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I can speak Chinese with Ispeakchinese
“China, China, China, China, China is always the theme reiterated in the speech of Mr. Kevin Rudd on his
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Chinese students choose Australia as the most craved country for further study and occupation career.
Consequently an unprecedented “Chinese Fever” permeates every corner in Australia. Speaking fluent Chinese is not only the advantage of cooperation in
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Next, let’s focus on other countries. According to incomplete statistics, there is thousands of Chinese
websites owned by most international organizations, multinational corporations, international media and key
universities. A new tide of studying Chinese is initiated in the US these days. Furthermore, the number of
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A Cuil Search Engine
“Cuil” supposedly means “wisdom” in Gaelic. In English, pronounced “cool,” it means business when it comes to Internet search. That's what its founders, nearly all ex-Google employees, want you to believe. Let's take a look at their claims and their performance to see whether it's wise to take them seriously.
Cuil is the brainchild of Tom Costello, Anna Patterson, Russell Power and Louis Monier. Costello is an ex-IBM employee and former member of Stanford University's Research faculty, and his work at both organizations focused on search. Anna Patterson joined Google in 2004 after it bought Recall, the search engine she designed, which indexed 12 billion pages (a record at that time). At Google she handled the problem of scaling architecture – keeping up with the growth of the web. She left in 2006 to build Cuil.
Power and Monier, like Patterson, boast Google on their resumes. Both dealt with issues of scale as part of their day-to-day work, like Patterson. Monier also did serious work on search at eBay and AltaVista. When founders have this kind of background, even Google has to sit up and take notice. One has to ask: how does Cuil approach search, and how is it different from Google's approach?
Cuil points to four guiding principles in its philosophy. First, it believes that size matters, which is not surprising when you consider the background of the founders. Second, popularity is useful, but not always important. This is reflected in its claim to index pages based on content and context rather than just the number of links leading to a page. Third, it believes that organization is fundamental, and it uses this principle to classify the information it finds so you can find it better. And fourth, privacy is paramount; Cuil explains that it analyzes the web, not its users.
working world countries
The Forbes magazine has compiled the world countries rating, which population spends most of their time at work.
1. South Korea. Amount of working hours per year: 2357. Paid vacation: 10 days. Public holidays: 11 days. Population: 49,23 million people. Working: 23,99 million people.
2. Greece. Amount of working hours per year: 2052. Paid vacation: 20 days. Public holidays: 12 days. Population: 10,72 million people. Working: 4,94 million people.
3. Czech Republic. Amount of working hours per year: 1997. Paid vacation: 20 days. Public holidays: 12 days. Population: 10,22 million people. Working: 5,35 million people.
4. Hungary. Amount of working hours per year: 1989. Paid vacation: 20 days (for the employees older than 45 years - 30 days). Public holidays: 10 days. Population: 9,93 million people. Working: 4,19 million people.
5. Poland. Amount of working hours per year: 1985. Paid vacation: 20 days (26 days after 10 years of work). Public holidays: 12 days. Population: 38,5 million people. Working: 17,01 million people.
6. Turkey. Amount of working hours per year: 1918. Paid vacation: 14-26 days. Public holidays: 7 days. Population: 71,89 million people. Working: 25,27 million people.
7. Mexico. Amount of working hours per year: 1883. Paid vacation: 8 days (during the first two years of work), 12 days (from the second till the fifth year of work), 16 days (after 5 years of work). Public holidays: 14 days. Population: 109,96 million people. Working: 45,38 million people.
8. Italy. Amount of working hours per year: 1800. Paid vacation: 20-32 days. Public holidays: 12 days. Population: 58,15 million people. Working: 24,86 million people.
9. USA. Amount of working hours per year: 1797. Paid vacation: 10 days. Public holidays: 8 days. Population: 303,82 million people. Working: 153,1 million people.
10. Iceland. Amount of working hours per year: 1794. Paid vacation: 24 days. Public holidays: 12 days. Population: 304 367 people. Working: 180 000 people.
The climate change
In the nearest years the Mediterranean and the beloved Turkey and Egypt will be unsuitable for tourism because of the global warming. These are the result of the latest research of the Deutsche Bank. And the touristic industry will flourish in Russia and the beaches of the Northern Germany will be especially attractive. Though, the experts advise not to blame the weather, but to build hotels and advertise those lands that are not really popular now.
The summer heat will become normal for European countries, tsunami will frighten the tourists from the popular beaches and the snow on the mountain resorts will melt. These and many other consequences of the global warming will dramatically change the touristic map of the world, as the analytics of the Deutsche Bank affirm in their report "Climate changes and tourism: where the touristic roads will lead?".
Most bad luck will get Australia. Because of the oil prices the flights there will be more expensive and because of the warming the floods will be constant in the coastal area as well as the forest fire. Also the corrals of the Great Barrier Reef will disappear - but this will only increase the diving tourism in the country. The advertising slogan is already there: "Take a look at the Great Barrier Reef till it completely disappears!" The reefs at Maldives - popular among the tourists - will also die, but it is not a real problem - till that time the Maldives will be under water too.
