recently surpassed Dell to become the world's second largest computer maker, representing some 13.4% of global shipments in the third quarter of 2009. The Taiwanese firm still has its work cut out though, as HP still has a strong grip on the number one position, holding around 20% market share.

Over 2,000 employees of a Wintek factory in Suzhou, China went on strike last Friday, violently protesting unfair pay and hazardous working conditions. Workers complained that the company planned to cancel a year-end bonus, and even worse, that people are dying from long-term exposure to a toxicant used in the factory.

According to one employee, at least four workers have died from overexposure to hexane, a chemical used to clean touchscreen panels. China Daily notes that hexane is known to cause extensive peripheral nervous system failure in humans, with symptoms like tingling and cramps in the arms and legs, general muscular weakness, muscular atrophy, as well as a loss of coordination and vision.

In response, the company said it would distribute a bonus before the Chinese Spring Festival, while local authorities said no deaths have been reported, and 47 people who showed symptoms of hexane poisoning have received treatment. Employees remain discontent with the government's action and seek further investigation.

Intel's fourth-quarter performance exceeded expectations, with the company recording a $2.3 billion profit ($0.40 per share), up nearly 10-fold from the same period in 2008. Analysts predicted earnings of $0.30 per share. Quarterly sales totaled $10.6 billion, a 28% increase from a year ago, topping the forecasted $10.2 billion.

For the entire year, Intel posted a $4.4 billion profit ($0.77 per share), on revenue of $35.1 billion, which compares to 2008's earnings of $5.3 billion ($0.92 per share) on revenue of $37.6 billion. According to Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Kevin Cassidy, Intel's Atom carried the company through the year. It was also noted that the chipmaker is confident about upcoming corporate IT spending.

On a semi-related note, the computer industry as a whole rebounded. According to IDC, the PC market grew 24% on-year during the fourth quarter, establishing a new record of nearly 20.7 million units shipped. Vendors across the board witnessed gains, including HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba.

Acer and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission have announced a recall today, affecting some 22,000 laptops. Several of Acer's 13.3-inch models have been named in the recall, including the AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ and AS3810TZG. The computers were solid through many popular outlets, including ABS Computer Technologies, D&H Distributing, Fry's Electronics, Radio Shack, Synnex Corporation and more.

Similar to a recall in October, the issue stems from a faulty microphone wire. Located under the palm rest, the wire can reportedly short circuit, overheat, and potentially burn users. Not all units suffer from the defect of course, and owners should contact Acer to determine whether their systems are affected. If you own one of the mentioned models, you can contact Acer toll-free via 866-695-2237. If you've experienced the issue, you can submit an incident report with the CPSC.

Netflix and Warner Bros. have inked a new agreement in which Netflix will wait 28 days after the retail launch of DVD and Blu-ray films before making them available to its customers. The video rental service deems the new terms a "win-win" for both parties.

By delaying the rental availability of new releases, Warner Bros. can maximize the sales potential of films (it's noted that 75% of the sell-through occurs in the first four weeks), while still granting Netflix the right to Warner's movies. Netflix will also benefit from "reduced product costs and significantly more units and better in-stock levels".

"We're able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units than in the past after a relatively short sell-through window," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer.

Based on data from Adams Media Research, 2009 was the first year since 2002 that people in the US spent more money on movie tickets than buying films to watch at home. Last year, US consumers spent $9.87 billion at the box office, 10% more than 2008, and film disc sales slipped 13% to $8.73 billion from $10.06 billion in 2008.

Blu-ray disc sales grew last year, but they still only represent a tiny sliver of the pie when compared to DVD sales. Despite a 5% increase in rental transactions, spending rose less than 1% to $8.15 billion, which is mostly blamed on rental kiosks like Coinstar's Redbox. Video on demand and online purchases rose slightly and overall movie spending in the US fell 0.3% to $28.38 billion from $28.47 billion.

"Consumers are still in love with movies," said Tom Adams, president of Adams Media. "In this environment, however, they're seeking the biggest bang for their bucks." How did you spend your cash on films last year?

Amazon has revealed a list of this year's bestselling products. The company's Kindle ebook reader was not only the top-selling electronic device in 2009, but also the most wished for and gifted this holiday season. Similarly, the Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook climbed above other computers, making it the most purchased, wished for and gifted item in its category.

Nintendo's Wii topped the most purchased and gifted video game list, while New Super Mario Bros was the most wished for item. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 was the most popular software all around, while Twilight was the bestselling DVD, a Star Trek video set was the most wished for, and Up was the most gifted.

The lists are expansive and include virtually every product category on Amazon, from baby to automotive. Did you purchase or otherwise receive any of the mentioned items?

With the line between netbooks and entry-level laptops getting increasingly blurry in 2009, we've wondered how much longer these underpowered machines will remain relevant in the market. But as a year of challenging economic conditions draws to a close, it's clear that the relatively low price tags have made netbooks a hot item among consumers.

According to new data from DisplaySearch, shipments soared to a staggering 33.3 million units this year, more than double the 16.4 million netbooks that shipped in 2008. In terms of revenue the segment raked in some $11.40 billion, which equates to a 72% increase compared to the $6.65 billion amassed last year.

