Intel Corporation is introducing its most advanced desktop processor ever, the Intel Core i7 processor, the first member of a new family of Nehalem processor designs - and the company says it is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximise data throughput.
The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.
“Intel has delivered the fastest desktop processor on Earth to the most demanding users on Earth, the ones who are using their PCs for video, gaming and music,” said Patrick Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group. “When you couple what is Intel’s biggest leap in chip design with other incredible innovations like Intel’s solid state drives, the Core i7 processor has redefined the computer of tomorrow.”
The Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user’s needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new ‘power gate’ transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption.
The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.
This new processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel ‘Extreme’ platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits in and out of the processor with Intel Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.
The company says the Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU physics and AI tests, popular industry computer benchmarks that measure gaming performance.
The Intel Core i7 processors and Intel X58 Express Chipset-based Intel Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.
This is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.
Prices vary from US$284 through $999 based on speed, cache memory and other factors.
microproccesor
We’ve had a blast playing SGN’s suite of Wii-like games over the last few months - iGolf, iBowl and iBaseball (basketball, tennis and boxing are coming soon). The apps are being downloaded like crazy on the App store, and no wonder - you get to swing your iPhone all over the place while you play the games.
Now SGN is rolling out something a little different. iFun turns the iPhone into a Wii-like controller, but the actual games are played on normal desktop and laptop computers.
The first title to launch is golf. If you don’t quite get it, see the video below. SGN says they may license other online games to add to the iFun platform, and will release an API for other developers to launch their games on iFun.
Super. Duper. Cool.
Apple iPhone
Apple's iPhone is emerging as king of the corporate world as global shipments of smartphones reached a new peak. Defying speculation about a global recession, worldwide smartphone shipments climbed to just shy of 40 million units in the third quarter, according to the latest estimates from Canalys. That means smartphones now represent about 13 percent of the total mobile-phone market, up from 11 percent in the second quarter.
The iPhone 3G's introduction in July led the charge.
Apple's expansion into many countries around the globe helped the company scale to second place worldwide, outshining Research In Motion in the quarter and boasting higher shipments than all Microsoft-based smartphones combined. Nokia remained the market leader despite a sales decline.
Corporations Don't Overlook Apple
It was expected that Apple would figure among the smartphone leaders for the quarter, with a huge initial new-product shipment; it was just a question of how high it would be, according to Pete Cunningham, Canalys senior analyst. Despite RIM being nudged into third place, he said, its growth of more than 80 percent shouldn't be overlooked.
"This is also a tremendous performance, especially considering the delays it experienced in rolling out the BlackBerry Bold," Cunningham said. "Some customers will also have been waiting for the Storm to arrive. With these new products and the clamshell Pearl 8220 available in Q4, it is quite feasible that RIM will return to the number-two position."
Apple has done well in its efforts to unseat entrenched players like RIM and Microsoft Windows Mobile solutions that have owned the business market for years, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. But one of the most interesting aspects of the iPhone is J.D. Power's recent report that the device had the "highest satisfaction of any business device."
"There's a keyword in there: Business device," Gartenberg said. "The iPhone started off with a very strong consumer reputation and focus. Apple has done a good job positioning the device not as a business device, not as a consumer device, but as a device that appeals to individuals that are going to use it for both parts of their life."
Nokia's Disadvantage
The success of Apple and RIM, as well as fifth-placed HTC with its Windows Mobile devices, has eaten into Nokia's share of the smartphone market, according to Canalys. The research firm noted, however, that Nokia's broad portfolio of models, and the wider audience it attracts, leaves it more exposed to the trends affecting the overall handset market. Year on year, its smartphone shipments fell in the third quarter for the first time.
"Nokia is also transitioning from some very successful volume drivers
, like the N95 and E65, to a number of successors, such as the flagship N96, and shipments of these new models have not yet ramped up," Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd said.
"And Nokia has taken time to bring a touchscreen
product to market in the wake of the iPhone's success, despite having had the experience of producing the Series 90-based 7710 four years ago. Conversely, vendors such as HTC with its Touch Diamond have capitalized on customer demand for this type of product."
Motorola's Place in the Mix
Motorola is hanging onto fourth place in smartphones thanks largely to its Linux-based models, according to Canalys. Motorola recently announced it would move away from using the Symbian OS and focus more on Google's Android platform.
Canalys' conclusion: Competition in the smartphone space is heating up, and being able to introduce technology and user-interface enhancements quickly is critical.
