Maximum PC - News IBM Announces World's Fastest Clocked Processor Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:02:51 +0000 IBM on Wednesday lifted the curtain on what Big Blue claims is the world's fastest computer chip, the new zEnterprise 196 (z196) processor. Minus 10 million geek points to the first person who asks, "Yes, but can it run Crysis," or any variant. What it can do is race along at 5.2GHz, the fastest stock clockspeed ever in the world of microprocessors. This server speed demon comes with 1.4 billion transistors packed onto a 512-square millimeter surface and was designed right here in the good ol' U.S. of A. (Poughkeepsie, New York) using IBM's 45nm SOI processor technology. It's a four-core part with embedded DRAM technology, which IBM says allows for dense DRAM caches, or components, on the same chips as high-speed microprocessors. "This world record-breaking speed is necessary for businesses managing huge workloads, such as banks, retailers, especially as the world becomes increasingly more interconnected, data has grown beyond the world's storage capacity, and business transactions continue to skyrocket," IBM said. IBM has poured $1.5 billion in research and development and over three years of collaboration with top clients around the world coming up with its zEnterprise technology. Image Credit: IBM Microsoft Receives Patent for OS Shutdown Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:19:41 +0000 Quick, someone go grab a patent for starting up a computer, because believe it or not, the intellectual property for shutting down is now taken, and it belongs to Microsoft. "A user interface and scheme is provided for facilitating shutting down and operating system," the patent abstract reads. "Aspects include the operating system receiving a command to initiate shut down, and automatically terminating graphical user interface (GUI) applications that delay shut down which do not have top level windows. Also, aspects provide a user, through a graphical user interface, the ability to automatically terminate all running applications in response to determining that a running GUI application has a top level windows." The above patent was awarded to Microsoft on August 31, 2010, but apparently it wasn't an easy decision. Microsoft first filed for the patent back in August 2005. GlobalFoundries Kicks Out First 28nm ARM Processor Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:46:40 +0000 During this week's Global Technology Conference, GlobalFoundries unveiled the world's first 28nm ARM Cortex-A9 processor platform with High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) technology. "This is a significant milestone on the road to high-volume 28nm manufacturing and technology leadership for next-generation products ranging from smart mobile devices to high-performance wired applications," said Mojy Chian, senior vice president of design enablement at GlobalFoundries. "By working closely with ARM in the early stages of technology qualification, we will enable our customers to rapidly bring their ARM Cortex-A9 designs with ARM physical IP to production by setting a new standard for performance and power-efficiency." GlobalFoundries says its new production capabilities will "enable smooth ramp-up and faster time to market" for its customers, and will enable a 40 percent increase in computer performance, a 30 percent power savings, and a 100 percent increase in standby battery life compared to 40nm technology. Looking ahead, GlobalFoundries has set a goal to deliver 20nm technology to customers by 2013. Image Credit: GlobalFoundries Twitter to Start Logging URL Mouse Clicks Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:45:30 +0000 Twitter sent out an email on Wednesday announcing a couple of upcoming updates, one of which includes automatic t.co link wrapping. In the coming weeks, Twitter's link wrapping service will intercept all URLs posted on the microblogging service and convert them into shorter, easier to read URLs. So what exactly has privacy mavens up in arms? This little tidbit: "When you click on a wrapped link, your request will pass through the Twitter service to check if the destination site is known to contain malware, and we will then forward you on to the destination URL ... When you click on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click. We hope to use this data to provide better and more relevant content to you over time," the microblogging site said. Before you reach for the pitchforks and lighter fluid, keep in mind Twitter isn't the only one harvesting your click activity. As CNET points out, Yahoo tracks user searches, Bing and Facebook both appear to use JavaScript to keep track of where users click through to, and even Google sometimes uses redirects. And don't forget that everything you tweet ends up at the Library of Congress. Even so, this will come as little consolation to privacy advocates who view this move as a "disgusting data landgrab." New Cans from Creative Play with Positional 3D Audio Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:09:57 +0000 Creative wants you to know that they've just launched the world's first truly 3D audio headsets, unlike those other 3D sets you may have read about, which apparently aren't the real deal. So how exactly can Creative make that claim? "Creative gaming headsets are the only headsets in the world to deliver a true 3D immersive experience -- with sound coming from around you, above you, and from below. As games have evolved and 3D video has become the norm, Creative headsets with THX TruStudio Pro are the perfect complement, providing gamers with a