360 to get DivX support!!?
November 30, 2007
December 4th, 2007 is a day that many Xbox 360 owners have been waiting for — Supposedly, the 360 will be getting support for DivX (It’s about time).
Microsoft States:
As promised, Microsoft is bringing some early gifts to your Xbox 360® just prior to the holiday season. Beginning at 0200 A.M. PST on December 4, 2007, the Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard Update will be available for all connected Xbox 360 consoles free of charge, bringing an array of new features and enhancements to the leading gaming and entertainment system.
Among the key new enhancements are the previously announced Xbox Originals game download service, Family Timer parental control feature, and expanded social networking experiences. Xbox 360 owners can also look forward to enhanced navigation, profile, and video features and Xbox LIVE® Arcade Hits.
This free update will be digitally distributed over Xbox LIVE to the more than eight million Xbox LIVE members worldwide (Xbox LIVE Silver and Gold) with no disc or hard drive required. If you don’t have an Xbox LIVE account, you can easily sign up for the free network by connecting your console to a broadband Internet connection. New features and enhancements include:
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Nvidia 9800 - Speculation
November 30, 2007
Found on: Gamespot
“G92″ GeForce 9800 GTX specs.
- 65nm process technology at TSMC.
- Over one billion transistors.
- Second Generation Unified Shader Architecture.
- Double precsion support (FP64).
- GPGPU native.
- Over one TeraFLOPS of shader processing power.
- MADD+ADD configuration for the shader untis (2+1 FLOPS=3 FLOPS per ALU)
- Fully Scalar design.
- 512-bit memory interface.
- 1024MB GDDR4 graphics memory.
- DirectX 10.1 support.
- OpenGL 3.0 Support.
- eDRAM die for “FREE 4xAA”.
- built in Audio Chip.
- built in tesselation unit (in the graphics core”
- Improved AA and AF quality levels
Just remember not to believe everything you see on the Internets…
AMD secures $622 million
November 18, 2007
hasn’t exactly been on-top of their financial game since Intel decided to throw in the towel for them. Intel’s Core series took all of us by storm and AMD saw a drastic fall in market share.
Once AMD purchased ATI, their money problems looked like they were going to overtake the company and cause some chapter 11 filings.
However, it seems that an investment company based in the United Arab Emirates believes their is still potential with AMD. Mubadala has purchased a 8.1% share in AMD for $622-million. Good news or Bad news for AMD — Only time will tell.
The Good news in our opinion is that AMD will stay kicking for some time. Consumers need competition between Intel and another company or we will be at the mercy of Intel’s share holders.
Virgin Mobile Canada - Some ups, some downs…
November 11, 2007
Before I get started on their service, I just wanted to say that I was quite excited to have an alternative cell phone provider. Roger’s, Bell & Telus each have their positives and negatives but Virgin is by far the most interesting company. Roger’s offers a great selection of cell phones that can appeal to any one. Bell offers a horrible phone selection but the best service in my opinion. Telus…well Telus is run by a bunch of hippies and anyone who knows me knows that I hate hippies.
On with the show
Virgin Mobile, a company that offers Canadians an alternative cell phone solution. Albeit an interesting one at that. Aimed at young adults and people like me (26) that don’t want to grow-up, ever. Their network is based on a partnership between Bell Mobility and Sir Richard Branson. This offers great coverage within Canada, but I wouldn’t purchase one of these phones if you plan on traveling.
The Phone - Samsung A300
The phone that I chose is the Samsung A300. A simple phone with (in today’s standards) a basic feature set. All the regular bells & whistles eg. Camera, browser, poly-phonic tones, blue-tooth, an interesting menu system with pigs, underwear, “sexy” lips and chainsaws. The battery is a horrendous display of what Lithium-Ion can in fact do. With average usage (5 - 10 calls/day @1-3mins each) I was recharging the battery every 24-48hrs. Turn on blue-tooth and there goes the neighborhood and your chance to make any phone calls.
The Samsung A300 is great for people that need a phone to be just that, a phone. The camera’s crap, the browser is sub-par and the screen is dull and boring. If you’re interested in functionality, go with something else. Just remember that if you are annoyed with recharging batteries everyday stay away from this phone.
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