"You also need to be able to integrate them seamlessly into the device to provide a great total user experience. And that means having sufficient control of development of the operating system, which Apple and RIM clearly have already," Shepherd said. "Nokia's acquisition of Symbian should help it in this regard, regardless of what other Symbian Foundation members choose to do."Apple iPhone
Google’s search-by-voice application is finally available on the App Store. To grab it, visit Itune (the page still shows the old version, but you’ll download the new one). The application was originally announced on Friday, leading to widespread excitement that quickly turned to unrest as the application failed to make its debut on the App Store. The delay led to criticism of Apple’s App Store approval process, which apparently leaves all developers in the dark - even Google.
The app allows users to speak into their iPhones to submit queries to Google’s search engine, which can serve up both standard search results as well as movie showtimes, addresses, and other handy information. Voice detection seems to work pretty well, though it sometimes takes a few tries with long phrases and names (I was able to correctly search for the “answer to life, the universe, and everything” after only two tries). And when it works, it’s really cool - I’ll probably be using it on a daily basis.
My biggest issue with the app is that there is apparently no way to use the voice detection feature to call a contact, despite the fact that you can search through contacts using manual text entry. One of my biggest gripes about the iPhone is that there’s no way to make a hands-free call, and while this would still require at least one buttonpress, it would be an improvement. A free application called Say Who offers voice dialing on the iPhone, but it would have been nice to see the functionality integrated into the Google app.
Apple Iphone
iTune
Slife
Ranked:#1
Category : Productivity
License : Freeware
Author/Publisher: Slife Labs
Developer's Site: http://www.slifelabs.com/
Description: Slife is the new awareness browser for the Mac OS X that lets you visualize your computer activities like never before. Trying to be more productive? Wondering where all that time went? Now you can find out!
Ranked:#2
Category : Widget
License : Freeware
Author/Publisher: Callwave
Developer's Site: http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/email_messaging/freetextmessagescallwave.html
Description: Send free text messages anywhere in the world from your computer. No cell phone required. Powered by CallWave.
ShapeShifter
Ranked:#3
Category : OS Customization, Tools
License : Commercial
Price : $20.00
Author/Publisher: Unsanity
Developer's Site: http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter
Description: ShapeShifter is a revolutionary new product that lets you change the overall appearance of your Mac using 'themes'. We're not talking about just desktop backgrounds and icons here, we're talking about everything - the look of windows, menus, apps, buttons, absolutely everything. You don't wear the same clothes every day, your house doesn't look exactly like your neighbor's - why should the computing interface you use every day be any different. You personalize your physical workspace to suit your tastes and whims, so why not your Mac?
Xslimmer
Ranked:#4
Category : Tools
License : Shareware
Price : 11.95
Author/Publisher: LateNiteSoft
Developer's Site: http://www.xslimmer.com
Description: Xslimmer the friendly way to right-size your apps without losing functionality. Xslimmer determines which code your machine needs and removes the rest. This is achieved by removing the code inside the Universal Binaries that does not fit with your machine's architecture, a code that never gets executed and just wastes your disk space. In addition, Xslimmer eliminates unwanted application localizations. Normally you only use 1 or 2 of the languages in any app. Keep those and let Xslimmer eliminate the rest, recovering your precious disk space.
Picturesque
Ranked:#5
Category : Editing, Photo/Images
License : Freeware
Author/Publisher: Acqualia
Developer's Site: http://www.acqualia.com/
Description: Apple Design Awards 2007 Winner. An application designed to make images look gorgeous for the web. With an animated drag and drop-style interface, Picturesque makes images with tasteful effects like reflections, soft glows, shadows, delicate curves, strokes, and fades in less time than it takes to open Photoshop.
Mac Application, Software
The biggest film of the Winter is undoubtedly going to be Qunatum of Solace, the new James Bond film. What we always want from a new Bond film are some state of the art gadgets that we can dream about owning. I'm still waiting for a bowler hat you can throw at 50 metres and decapitate someone with, though I don't think the police will let me play with that. Not to worry, our friends at Gadgets.co.uk have come up with a some Bond-esque gadgets for you to play with, be careful out there 007...
First up is the wireless bullet camera. This camera is great for any surveillance missions you may find yourself on. Simply place the camera in a discreet position, plug the receiver into a TV or similar device and do the necessary reconaisscance on your target. With a range of 25m indoors and 50m outdoors you'll have enough space to make your getaway.
Next up, once you've completed your surveillance mission, you'll probably want to make sure you are nort being followed back to base. This is where mirrored sunglasses will come in handy. They look like normal sunglasses and they are except for one feature - if you look out of the corner of your eye, you will see a mirror reflection of what is occuring behind you. No need to turn around and let them know you know you are on to them, just keep an eye on them with these James Bond sunglasses.