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IDF is often used as a platform for key industry players to talk about new technologies or intentions for the future. Some of it is a little too far out for most people's scopes, such as Intel talking about machine/human interaction seeing a revolution within the next 40 years. But some other matters are a little closer to today. A very interesting keynote address was made yesterday by an Intel rep who brought some well known industry execs up to talk about the future of 3D, including 3D gaming.

They highlighted the importance of multi-threaded systems and it was that which brought out the most interesting portion of the address. John Carmack of id showed up to demo the upcoming title Rage. According to Carmack, Rage will be able to take advantage of the advances in hardware we've seen the past two years, primarily multi-core CPUs and multiple video cards.

Even though it wasn't extrapolated upon, it's a good sign. The amount of game titles out there that can really stress modern hardware is a short one, and after several years of stale clockspeeds it is clear that CPU manufacturers (and now even GPU manufacturers) need developers to start writing software that thinks parallel.

OCZ is introducing a new piece of hardware aimed at gamers, a mouse they are calling the Dominatrix. While sometimes I question the naming convention that hardware vendors use, OCZ's new mouse certainly looks nice on paper with an awful lot of customization. The mouse features dpi settings of up to 2000, which can be controlled individually for each axis all the way down to 400.

It supports a high poll rate, helpful for those who want ultra-sensitive control, and has adjustable weight as well. Like many high-end mice, it also supports software profiles to configure it for different applications at different times. You can read more about the OCZ Dominatrix in the press release.

Just as important as having a system fast enough for smooth play is important to gamers, so is having input devices that are snappy and responsive. The mouse is the one most often targeted for improvement, as a lot of stock mice won't have the tracking capabilities people want for games.

In a move that has the potential to bring accurate global sales information to the gaming community, a new alliance has been formed between four industry leading market research firms – GFK (Europe), Chart-Track (UK), NPD (US) and Enterbrain (Japan) – to cooperate in providing a monthly “Top Global Markets Report.”

The reports are based on software point of sale data from the world’s three largest games markets and will track titles, unit sales, share, dollar sales and other stats. The first Top Global Markets Report reveals that Grand Theft Auto IV is the biggest seller this year to date, with a total of 6,293,000 units sold despite being released in late April and only in two of the three monitored regions.

The Nintendo Wii accounted for the second, third, and fourth best-selling games with exclusive titles Super Smash Bros. Brawl (5,433,000), Mario Kart Wii (4,697,000) and Wii Fit (3,604,000), while Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock rounded off the list with 3,475,000 units.

Intel is joining forces with Yahoo as it moves into the world of consumer electronics and help tie the TV to the Internet. The collaboration will see the creation of a “Widget Channel” that will sit at the bottom of users’ television screens, and enable them to access web content such as news or even engage in social activities like messaging and content sharing all while watching TV.

At the core of the software platform is the Yahoo Widget Engine (previously known as Konfabulator), so desktop PC widgets will presumably work for TVs as well. On the hardware front, the system will be powered by the Intel Media Processor CE 3100 which features support for HD video, home theater quality audio and advanced 3D graphics. The CE 3100 is Intel’s first in a new family of system-on-chips (SoCs) designed to be used in consumer electronics devices, such as media players, set top boxes and digital TVs.

While similar efforts have failed in the past, the companies believe it was because the internet stopped people using their set for its prime function: watching programs. This time, however, they are hoping to bring a healthy mix of web-based content and traditional media without disrupting people’s TV watching experience.

The fallout from Comcast deceiving the public (along with the FCC) continues, and while whatever actions the FCC might take are still undecided, the company is looking for ways to solve their bandwidth troubles without resorting to protocol-destroying mechanisms. More information on how they plan to “fix” the issue has been revealed.

Apparently, their plan will include identifying heavy users during a period of congestion, then de-prioritizing those users as compared to the rest of the network for 10-20 minutes. Furthermore, someone who habitually uses large amounts of bandwidth won't get singled out – the throttling is all done on a per-case basis. The throttling won't affect any particular program or traffic type, and will instead simply slow down the entire connection.