The nightmares are not still over. In Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Spain and Portugal - the summer heat that killed 35 thousands people in 2003 will become regular. In the Southern Europe there are of course cultural heritages that will still attract tourists. But there are less sights as in the competitor's countries and the cultural sights can be visited in a less hot time of the year. The most profitable summer season will miss the Mediterranean. In addition, the holiday-makers will have no more love for Hungary, because the Balaton lake will get shallow.
The beachers will move to the coasts of North and Baltic seas - first of all to Germany, Denmark and Baltics. The economists are sure that the beaches of the Northern Germany will be the most popular in Europe. France and Italy will also not really suffer from the European heat - and even win a little - these countries are visited not for the "chocolate" sun tan, but firstly because of the museums and ancient palaces. The ski resorts located high in the French Alps will not suffer. But those that are located lower - will significantly melt. This will happen in Italy, Austria and Germany. The Scandinavian and English climate will become tender and cozy.
According to the forecasts of the Hamburg University professor - Richard Tol, because of the global warming - till the end of the XXI-th century the tourists flow will noticeably increase for Canada (200%), Russia (174%) and Mongolia (174%). The profit loss will happen in the hot moslem countries - Mavritania (decrease by 60%), Mali (59%) and also Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (decrease by 55-58%).
piratic islands of the Caribbean
The great contribution of the famous trilogy "Pirates of the Caribbean" consists of the increased interest to the pirate thematic and everything that is linked with it.
Now the tourists, among those lots of the movie fans, visit the Caribbean sea areal not only for sunbathing, but also to dive into the piratic past. Here are eight of the "most piratic" islands of the Caribbean.
Tortuga, Haiti. Corsairs have attached from there the Spanish galleons, loaded with Peruvian silver, silk and spices from China. Many famous pirated, including Henry Morgan, Francis L'Olonais and Pierre Legrain have used Tortuga as their base. Exactly here Jack Sparrow have hired their crew for the search of the "Black Pearl".
Port Royal, Jamaica. The encouraged by the British government, the filibusters have regularly attacked from here the passing by French and Spanish vessels. Port Royal has been famous as the "most sinful place on Earth", till the 1692 when a terrible earthquake has sent the most part of the city to the bottom of the sea and wiped out thousands of pirates. Many people have considered it as a vengeance for the committed crimes.
Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. During the Golden Age of the pirates the famous Calico Jack John Rackam, Anne Bonny and captain Blackbeard raged out here. The fortified port of this pirate republic has been known as unassailable till the Britons have sent here Woodes Rogers, the former caper captain to end the dominion of the pirates at Bahamas.
Santa Cruz. During the pirate Golden Age, this desert island was a perfect position to assault vessels in the area of the "Triangle Trade".
Virgin Gorda. The third largest Virgin island has been a perfect hide for pirates due to the jagged coastal line and hundreds of cozy bays and caves. Here in 1717 the "Black Sam Bellamy" and his crew have set up a temporary camp right under the nose of an English general-governor.
Roatan, Honduras. Surrounded by the treacherous reefs and shoals, in the XVII-th century Roatan has been a sweet home for hundreds of pirates including legendary Henry Morgan and Lauren de Graff. The sea robbers have started their hunts for the trade vessels with Chinese porcelain and Peruvian silver.
Saint Christopher, Saint Kitts and Nevis. At the end of XVIII-th century the France has attacked the island with the help of the caper captain William Kidd, an Englishman serving the French crown.
Guadalupe. On the 28-th of November 1717 the famous for his cruelty Edward "Black Beard" Teach has assaulted the island. More than half of the city has been destroyed by the fire and the sanguinary pirate has lifted a vessel, loaded with sugar.
Google Chrome Browser
Since it is optimized for Web 2.0, the new Google Chrome Browser enhances the performance speed for AJAX-powered features of NetSuite, such as eXtreme list editing, type-ahead lookups, rich text editing, drag-and-drop and quick-add portlets. OpenAir experiences similar performance gains for dynamic workflows, such as assigning project resources and managing project tasks. NetSuite and OpenAir support three other Web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. With the addition of Google Chrome support, NetSuite continues to provide customers with broad-based freedom of choice when it comes to running their businesses and accessing key business data from anywhere, at any time.
"At NetSuite, we strive to offer our customers the latest innovations that will enable the greatest degree of choice, flexibility and productivity," said Per Jakobsen, Vice President of Product Management at NetSuite. "We salute Google for the innovation they've offered in their new Chrome Browser and are pleased to be able to offer early support for Chrome to all NetSuite and OpenAir customers."
Availability
NetSuite support for Google Chrome is being rolled out now in phases to customers. Once the rollout is complete in mid-October, all NetSuite and OpenAir functionality will work with Google Chrome's current release. Google's Chrome Browser, as a new release, is still in beta version and has not yet been certified for full release by Google.