completely immersive, mind-blowing 3D audio and video experience," said Steve Erickson, VP and GM for audio and video at Creative. THX purportedly had a hand in helping develop the new Sound Blaster 3D Tactic Alpha and 3D Sigma headsets, which use proprietary advanced algorithms to blast audio at your eardrums from above, below, and all around. From a hardware standpoint, the 3D Alpha comes with 40mm Neodymium drivers, a detachable noise-canceling mic, and a dual-mode USB 2.0 adapter that allows the headset to be used in analog mode. The 3D Sigma boasts the same feature-set, except the drivers are 50mm and it comes with a steel core headband. These are also the first headsets to come with customizable profiles. Look for the 3D Alpha and 3D Sigma to ship later this month for $60 and $90, respectively. Microsoft: Windows 7 Family Pack Available Again Soon (While Supplies Last) Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:31:44 +0000 Microsoft will once again begin selling Windows 7 Family Packs, which ship with three upgrade licenses for Windows 7 Home Premium for $150. This is the same promotion Microsoft ran when Windows 7 launched in October of last year and it didn't take long for copies to sell out. Like before, Microsoft is only allocating so many Family Packs, though the sultan of software didn't say exactly how many it will make available. "So, don't delay," Microsoft said in a blog post. "The Windows 7 Family Pack will be available soon while supplies last." U.S. residents will be able to purchase the Family Pack starting October 3rd at the Microsoft Store. Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Australia, "and many other markets" will have access starting October 22nd. MSI Slaps Triple Overvoltage Function onto New Fermi Card Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:23:44 +0000 MSI's latest Fermi-based graphics card is a tweaker's dream, assuming you sit around dreaming about cranking voltage knobs on your hardware. That's exactly what you can do with MSI's new N460GTX Hawk, supposedly the world's first videocard with a triple overvoltage function to support core voltage, memory voltage, and PLL voltage adjustments. MSI says the N460GTX Hawk is also the only model on the market to have successfully achieved 1GHz on air, a feat made possible in part by the 7+1 PWM power design, V-Check Points (which allows users to measure voltage on the graphics card with a multimeter), active phase switching (APS), and the dual-fan Twin Frozr II heatsink. With the core clockspeed cranked to 1GHz, Indonesian overclocker "Hazzan" posted a 3DMark Vantage score of 21,706 (18,725 GPU, 41,552 CPU), an impressive mark for an air cooled setup. No word yet on price or availability. Image Credit: MSI Target to Dabble in Facebook Gift Cards Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:28:59 +0000 The social networking superstar known as Facebook is taking its business offline and into brick and mortar stores by selling gift cards at Target locations, Reuters reports. These will come in increments of $15, $25, and $50 and can be used to purchase virtual products for games hosted on the site, which pretty much ensures Zynga will be around for a long, long time. This could also mean more scams in the making. Beware of upcoming gift card offers that aren't directly affiliated with Facebook or Target.  Back in April, The Consumerist reported a fake IKEA gift card scam that was able to attract over 37,000 Facebook users. Rumor: Nvidia Working on Chipset to Bypass Sandy Bridge Architecture Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:05:24 +0000 Those ever talkative "sources from motherboard makers" are again flapping their gums to Digitimes, this time involving Nvidia. As the latest rumor goes, Nvidia's engineers are busy developing a chipset that combines the function of both a southbridge and GPU. The funky dual-purpose chipset is Nvidia's way of sidestepping Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture and avoiding a potential messy legal battle. Intel filed suit against Nvidia back in 2009 claiming the license agreement between the two parties only covered processors that don't contain an integrated memory controller, which is the reason why you haven't seen any Nvidia-based chipsets for Nehalem. Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture combines a CPU and northbridge into one, and as the story goes, Nvidia is hoping motherboard makers will opt to purchase Sandy Bridge without the southbridge (Cougar Point). That would save them about $15, which could then be used towards the purchase of Nvidia's combo chipset. Google Denies Steve Jobs' Activation Accusations Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:04:56 +0000 After the whole iPhone 4 antenna fiasco, you'd think Apple would be a little reluctant to start flinging mud. You'd also be wrong. During Apple's San Francisco event yesterday, Steve Jobs used part of his time on stage to call into question Google's activation numbers, albeit not directly. "We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," said Jobs, presumably directed at Google's Eric Schmidt, who last month announced Google was activating over 200,000 devices a day. "We think we are ahead of everyone." In responding to Jobs' accusation, a Google spokesperson got right to the point. "The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services," a Google spokesperson told CNN. If we're to believe Google, then not only was Jobs wrong in his assertion, but the number of Google Android devices could conceivably be higher than the 230,000 Apple devices Jobs says are activated on a daily basis.