Despite increased shipments in every other segment, netbook's lower prices actually dragged down revenue for the entire notebook industry by 12% to about $109.4 million. By category, year-to-year revenue from ultra-portables having 11.6" and 12 " displays fell 23% to $6.9 billion; standard notebooks featuring screens from 13" to 16.4" in size dropped 13% to $80.3 billion; and desktop replacements declined 12% to $10.8 billion.

DisplaySearch also suggests netbook shipments in 2010 may only grow by around 19% due to the emergence of more capable ultra-thin notebook systems sporting prices below the $500 mark.

Intel unveiled its next-generation Atom processors for netbooks and entry-level desktops earlier this week. They represent a significant redesign over their predecessors, integrating a graphics core and a memory controller directly onto the same die as the processor, but overall the new chips are still not powerful enough to handle the highest resolution video.

The graphics core is basically a 45nm die shrink of Intel's GMA 3100, redubbed GMA 3150, that runs at 400MHz and offers no native hardware decoding for H.264 or Flash videos. Although Intel contends that it is suitable to handle 720p content, you won't really get the smoothest playback and anything beyond that resolution is outright unwatchable. Consumers hoping to watch full HD videos on the newest crop of Pine Trail systems will have to seek out models equipped with special chips from Broadcom or Nvidia.

To that end Intel has recently "validated" the former's BCM70015 Crystal HD chip, which is said to provide HD and SD video playback of standard codecs (H.264/AVC, MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV9, MPEG-4, DivX, Xvid and AVS) "with no frame drops or jitter, even under a heavy CPU load." According to Broadcom, the BCM70015 also provides software support for Adobe Flash Player (v10.1) and Windows Media Player (v12).

Meanwhile, Nvidia -- which as you probably know is at odds with Intel over its allegedly unfair business tactics -- has offered the Ion graphics chip to support HD video playback on current generation netbooks and plans to showcase an update to the chip for Pine Trail systems at January's CES. The graphics firm doesn't expect to officially launch Ion 2 until later in Q1 2010, but apparently netbook vendors are already interested.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced this week it has formally adopted a new set of standards for low-powered devices. Unimaginatively named Bluetooth Low Energy, the new power sipping data transfer technology is part of the Bluetooth 4.0 Core Specification and follows the speed-centric version 3.0 of Bluetooth by just 10 months.

The two are intended for different use cases, though. Bluetooth 3.0 supports speeds of up to 24Mbps and is aimed at applications such as audio streaming and file transfers. On the other hand, version 4.0 technically includes similar functionality in its specification, but supports very short data packets of 8-27 bytes at a speed of 1Mbps and can operate on coin cells -- the kinds you find in wristwatches, calculators, and remote controls.

Such devices should be able to run for years while offering Bluetooth connectivity. In a dual-mode implementation, it is also possible to combine Bluetooth versions 3.0 and 4.0 in devices such as mobile phones, where high data rates can be achieved for certain tasks and low-power functionality for others.

Nvidia has reportedly shrugged off AMD's current lead in the DirectX 11 graphics market, insisting that it's only a temporary advantage that won't have a long-term effect. The momentary edge of beating Nvidia will be eclipsed by larger changes in the graphics processing market, which is moving toward parallel computing, said Nvidia's Michael Hara last week.

"We go through revolutionary changes every three of four years, and that's exactly where we're at today," Hara said. He continued, "The next big evolution in the API world has come with DirectX 11 (DX11), but we believe that's a part of the experience," adding that technologies like 3D stereo and physics are also important.

Ultimately, Hara said being out of sync with the API for a couple of months isn't as important as what Nvidia is striving to accomplish in the big picture, over the next four or five years.

Fermi is just around the corner, and AMD's Radeon HD 5970 will finally have the opportunity to pick on something its own size. In the meantime, what do you think about AMD's lead? Is it truly as "insignificant" as Nvidia claims?

According to IDC, strong back-to-school demand boosted global PC shipments in the third quarter of 2009, increasing 2.3% after three consecutive quarters of decline. The firm believes the PC market is on a fast track to recovery, with worldwide shipments projected to grow by double digits on a yearly basis through 2013. The total number of computers sold could reach 321.4 million next year, compared to 291.4 million units in 2009 -- and that trend is expected to continue. Shipments could reportedly hit 444.4 million in 2013.

Projected Global PC Shipments by Form Factor, 2008-2013

System	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Desktop PC	144.9	126.2	126.2	128.2	130.7	131.9
Portable PC	142.7	165.2	195.2	231.9	272.2	312.5
Total PC	287.6	291.4	321.4	360.1	402.9	444.44

With growth on the horizon, PC makers will try to attract consumers by introducing products with features like ultrathin designs, LED panels, and touchscreens. "Beyond stabilizing their business, PC venders are trying to position themselves for gains as the market recovers," said Jay Chou, an IDC research analyst. IDC predicts that desktop sales will suffer as consumers transition to laptops and other mobile products, and netbooks may be threatened by more powerful, aggressively priced ultrathin notebooks.