Microsoft Xbox 360
Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the first "next-generation" game console to hit the market in November 2005, beating the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 by a full year. Like its peers, the 360 initially suffered from a somewhat anemic game lineup and some annoying hardware and software limitations. Since its launch, however, the Xbox team has implemented an assortment of incremental improvements, even going so far as to release an updated version of the console. The result, as of fall 2007, is the best version of the Xbox 360 to date. The current model features the HDMI output with 1080p video support that was missing on the original version, as well as a host of other tweaks and improvements to the system's underlying software. Best of all, the 360 now boasts the largest--and many would argue, the best--game lineup. In addition to great games such as Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4, the 360 is the only console where you can play such must-have exclusive titles as Halo 3, BioShock, Gears of War, and Mass Effect. Add to that a host of impressive digital media features, including an add-on HD DVD movie player and a decent online selection of downloadable pay-per-view HD movies and TV shows.
The console's real Achilles' heel has been its unacceptably poor reliability: A vast number of Xbox 360 consoles have suffered the dreaded "red ring of death" error, a fatal glitch that renders them unusable. It's been a huge frustration for even the most forgiving 360 owner. That said, Microsoft has made amends by offering a three-year limited warranty, guaranteeing replacement of those faulty consoles. Anecdotal evidence continues to suggest that the problem afflicts mostly older consoles. In other words, those manufactured in 2007 or later--the ones equipped with HDMI ports--should be much more stable than their predecessors.
In addition to the (we hope) improved reliability, we wish the upgraded version of the console had included a few more substantive fixes as well--a smaller power supply, a quieter disc drive, and built-in Wi-Fi. Nevertheless, the addition of HDMI, a best-in-class game library, and the cheapest price to date ($50 lower than the original console) make the Xbox 360 an offer that few gamers will be able to refuse.
Xbox 360 models compared
The 20GB version (reviewed here--often called the "Xbox 360 Pro" or "Xbox 360 Premium") will suffice for most users, while those who wish to maximize the console's video and gaming prowess will want to invest an extra $100 in the 120GB Xbox 360 Elite. (The Xbox 360 Arcade should be avoided--you'll just end up having to buy the add-on hard drive later anyway, thus eliminating the apparent savings.)
Model Xbox 360 Arcade* Xbox 360 20GB^ Xbox 360 Elite 120GB MSRP $280 $350 $450 Hard disk size n/a (includes 256MB memory card) 20GB 120GB Included accessories One wireless controller, composite AV cable One wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable, component/composite AV cable One wireless controller, headset, Ethernet cable, component/composite AV cable, HDMI cable Color White White Black Unique bundled items Currently ships with five Xbox Live Arcade titles. Currently ships with Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Currently ships with Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Notes Can't download online content or play original Xbox games without the addition of an add-on hard drive accessory (sold separately). Best price/feature mix for most users; avoid older version that lacks HDMI port. Larger hard drive is ideal for heavy downloaders of games and video.
Sony PlayStation 3
Sony has ruled the console landscape with its previous PlayStation home consoles, and the company is hoping that it has another blockbuster on tap. The PlayStation 3 is a graphical powerhouse, with a cutting-edge Cell processor and a customized Nvidia graphics chip that could melt most gaming PCs. But the console goes beyond gaming, doubling as a Blu-ray and DVD movie player. It's facing some tough competition with the cheaper but almost as powerful Xbox 360 and the more innovative--and far less expensive--Nintendo Wii. Read on for CNET's complete coverage for Sony's powerhouse home console.
Intel Seeks to Boost Performance,
Not Power Use
Intel Corp. is accelerating efforts to boost computing performance without increasing power consumption, including a new "turbo" technology on forthcoming chips.
Intel Intel Chairman Craig Barrett at the company's forum in San Francisco, where it unveiled "turbo" technology that it plans to build into a new generation of microprocessors. The technology, one of a series of disclosures Tuesday at the company's twice-yearly forum for developers in San Francisco, effectively speeds up one electronic brain on chips that may have four or more. To compensate for that adjustment, the turbo feature uses special controller circuitry that powers down the other calculating engines, known as processor cores, to hold down the total power consumed by a chip.
Intel, of Santa Clara, Calif., plans to build the turbo feature into a new generation of microprocessors code-named Nehalem. The chip family gets some of its performance gains from a feature known as an integrated memory controller that was pioneered by rival
An initial model for desktop computers, branded Core i7, will offer four processors and is expected to go into production in the fourth quarter. The next model in the family, Nehalem-EP, is targeted at low-end server systems. The company also discussed an eight-processor model, Nehalem-EX, that is expected to arrive in the second half of 2009.
"It's the world's most adaptable server architecture," said Pat Gelsinger, an Intel senior vice president and co-general manager of its digital enterprise group, during a speech at the Intel Developer Forum.
Mr. Gelsinger said a six-processor Xeon chip for servers that uses an existing design will be available in September and already is breaking performance records. He also discussed Intel's plans to move more broadly beyond computers into what the industry calls embedded applications, which include home-security systems, factory equipment and cars. Mr. Gelsinger predicted that 15 billion such devices will be connected to the Internet by 2015.
