Known simply as the Asus C90S, this is the first product to be released on a new series of laptop barebones that the manufacturer is aiming at the mobile performance crowd.
Unlike conventional laptop computers, the C90S is an upgradeable laptop, meaning that the user is free to replace many of its core components including the processor and the graphics card. Possibly even more interesting than this is Asus' choice of platform, not quite the standard for a mobile system.
The Asus C90S is powered by Core 2 desktop processors rather than the 'Merom' mobile variety. That includes support for the 800MHz FSB Allendale models, as well as the 1066MHz FSB Conroe processors. It is possible, then, to configure the C90S with a Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor operating at 2.93GHz if you'd choose to do so, which certainly makes the C90S a very unique laptop, or should we say mobile desktop replacement.
Microsoft may be celebrating a milestone of their own for console sales, but how did the current number one console fare in light of the GTA IV release leaving them in the cold? Quite well, it seems, with the Nintendo Wii taking the number one place for console sales in April. The most recent figures put the Wii at 714,000 sales last month, which completely dwarfs Microsoft's and Sony's sales at around 188,000 each. Nintendo's handhelds units also exceeded the PS3 and Xbox 360 by an impressive amount, showing that Nintendo's current strategies are doing well.
Those are impressive figures given that no high profile games for the Wii came out in April, with which Nintendo gives partial credit to Mario Kart Wii. The numbers are likely to more favor Microsoft and Sony in May, as more high profile games are on the horizon for both of those consoles as opposed to the Wii.
With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hitting theaters next week, Microsoft and LucasArts are offering gamers and fans of the series alike an exclusive playable PC demo of its forthcoming action adventure title “LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures” for Windows.
Developed by the same team that created the LEGO Star Wars series, the game includes more than 60 playable characters and presents a humorous take on the first three cinematic adventures of Indiana Jones. The 464MB demo – which you can get from our download section – offers a taste of what gamers can expect from the full game when it hits stores early June.
by Jose Vilches on May 15, 2008, 4:48 PM | (6 comments)
Today, the Recording Industry Association of America was ordered to pay $107,834 as a result of a failed lawsuit against Tanya Andersen that accused her of illegal file sharing. The ruling marks what it is said to be the highest awarded compensation against the RIAA in terms of legal fees.
But the RIAA’s woes did not end there. In fact, the much bigger news concerns the infamous Jammie Thomas case, in which the jury found Thomas liable for infringement merely for “making available” 24 songs – even though there was no proof of distribution – and awarded the music industry $222,000. Well, as it turns out, the act of making music available online may not be a copyright violation after all.
The judge is now saying that he may have committed a “manifest error of law” in his jury instructions by overlooking controlling Eighth Circuit authority, the case of National Car Rental v. Computer Associates, which held that there can’t be a violation of the ‘distribution right’ without an actual dissemination of copies. Apparently, the judge is now considering granting a new trial.
This is a major setback for the RIAA which has been holding up the Thomas case over and over again as proof that “making available” is infringement. If the judge does decide to order a retrial, more proof may be needed in future lawsuits to establish a violation of copyright law by users of peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
Last month we published several leaked details about AMD’s next-generation graphics card lineup, but as we get closer to the launch the folks over at TG Daily have managed to get the scoop on AMD’s launch plan details for its upcoming HD 4800 series of graphics cards.
Contrary to last month’s rumors, the series will apparently debut in mid-June after all in the form of the Radeon 4850, which will boast 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, single-slot cooling, CrossFireX support, and a price tag between $189 and $219. This will be followed by the dual-slot cooled GDDR5 bearing HD 4870 and the HD 4870 X2 in mid-July, both priced between $249 and $279. You can check out the rest of the report for more information on features, specs and performance claims regarding these cards.
Via’s already very low-power processors may get the chance to be even more energy-friendly, with Via's slow march towards a functional 45nm process. Intel and AMD may have them beat by a number of years and a massive amount of performance, but the niche market they have carved and are trying to expand will warmly welcome even more improvements in their CPU lineup. Their exact date for having 45nm CPUs available isn't clear, but it's likely to coincide with the release of their first dual-core CPUs.
The dual-core processors they have planned are tentatively scheduled for sometime next year, and will put them in a curious position of having extremely low power CPUs with multiple cores available. While they'll never be able to take on the performance throne that AMD and Intel battle over, it is very feasible that they might come out with a CPU that uses a miniscule amount of power but is able to handle parallel loads very efficiently. A multi-core CPU destined for a home media server that uses a tenth of the power of a competitors CPU would be attractive to many.
Linux just got a major boost today with Asus confirming that it will extend the inclusion of the Splashtop pre-boot multimedia shell from just a few of its most expensive models to more products and eventually throughout its entire product range.
The technology, which debuted last October branded as Express Gate by Asus, is an instant-on Linux distro embedded on the motherboard in flash memory that allows users to run a browser, or other core applications on their PCs within seconds of hitting the power-on button. With Asus set to ship over a million mobos a month sporting the feature, this could be a turning point for Linux in reaching mass-market desktop PCs – whether people actually use it though is another thing.