This is certainly a more fair approach than any other that has been proposed so far. A “heavy user” is determined on a per-minute basis, avoiding singling people out, and the connections aren't shut off, merely slowed. However, it does bring to mind another question – just what is “heavy use”? As we've seen in recent days, some ISPs have very limited ideas of what a heavy user is. Ultimately it's an issue of perception – and it seems people will have to trust the ISP to make the right decision.

Another day, another lawsuit appears for Apple. An Alabama woman, Jessica Smith, has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging that despite marketing claims of the iPhone 3G being “twice as fast for half the price” of its predecessor, the device is actually much slower than advertised and prone to dropping calls.

Smith is seeking for class action status for the lawsuit contending that Apple is selling a defective product, is benefiting from it financially, and she and other class members are therefore entitled to damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.

The charges in the lawsuit mirror widespread complaints about the iPhone 3G’s reception that have emerged since the much-hyped smartphone launched on July. Earlier this week, Apple finally acknowledged that reception issues existed and delivered an update to provide “improved communication with 3G networks.”

It’s that time of the month again when AMD releases a new set of drivers for Radeon graphics card owners. The new Catalyst 8.8 release brings the usual round of bug fixes along with new Avivo video features and Hybrid Graphics support for Windows XP.

To make use of AMD’s Hybrid Graphics technology, users will need an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard paired with either a Radeon HD 3400 or HD 2400 series GPU, for extra performance and quad-display support. While no particular performance improvements are mentioned, there’s a quite extensive list of bug fixes for games on both XP and Vista operating systems.

AMD has also made a Catalyst 8.8 release available for Linux users, adding support for CrossFire X multi-GPU configurations, adaptive antialiasing, and OverDrive GPU overclocking and monitoring. Check out AMD’s release notes for the full list of changes, or go ahead and pick your OS to download the latest Catalyst driver:

ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows XP
ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows XP 64bit
ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows Vista 32bit
ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows Vista 64bit
ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows Linux 32bit
ATI Catalyst 8.8 for Windows Linux 64bit

On top of Atom-based notebooks and other cool hardware, Intel has announced at the IDF the readiness of their own line of solid state disks, making them the latest in a series of companies seeing the market for SSDs open up enough to sell in. Intel's X18-M, a 1.8” unit, and the X25-M, a 2.5” unit, will be available as early as next month. The drives support a slew of features, including some that Intel claims makes their SSDs a more reliable choice for deploying this type of storage.

The units will be offered in 80GB or 160GB capacities, though the latter is not going to be available for some time. If Intel's paper claims are true, they certainly will be a contender for the performance crown, as they supposedly can read at rates of up to 250MB/s.

Though SSD storage is still in its infancy, it is exciting to see all these vendors begin competing with each other when the market didn't even exist just a few years ago.

MSI's Wind was one of the many hardware lineups that intended to compete with the Eee line, both in notebook and desktop form. MSI faced issues in manufacturing as well as several delays in getting the notebook version out the door. It looks like the exact opposite might be true for the Wind desktop, which was not supposed to appear until at least September.

Apparently, though, the device has already been spotted in retail and is now appearing for sale. It's not the full version of the desktop – so don't get too excited – but rather the barebones version. It has been spotted on Newegg, with a limited number available, apparently, for only $139. Though the hardware itself isn't terribly impressive, it's still quite a decent chunk of hardware to get for that price. You'll still need to add your own storage, memory and other components. The full version of the Wind desktop is still expected sometime next month.

There is a new type of malicious advertising doing the rounds, one that targets users of Windows, Mac, and Linux systems running IE, Firefox, and Safari. The attack, which was made public via a number of discussion boards, exploits a feature in Flash to put a plain-text string of characters on a user’s clipboard.

While the feature alone appears to pose no security risk at all, hackers are using it in tandem with Flash-based banner ads on legitimate sites to persistently overwrite the clipboard with a malicious URL – effectively hijacking the clipboard until the browser window is closed. This of course can lead some people to unknowingly spam the link, which points to a fake anti-virus product for sale.