Intel also disclosed more details of its plans to enter the market for products known as solid-state drives, which are designed to replace disk drives and are built using chips known as NAND flash memory. Solid-state drives tend to be faster, more energy efficient and more shock resistant than disk drives. Executives of computer makers
The downside of solid-state drives is they tend to cost much more than hard drives to store the same amount of data. Intel didn't disclose its pricing, but said drives that store 80 gigabytes of data are expected to go into production in 30 days.
Intel also discussed new developments in mobile computing, including its first four-processor chips for notebook computers. On Wednesday, the company is expected to offer more details of its plans for a new category of pocket-sized devices it calls MIDs, for mobile-Internet devices. A series of hardware makers, including the San Francisco start-up Oqo, are expected to show prototype products based on a recently introduced Intel chip called Atom.
Sony PSP
After roughly a decade at the top of the home console industry, Sony decided to tackle the portable system market--one heavily fortified by Nintendo's Game Boy Advance and DS. Sony sought to take down Nintendo by adopting the tactic that made the PlayStation 2 such a runaway success: by offering sophisticated, graphically intensive games and a heavy dose of multimedia functionality. The device is called the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and in addition to playing games of PS2 graphical quality, it can play music and movies (downloaded or via disc) and surf the Web. It may not be the best handheld media product on the market, and the games lack the innovation of ones on Nintendo's portables, but as an all-in-one device, the Sony PSP is king of the hill.
From an aesthetic perspective, the Sony PSP is a gorgeous device. It's one of those gadgets you immediately want to get your hands on but vigilantly want to protect once you set it down. Weighing essentially the same as the Nintendo DS (6.2 ounces, including removable battery) and measuring 6.7 by 2.9 by 0.9 inches (WHD), the body feels well built and solid in your hand. Although not a lightweight, it's by no means a brick, nor, we suspect, would it be especially durable in a fall; you'll want to treat the PSP just as gingerly as an iPod or a Palm-style PDA.
Lijit Networks, Inc. Secures $7.1 Million Series C Investment Round Led by Foundry Group
Title.
Lijit Networks, Inc. ( www.lijit.com), a company that provides search-powered applications for both individual online publishers and online publisher networks, announced today that it has closed a $7.1M series C round of financing, led by Foundry Group. Existing investors, Boulder Ventures and Colorado Fund I, managed by High Country Venture, also participated in the round. Lijit will use the proceeds from this financing to launch its search-powered ad network, which empowers publishers to sell their own search ad inventory, as well as to expand its offices and employee base. "Publishers leverage Lijit's services to capture more page views and increase reader engagement," said Chris Wand, Managing Director of Foundry Group. "Our investment in Lijit comes on the heels of an impressive growth trajectory in 2008. Over the past six months the company has tripled the reach of its network, doubled its average publisher size, and provided measurable value back to those publishers." Individual publishers utilize Lijit to increase engagement with their readers. Technology expert and syndicated columnist Dave Taylor utilizes Lijit's Re-Search application, part of the standard Lijit Search widget installation, on his popular tech support site, AskDaveTaylor.com. "About 80% of traffic on AskDaveTaylor comes from search engines like Google," said Taylor. "When readers click through from search results, the Lijit Search widget finds other content on my site and proactively promotes it, keeping readers on the site longer." The Lijit Re-Search application provides over 150,000 new content impressions a day on AskDaveTaylor. Lijit recently concluded a detailed analysis of how its search-powered applications generate value for networks of publishers. In partnership with b5media, Lijit installed its search application across all sites in the b5media network, then compared the performance of b5media's standard search box against Lijit's search application. Lijit's search produced three times the search traffic of the standard search box. "More searches and more clicks in search results equal more reader engagement," commented Jeremy Wright, CEO of b5media. In addition, 26% of search result clicks drove traffic to other b5media publications in the same channel, allowing high-profile publications in the network to introduce readers to newer, lower-traffic publications, thereby boosting traffic across the entire network. "Since inception, Lijit has continually exceeded its business objectives," said Todd Vernon, founder and CEO of Lijit. "This significant investment gives us the resources required to continue that growth trajectory, expand the services we provide to our publishers, and continue to add top notch people to our team." About Foundry Group Foundry Group is a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage information technology, Internet, and software startups. In addition to providing the necessary venture capital to get a company up and running, Foundry Group is committed to leveraging their experience in starting and growing companies, expertise in the technology industry, and network of relationships to help great entrepreneurs turn great ideas into great companies. Foundry Group is based in Boulder, Colorado, and invests in companies located across the United States. For more information, visit www.foundrygroup.com. About Boulder Ventures, Ltd. Boulder Ventures manages over $300 million in venture capital partnerships, making equity investments in start-up, early stage, and emerging growth companies. Boulder Ventures primarily seeks opportunities in enterprise software, Internet-based business applications and services, communications infrastructure and services and life sciences tools and services. Boulder Ventures works in partnership with entrepreneurs, providing easily accessible, active support to develop novel business concepts into important companies. Boulder Ventures has offices in Owings Mills, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado. For more information, visit www.boulderventures.com. About High Country Venture High Country Venture manages Colorado Fund I, a venture capital fund seeking to invest in seed and early stage businesses in Colorado. To date, the fund has made several investments in various industries including life sciences, information technology, and retail. It is located in Boulder, Colorado. For more information, visit www.coloradofund1.com. About Lijit Networks, Inc. Lijit Networks, Inc. was incorporated in June 2006 and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. Lijit provides search-powered applications to individual online publishers and online publisher networks that increase page views and reader engagement, while optimizing search ad revenue. www.lijit.com.