DeviceVM, the company behind Splashtop, says it is also working with other manufacturers to incorporate Splashtop into their designs. Apparently, they plan to have numerous Splashtop-enabled motherboards, desktops, and laptops available in 2008, with the latter being particularly exciting as it could prove incredibly useful in extending battery life.
Though many are worried that PC gaming is on the decline and yearly sales figures from the NPD group seem to corroborate this, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello thinks that is not the case. He believes that the market has actually been “growing for several years” and that it is only “wrong categorized by a heavy focus on retail sales.”
Riccitiello’s comments coincide with what analyst Anita Fraisure concluded earlier this year on NPD’s report on the video game industry: the PC market isn’t shrinking, but rather shifting towards digital distribution, micro-transactions and game subscriptions. This also explains EA’s growing interest in testing out new revenue models in several of its upcoming titles, including BattleForge and the free-to-play cartoonish multiplayer shooter Battlefield Heroes, both of which are heavily centered on micro-transactions.
Adobe demonstrated the newest iteration of their infamous Flash Player today, bringing version 10 into the limelight. The new version is not ready for production, but promises a host of new features to make its eventual release worth waiting for. At least that's Adobe's stance, who want to maintain their control over the “interactive media” market with Microsoft and others now chasing them down.
The new Flash Player 10 is available as a beta, and incorporates functionality such as 3D animation, more filter effects, hardware acceleration of flash, better use of available bandwidth, a better API for programming in flash and more. There's no specific mention of the final release date for Flash 10.
The most interesting component of the new flash series is definitely going to be the hardware acceleration. Combined with more advanced rendering capabilities like 3D animation, Flash is going to end up putting a lot of demand on a system – but with hardware acceleration at their disposal, Adobe opens up Flash to a much wider range of applications. Flash “environments” will be much more feasible in those circumstances.
In a bid to boost its reach across the internet, CBS is to acquire digital media content company CNet Networks for $1.8 billion in cash. The deal represents the broadcaster’s biggest move yet to become a major player in online advertising and would also extend its properties with some of the most highly trafficked websites, including gamespot.com, tv.com, mp3.com, news.com.
The combined properties will have 54 million unique users per month in the US and 200 million worldwide. CNet’s board has unanimously approved the offer and recommends CNet shareholders do the same. If everything goes as planned, the deal should close in the third quarter this year.
This is yet another example of old media coming together with the new as advertising dollars continue to migrate online, and it’s certainly not the first such move on CBS’s behalf. The broadcasting company has also acquired smaller web properties such as the popular music discovery site last.fm.
Editor's note: TechSpot has been negotiating a deal with CNET for advertising representation over the past few months. Whether this will benefit us, or even change things at all, remains to be seen.
Following a two-year-long legal dispute between Anascape, a small Texan gaming company, and Nintendo of America, a federal judge today ruled in favor of the former, ordering Nintendo to get its checkbook and pay the sum of $21 million in damages for infringing patents covering technology such as ‘Variable Sensor with tactile Feedback’, and ‘3D Controller with Vibration’ amongst others.
The lawsuit successfully argued that Nintendo infringed on Anascape’s patents while designing its Wii Classic, WaveBird and GameCube controllers. Nintendo of course intends to appeal and expects the court to considerably reduce the aforementioned amount of money that needs to be paid. Microsoft was also the subject of a related suit from Anascape but chose to settle out of court rather than face a full trial.
by Jose Vilches on May 14, 2008, 8:46 PM | (2 comments)
Microsoft showed off a new product dubbed “TouchWall” at its CEO Summit today. As the name suggests, the product is another multi-touch platform that you can control with a sweep of your hand, though this time coming in a whole lot cheaper than the $10,000 Surface, costing just “a few hundred dollars worth of readily available hardware.”
The TouchWall comprises integrated hardware that includes laser and infrared lights that recognize the touch of fingertips on the screen through the embedded Plex software. A Microsoft representative declined to offer any details about whether or when TouchWall might be available commercially – though during its presentation Bill Gates said he expects the technology to someday be used on a daily basis by businesses and in the home. Until that day comes, we’ll have to settle with watching a video of the TouchWall in action.
For all of you Call of Duty fans, you might be interested to know that Activision has announced the release of Call of Duty 5. The title will be available across a wide variety of platforms, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS, PlayStation 2 and the PC. Little mention is made of what dramatic differences the game will have as compared to COD4, and the official launch date has not been announced either, only that it is under production.
Likely the game will not make it out this year, though next year is possible.
by Justin Mann on May 14, 2008, 7:15 PM | (3 comments)
Sony's slow console sales and dismal gaming division performance has not slowed the company down as a whole, with the company posting a record high profit for the past year. Sony's net profit has done a massive tripling, largely due to huge sales in the digital camera and laptop markets.
Other aspects of the company helped profit too, such as them selling off or shutting down parts of the business that weren't “core”, a common tactic that many large companies take. Given that the PS3's manufacturing costs have gone down since release and will continue to do so most likely, next year may be a different story for the PS3.