Adobe says it is investigating potential solutions to this issue and has promised to update customers as soon as more information is available.

In a series of announcements this afternoon at the Leipzig Games Convention, Sony not only revealed it would begin shipping a new PSP model soon. The company also announced plans to introduce a new $499.99, 160GB PlayStation 3 bundle as well as a Wireless Keypad add-on for the console.

The bundle, slated for release in November, will include the game “Uncharted: Drake's Fortune,” as well as a voucher to download “PAIN” from the PlayStation Network. This marks Sony’s highest capacity PS3 to date and also confirms rumors of a new SKU that have been swirling around following the announcement of a new $399.99 model with 80GB capacity.

Also available in November will be the new wireless keypad, which mounts over the top of the PlayStation 3 controller and adds a full QWERTY keyboard that is operated with the thumbs. While a similar peripheral has been available on the Xbox 360 for some time, Sony's offering is different in that it can also double as a touch-sensitive pad to provide a mouse-like input on the screen just by gliding the finger over the keyboard itself.

Nintendo's current superstar, the Wii, is once again coming under a legal attack by a company who believes the unit violates patents they own. The company, Hillcrest, claims that the controller for the console violates patents they own which they use to manufacture their own device, called “The Loop”. On top of asking for monetary compensation, they are also demanding an injunction on the Wii, preventing it from being imported into the U.S.

The latter is very unlikely to happen. With such a success going for them, I see no way that Nintendo would budge on this and we can probably expect a court battle between the two. Hillcrest released a statement on their website regarding their lawsuit, which cites four U.S. patents, all of which are for a “three-dimensional pointing device”. While even a pencil could fall under the category, they are going after Nintendo for more specific reasons. There is no mention if Hillcrest approached Nintendo when the Wii was in development or launched, or if this is just a sudden decision.

A little over a year and a half ago, Nintendo faced similar trouble with the Wiimote, when a company sued them over a button found on the control.

Private browsing is a feature that the Mozilla team ended up pulling from Firefox 3, but one that might show up in the next iteration of Internet Explorer. According to reports, two Microsoft trademark filings – Cleartracks and Inprivate – seem to be an indication of this, with them covering methods to delete or disable history and file caching on the browser.

One obvious use for the feature, which is currently present only in Apple’s Safari browser, will be surfing the web for porn or illicit activities without leaving traces. But privacy advocates will certainly find other worthy uses for it, such as to keep prying eyes from viewing sensitive information stored in form fields.

The software giant so far is mum about the feature, saying only that they will have more to say about privacy as IE 8 evolves. Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is due in final form later this year, but the Beta 1 build is already available for download in both Windows XP and Vista flavors.

One area where Sony's gaming division is excelling in is the PSP. No matter which way you look at it, the PSP is doing great, and Sony wants it to do even better. Thus they have announced that within the next few months a new model will be available.

The PSP-3000 doesn't have any cosmetic changes to it, but under the hood has some significant improvements. They've added a built-in microphone, upgraded the display screen and made Skype a default package with the unit. The microphone probably has something to do with the inclusion of Skype.

The PSP-3000 was originally rumored early this year, around March, though wasn't “officially” confirmed until just recently.

Following a successful trial run earlier this year, American Airlines’ new in-flight broadband service has gone live today. The service will cost $12.95 for flights lasting more than three hours and be available on their 767-200 aircrafts connecting New York with Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

The Wi-Fi service is called GoGo and is provided by Aircell, a company that is also outfitting Delta Airlines' aircrafts with Internet access. Although passengers can now surf the web and check their emails at speeds comparable to residential broadband, American Airlines is not permitting the use of cell phones or VoIP services such as Skype to avoid disturbing other passengers.

Several other carriers are either testing or plan to test in-flight connectivity, which should be a key driver as they compete for business. The move will also create a new stream of revenue at a time when airlines are facing high fuel prices and other challenges – all while making flights much more enjoyable.