How to Make Money off Free iPhone Games
Can developing free software for mobile phones be a business? It can if you're Illusion Labs, a fledgling company in the Swedish port city of Malmö.
Illusion Labs was started a year ago by Carl Loodberg and Andreas Alptun, who had worked together at another Swedish company called TAT, designing software for companies including Samsung and Nvidia (NVDA). They set up their own company so they could concentrate on developing applications specifically for Apple's iPhone. "When the iPhone came out, we were excited about the big screen, the graphics chip, and the good components," says Loodberg. "We thought it was an opportunity too big to pass up."
It looks like they were right. The first game they developed has become one of the most popular pieces of software for the iPhone. The game is called Labyrinth, a digital update to the old wooden box on which you maneuver a small silver ball through a maze while avoiding cut-out holes the ball could plunge into. The game, which is available for free from Apple's (AAPL) iTunes, is being downloaded 80,000 times a day, according to Loodberg, and is getting rave reviews from users. "Controls extremely precise," wrote one person on iTunes. "Smooth, very fluid, and is realistic," wrote another.
While the game is free, its success could mean rich rewards for Illusion Labs. The company is selling a souped-up version of the game, which is also quite popular, for $6.99 on iTunes. More promising, advertising agencies have contacted the company to develop variations on the game with the logos of advertisers embedded in them.
Marketing and Mobile Phones Already, Illusion Labs has designed a game called iPint for Carling beer, with the London-based ad agency Beattie McGuiness Bungay (BMB). In iPint, an iPhone user tilts her phone to guide a beer down a bar through a variety of obstacles and into a waiting hand. Once the beer arrives at its destination, the screen changes into a pint glass with Carling's logo on it. It then fills up with a virtual beer, which disappears when the phone is tilted to simulate drinking from a glass. Loodberg and Alptun won't comment specifically on how much they were paid for the work.
This is a new era for marketing and mobile phones. In the past, phonemakers including Nokia (NOK) and Motorola (MOT) and wireless operators such as AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ/VOD) kept tight control over what people could do with their mobile phones. That's changing now, as wireless players let customers install new applications on their phones and go where they want on the mobile Web.
Apple, whose phones are sold exclusively through AT&T in the U.S., has been at the leading edge of the trend. When Apple announced its iPhone 3G last month, it also unveiled the iTunes App Store, which lets any independent software developer market its products to the phone's users. Already, there are more than 1,000 applications being offered by developers, from Illusion Labs to Major League Baseball to eBay (EBAY). Other wireless carriers are following the approach of Apple and AT&T. Verizon Wireless has said it will open its network to outsiders. In the future, there will be more opportunities for developers who want to work with a wide range of phones, from Apple's devices to Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry to the mobile phones of HTC.
Lenovo takes on Eee PC market
The selection of netbooks, or low-cost sub-notebooks designed with internet access and web applications in mind, are growing with the latest additions from Lenovo – the IdeaPad S9 and S10. Both models are about an inch thick and weigh just over 2lbs. The S9 starts at €349, while the S10 is available from €419. Cheap as chips? This is why Lenovo is touting these lightweight models as ideal introductory laptops for first-time buyers or those who would like a laptop as a complement to their main PC.
The netbook, as a newly emerging category, gained a lot of public attention recently with the arrival of the ASUS Eee PC – the first highly anticipated and affordable lightweight laptop on the market.
Of course, much research and innovation has been poured into this category in order to create affordable computing for educating children, particularly in developing countries – the Intel Classmate PC and the XO laptop from the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative are examples of this.
Paul Bergevin, vice-president and general manager of the global comms group from Intel, the company which coined the phrase ‘netbook’, said he sees two distinct uses arising from this new product – first-time buyers in the developing world and those who wish to use it as a secondary laptop in the home.
“In more mature markets, I see a second major usage model for netbooks. They will become supplemental PCs and ready access points into the cloud of internet services, media and information,” he said on the official Technology@Intel blog.
“I imagine an extra PC for travelling, an extra PC for school work for the kids, a PC set up in the kitchen by the telephone to look up directions to the little league field or select items from a restaurant’s takeout menu.”
Liu Jun, senior vice-president, consumer business group, Lenovo, echoed this sentiment saying that this is a line of notebooks aimed at all consumers worldwide.
“As rapidly as the technology changes, today’s consumers are looking for mobile products that feature the best of basic computing functions in an extremely compact and affordable form, and Lenovo designed the IdeaPad netbooks for that purpose.”
