Archives for July 2007
Intel announces Extreme mobile CPU
Michelle Thatcher | Jul 16, 2007
Editors' note  :At press time the major notebook vendors are unable to comment on when the first portables with Core 2 Extreme will become available in Asia-Pacific markets. |
Mobile gaming just got sweeter: Today Intel announced the Core 2 Extreme X7800, its first laptop CPU under the Extreme Edition brand. The 2.6GHz dual-core processor features 4MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz front-side bus, making it the highest-end chip in Intel's mobile lineup. Of greater interest to gamers, though, is the fact that the chip's overspeed protection has been removed, meaning laptop manufacturers and users will be able to overclock the X7800 for even more performance (Intel, of course, denies any responsibility for the consequences of overclocking).
Like Intel's other mobile product offerings, the Core 2 Extreme X7800 includes such power-saving features as a dynamic front-side bus, which lets the system drop into a "low-frequency mode" to conserve energy, and Enhanced Deep Sleep which uses less power when the system is idle. Another feature, Advanced Media Boost, is designed to provide better performance for video editing, music, and photography, signaling Intel's intention to market this chip for mobile workstations and multimedia laptops as well as gaming rigs.
Intel claims the Core 2 Extreme X7800 realizes a 28 percent performance increase over the previous generation of dual-core processors--though that's in comparison to the Core Duo T2600, one of the first mobile dual-core processors released in January 2006. We suspect the X7800's performance gains will be more modest when compared to the current crop of Core 2 Duo processors on the market. Nevertheless, we're excited to see a gaming-oriented processor for laptops, and we hope that pairing it with dual SLI graphics (like those found on the Alienware Area 51 m9750 available in the US) will bring true desktop-level gaming performance to the mobile space. Laptops built around the X7800 processor will appear on the market in two weeks, and you'd better start saving your pennies: The processor alone costs US$851 (US$300 more than the current top-of-the-line Core 2 Duo CPU).
MX Air Mouse
Juniper Foo | Jul 16, 2007
If you've heard Mr Brown's hilarious NGUM (national go up month) podcast in which prices are going north, then it's no surprise that even the modest mouse has gone upmarket in pricing. At US$150 for Logitech's MX Air Mouse, this flying rodent isn't faster than a speeding bullet. At rest, it resembles a beached whale. But in the air, its "Freespace" motion control technology lets users control the onscreen cursor with waves in any direction of up to 30ft from your PC. A bit of Nintendo Wii crossed with a TV remote clicker perhaps? Just in case you prefer something more down to earth, it also has a scroll wheel and a touch-sensitive control strip that's a bit of LG Chocolate's touch-sensitive buttons perhaps?
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Via CNET News.com
Price: US$150
Availability: Coming in August
Device: Mouse
Specs: MEMS sensors with DSP, 2.4GHz RF technology
Olympus could announce top-end SLR in October
Stephen Shankland, CNET.com | Jul 15, 2007
Olympus publicly showed prototypes of its new top-end digital SLR in March, but a leaked document indicates the real thing could be announced in October and on sale in November.
An anonymous person posted a 27-page presentation at the FourThirds Photo discussion site that appears to be from an Olympus marketing presentation in June in Europe on the new camera, called the E-P1. Olympus didn't comment on the presentation Thursday, but the company did request another site,4-3system.com, remove the file.
Read more »
Fluid Mask 3 stands on its own
Stephen Shankland, CNET.com | Jul 15, 2007
Vertus, the Boston-based developer of technology designed to ease the selection of specific elements in a digital photo, has released version three of its Fluid Mask software, the first time the product has been able to run as a standalone application and not just as a Photoshop plug-in.
Fluid Mask 3, costing US$239, attempts to reproduce some of the human mind's ability to naturally distinguish an element from its background, a task that's tricky when backgrounds are complicated or the element's border isn't well defined. The common, but notorious example, is hair.
The new version includes new edge-detection technology and new modes for blending selected areas and their backgrounds. Multiprocessor support speeds tasks by about 40 percent. Users can save settings for particular images for reuse later. And users can apply changes just to particular patches instead of to the whole image.
Photoshop includes its own selection, or masking, technology, and the new CS3 version includes a significant advancement in that area. But plug-in makers try to stay a step ahead of what's generally available.
Fluid Mask 3 is available as a stand-alone product or as a plug-in to Adobe Photoshop CS2 and CS3 or Adobe Photoshop Elements. It works on Windows XP and Vista and Apple's on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs.
Samsung introduces a rush of 8MP cameras
Phil Ryan, CNET.com | Jul 13, 2007
Hours after it unleashed three new models on Europe, the L830, L83T and L730, Samsung has officially announced three new 8 megapixel still cameras for the US market--the L83T, L830, and the S85. All three will include Samsung's new Successive Recording mode, which lets you pause and then resume while recording video. Most still cameras only let you start and stop while recording video, so you end up with many short clips if you want to stop the action for a short period of time.
| Editors' note:
Samsung Asia has confirmed that all four cameras will be entering the Asia market by end August. However, stocks may vary in each country.
|
The ultracompact L83T sports a 3x optical, 38mm-to-114mm (equivalent) zoom lens, 2.5-inch LCD, face detection, 14 scene modes, MPEG-4 video capture at up to 800 x 592 pixel resolution. The camera boasts sensitivity up to ISO 1,600 and includes what the company calls a Wise Shot mode which captures consecutive shots, one with flash and one with Samsung's Advanced Shake Reduction system (which boosts the ISO to combat shake) and then asks the user which one to keep. It also has a macro mode that focus down to 1cm away from a subject and has a maximum shutter speed of 1/2,000sec, which can come in handy when shooting so close.
The L830 also includes a 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5-inch LCD but tops out at a shutter speed of 1/1,500sec. It has nine scene modes and can also capture MPEG-4 video at up to 800 x 592 pixels. The S85 tops out at 640 x 480 video, but pairs a 5x optical, 38mm-to-190mm (equivalent) zoom lens with its 2.5-inch LCD. It also includes the Wise Shot, 1/2,000sec shutter speed, 14 scene modes, and face detection found in the L83T.
Compare all four here
See more of the latest cameras for this fall
More images of new Samsung cameras:
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