The demand for netbooks is set to increase with the IDC forecasting that worldwide shipments of ultra-low cost notebooks will go from 430,000 units in 2007 to 9.2 million in 2012.
Comic Con: No Console-Specific ‘Street Fighter IV’ Characters
Namco Bandai stirred controversy when they placed Vader and Yoda in in separate versions of “Soul Calibur IV.” Vader showed up on PlayStation 3, Yoda on Xbox 360.
An excited “Street Fighter” fan at Comic Con 2008 asked “Street Fighter IV” producer Yoshinori Ono whether the in-development console versions of “Street Fighter IV” would follow the same path.
The short answer? No. “We don’t want to go in that direction,” said Ono.
There will be additional characters produced for the home version, but rest assured, it won’t matter which version you end up buying.
SEGA Initial D
Racing along the roads of Japan, all over you will go and many a foe that will try to put you down. Drifting, drift, drifting on each corner while trying to cut off your opponent and reaching the finish line. Drive fast, drift swiftly, show no mercy. In the racing world of Initial D, the weak stay behind while the strong and legendary play at night. Welcome to the casual driving that will give you a new definition of “putting the pedal to the metal”.
Before I go on about the game, let me say this, thank you SEGA for allowing us to import this game that comes with an ENGLISH instruction manual. Again, I thank you, because God knows how many times I’ve been frustrated with the purpose I’m supposed to accomplish in most of these imports. So, with that said, let’s get with the game!
It’s not your GT5 or FORZA Motor Sports, in fact this would be considered as a “casual” driving game with player friendly controls. The graphics and modeling is pleasing to the eye, but the style of the characters is so different. You’d say that they were taken out of a manga and then placed in the game. They don’t move very much, it’s more of them just standing there and talking with minimal hand movement. Also, they speak in Japanese (duh), so knowing what they’re saying could help with understanding the story line.
The cars are your average Japanese owned vehicle, Nissan, Suzuki, Toyota, etc, and each with a unique owner. Your owner is someone you can create when you start up a new profile, be it male or female. This doesn’t affect the game, but it’s a nice touch. The types of cars vary on the maker of the cars, and how they perform on the road. You have Front Drive, which the car will under steer during acceleration, but cuts the corners in a powerful way. Then there’s the Four Wheel Drive, heavy on the parts, but has great acceleration and strong corner cutting.
Controlling each car does take time to get used to, and that can be said about any driving game. With the tracks varying from smooth turning and simple curved roads to sharp turning and night-time bumpy roads, the difficulty progresses slowly but in a good way. Meaning that you will have time to practice each level if you want to before you take on the Story Mode. Trust me when I say this, ALWAYS go into Practice mode before taking on a new level of racers in the Story mode, because you’ll need to get used to the lay out of the map.
The music is another standout, being that it’s a mix of J-Pop and J-Rock (Japanese Pop and Japanese Rock). Very little does it get annyoning, but you’ll already be immersed in the game that you will barely feel distracted. Hitting those drifts, getting to the finish line, having the opponent in your dust trails, all of this goes great with those crazy J-Rock/Pop beats. You can always decide what track you want to listen to before heading off, and there’s a wide variety to choose from.
The features in game consist of a few that I’m going to mention, which is when you beat a racer in Story mode, you will obtain new “parts” or looks for your character. Now, I’m not too sure that you can do it straight away on changing the look of him/her, but I think you can only add in those new looks when you create a new character. Why do that? Dunno, but it’s there. As I mentioned before, this isn’t a top notch racing game that we Americans are known to love. Yes, I did say “WE”.
I’m not much of a racing fan, but this is a solid, good game with potential to come out here state side. I truly wish it would, being made by SEGA. As we all should know by now, they NEED to bring more of their games over here. back to the game! It’s fun, can be addictive, and a must for those who love racing games or Japanese games in general.
Intel® P45 Express Chipset
Desktop PC platforms based on the Intel® P45 Express Chipset, combined with either the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor or Intel® Core™2 Duo processor, drive performance and state-of-the-art technology to mainstream and performance platforms. The Intel® P45 Express Chipset supports the latest 45nm Intel® Core™2 processor family at 1333MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR3, Intel® Extreme Memory Profiles (Intel® XMP), dual PCI Express* 2.0 graphics and Intel® Extreme Tuning.
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View chipset system diagrams See product images Intel® Motherboard and Barebones Selector Guide Desktop chipset comparison chart
Features and benefits 1333/1066/800 MHz system bus Supports the Intel® Core™2 Duo and Intel® Core™2 Quad processors with Intel® Virtualization Technology◊1, and Intel® Celeron® processor. PCI Express* 2.0 interface The PCI Express 2.0 provides 16 GB/s bandwidth for platform graphics. Intel® Fast Memory Access Updated Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) backbone architecture that improves system performance by optimizing the use of available memory bandwidth and reducing the latency of the memory accesses. Dual-Channel DDR2 memory support Delivers up to 12.8 GB/s (DDR2 800 dual 6.4 GB/s) of bandwidth and 16 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing. Dual-Channel DDR3 memory support Delivers up to 17 GB/s (DDR3 1066 dual 8.5 GB/s) of bandwidth and 8 GB maximum supported memory size for faster system responsiveness and support of 64-bit computing. Intel® Flex Memory Technology Facilitates easier upgrades by allowing different memory sizes to be populated and remain in dual-channel mode. Intel® High Definition Audio◊2 Integrated audio support enables premium digital surround sound and delivers advanced features such as multiple audio streams and jack re-tasking. Intel® Matrix Storage Technology◊3 With additional hard drives added, provides quicker access to digital photo, video and data files with RAID 0, 5, and 10, and greater data protection against a hard disk drive failure with RAID 1, 5, and 10. Support for external SATA (eSATA) enables the full SATA interface speed outside the chassis, up to 3 Gb/s. Intel® Rapid Recover Technology Intel's latest data protection technology provides a recovery point that can be used to quickly recover a system should a hard drive fail or if there is data corruption. The clone can also be mounted as a read-only volume to allow a user to recover individual files. Intel® Turbo Memory Intel's innovative NAND cache designed to improve the responsiveness of applications, application load times, and system boot performance. Intel® Turbo Memory, paired with the Intel P45 Express Chipset, also allows the user to easily control the applications or data in the cache using the new Intel Turbo Memory Dashboard interface, boosting performance further. Serial ATA (SATA) 3 Gb/s High-speed storage interface supports faster transfer rate for improved data access with up to 6 SATA ports. eSATA SATA interface designed for use with external SATA devices. It provides a link for 3 Gb/s data speeds to eliminate bottlenecks found with current external storage solutions. SATA port disable Enables individual SATA ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through SATA ports. Especially targeted for eSATA ports. USB port disable Enables individual USB ports to be enabled or disabled as needed. This feature provides added protection of data by preventing malicious removal or insertion of data through USB ports. Intel® Quiet System Technology Intelligent system fan speed control algorithms use operating temperature ranges more efficiently to reduce system noise by minimizing fan speed changes.
Related products Processors Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Intel® Core™2 Duo processor
Motherboards Intel® Desktop Boards
Packaging information Product Package Intel® 82P45 Memory Controller Hub 1254 Flip Chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA)
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AMD Taps Meyer as CEO in Reshuffle
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has let a lot of customers and investors down lately. Now the question is, can an insider rebuild the company's credibility?
The chip maker Thursday said Hector Ruiz, 62 years old, will give up the job of chief executive to Dirk Meyer, an heir apparent who has served as AMD's president and chief operating officer since 2006. Mr. Ruiz, who was also AMD's chairman, assumes the additional title of executive chairman, and will continue to focus on a previously announced plan to develop a new manufacturing strategy to reduce costs.
Associated Press Dirk Meyer had been AMD's president and chief operating officer. Mr. Meyer, a 46-year-old engineer with a dozen chip designs to his name, takes the top job following a massive slide in AMD's stock. Investors have punished the company for a major product miscue, a costly acquisition and tougher competition from longtime rival
Amid the recent disappointments, Mr. Meyer said he would try to narrow AMD's focus to sections of the chip market where the company can offer products that are really different from the competition. Beyond that, he summed up his new strategy simply. "Execute, execute, execute," he said.
Among other things, Mr. Ruiz also was a force in pushing to use antitrust laws against Intel, which controls about four-fifths of the microprocessors that serve as electronic brains in PCs. Besides filing its own private suit against Intel, AMD has successfully persuaded the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as well as regulators in Europe, Japan and Korea to investigate its rival's tactics, which Intel insists are legal.
Mr. Meyer joined AMD in 1995 after nearly a decade at Digital Equipment Corp., where he was a key designer on a high-profile family of chips called Alpha. He rose up through the engineering ranks, and has largely managed the microprocessor business since 2001.
The company's biggest coup since then was the introduction of a line of chips in 2003 that was a big financial success, and marked AMD's transformation from a company that once copied Intel's designs to an innovator. In particular, a model called Opteron chips became a hit in server systems used by companies, and helped the company generally improve its image as a credible supplier to corporations.
But Intel counterattacked in 2006 with an overhauled product line, and since then has gradually improved its competitive position. In the meantime, AMD made a risky bet in 2006 by buying ATI Technologies, a specialist in graphics chips for $5.4 billion. Besides leaving the company with two operations that AMD has now decided to divest, the transaction saddled the company with a big debt load.
AMD tried to counterattack in September 2007 with a chip called Barcelona, which squeezed the equivalent of four electronic brains on one chip. But that announcement came later than the company expected, and the chip was initially delivered with a flaw that required some design changes to correct -- adding to a delay in boosting shipments.
Along the way, AMD's stock price -- which topped $40 a share in 2006 -- has lately been trading at less than a third of the $16 level of a year ago. The stock rose 24 cents to $5.30 in 4 p.m. New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Following disclosure of its second-quarter results, the stock dropped in after-hours trading to $4.91. Its current market value of about $3 billion is well below the price the company paid for ATI. As part of the announcements yesterday, AMD Thursday said it is divesting former ATI operations that sell chips for hand-held devices and digital TVs, accounting for $920 million of the second-quarter loss.
Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates, said the addition of ATI's graphics-chips business may ultimately help AMD, but at a heavy cost. "They clearly overpaid," he said.
Douglas Freedman, an analyst at American Technology Research, noted that the announcement of Mr. Meyer's appointment didn't do much to reverse the after-hours slide in AMD's shares. For one thing, Mr. Meyer is perceived as a key player in driving the strategy that put AMD in its current position.
And now, though AMD's recent product introductions and other factors are promising, the new CEO faces a tough test in winning back orders from customers burned from the delay of the Barcelona chip. "Regaining their trust to give you the share back that they have given you is a challenge," he said.
We generally don’t use integrated graphics. You might not use integrated graphics. But there are more motherboards with integrated graphics sold than discrete cards, according to data published last year by Jon Peddie Research. That means you probably have friends and family buying systems with built-in graphics engines.
Guess what happens when the work day is done and you take them into battle with you through a little Enemy Territory or Company of Heroes? Poor performance likely gets them killed over and over. Talk about a real bummer. We're WoW junkies ourselves, and you can’t imagine how many of the guys blame raid wipes on the speed of their graphics cards.
Paragraph. Click here to ediFortunately, even as the latest games transition to advanced DirectX 10 functionality, quickly outdating yesterday’s value GPUs, the hardware vendors manufacturing integrated graphics chipsets are revamping their offerings. Intel, for example, recently slipped out its G35 chipset with the GMA X3500 graphics core. Sporting DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.0 support, along with hardware vertex shading, the GPU would seem to be a great play on mainstream gaming in Vista. Could the company have its first gamer-worthy integrated chipset? Not if AMD has anything to say about it. The 780G platform launching today combines the core logic expertise and graphics technology brought in from ATI with AMD’s latest low-power Athlon X2, yielding a very fast, very inexpensive platform that won’t rack up a substantial energy tab. Additionally, the chipset supports a new feature called Hybrid Graphics—a Vista-only capability that harnesses the power of an add-in card, combines it with the integrated engine, and gives you a CrossFire-like experience at a price point so low that AMD doesn’t want to call it CrossFire. Sounds like just the ticket for cost-conscious gamers eager to hang with the big boys. You can read more about Hybrid CrossFire in our initial look at the technologyt.
A motherboard built on the 780G chipset consists of two core logic components: the 780G northbridge and AMD’s new SB700 southbridge.
Despite its 205 million transistor composition, the 780G is actually a tiny little piece of work, thanks to a move to 55nm manufacturing. At idle, AMD says the northbridge sips less than a watt. Pretty impressive when you consider the cutting-edge functionality wrapped up in the silicon.
For instance, the chipset supports a HyperTransport 3.0 link to the new AM2+ socket interface. Past chipsets worked with HyperTransport 1.0 running at 1 GHz DDR. The 780G ups the link speed to 1.8 GHz, yielding nearly 15 GB/s of bandwidth. That throughput is particularly important to the 780G, since the built-in graphics processor has to talk through the processor’s memory controller in order to pull data from system RAM. Naturally, as you scale HyperTransport performance, 3D frame rates will go right along with it. Of course, getting the benefit of HyperTransport 3.0 requires a processor that supports the interface. One of the new Phenom chips will do the trick. An older Athlon X2, such as the one we’ll be looking at in a bit, will not. Just to be clear, the new AM2+ socket is backwards compatible with CPUs designed for the AM2 interface—it just reverts back to HyperTransport 1.0 link speeds. With plenty of data moving between the CPU and 780G, there’s room for lots of high-bandwidth connectivity. The northbridge boasts 26 PCI Express 2.0 lanes. Sixteen are reserved for a single discrete graphics slot, six can be set aside for x1 upgrade slots and onboard peripherals, and the last four interface with the SB700 southbridge. We talked to AMD about the possibility of a motherboard vendor splitting the 16-lane link into a pair of CrossFire-enabled connectors. However, the link is fused together, which makes sense given the chipset’s mainstream pedigree.
Post.Office mail server compatible with Leopard
Tenon Intersystems has announced the release of Post.Office 3.8.4, an update to its mail server for Mac OS X. Post.Office costs $349 for a 100 mailbox/10 list system; updates for current users are free.
Post.Office enables you to use a Mac running Mac OS X to act as a mail server, and incorporates built-in spam filtering that can be managed from a Web page. You can update, import and export spam filters. It also sports SMPT authentication security and a plug-in architecture that supports tools to prevent virus and malware distribution, more anti-spam protection and other capabilities.
Post.Office supports Web-based mail client access using WEBmail, a separate add-on, and also supports additional capabilities using Tenon's companion iTools software, which combines Apache Web service, DNS and FTP management.
Post.Office requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. It can run on either client or server versions of Mac OS X.