family meeting

Alright guys, gather ’round. There’s something we’ve been wanting to tell you.Dan and I have talked about it, and we’ve decided that it’s in all of our best interests if we take a vacation. I mean ‘we’ being Dan and me. I know, I know, it’d be nice if we could all go, but look at it this way: we’ll all benefit when Dan and I come back tan, relaxed, and feeling like entirely new people.This is a lot to swallow all at once, so for now I’ll just tell you that we’ll be there for the first week of May (including our second anniversary), and that “there” is…Wait for it…Florid-aaaaaaaaaah.

Intel Sandy Bridge Previewed

Anandtech has published an in-depth preview of Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge CPUs. The Roadmap has been confirmed as the one previously leaked,and just as confusing, alongwith pricing indications. However, perhapsthe most important question would be - How fast is Sandy Bridge? The CPUAnandtech tested was a 3.1 GHz quad-core sample, the same speed as theCore i5 2400. Unlike the eventual i5 2400, however, the sample couldhave HyperThreading enabled but Turbo disabled. Clock-for-clock, SandyBridge is approximately 10% faster than Lynnfield, and perhaps a fewmore percent with Turbo enabled. This well supports long termspeculation that Sandy Bridge will only bring minor performanceimprovements, favouring efficiency.

Since Intel skipped quad-core for the Westmere 32nm refresh, today's Lynnfield CPUs are still 45nm. Hence, by moving to 32nm, Intel have been able to bump up the Sandy Bridge clock speeds significantly. Hence, the Core i5 2400 clocks in at 3.1 GHz, well over the 2.8 GHz Core i5 760. Thus, the Core i5 2400 will end up outperforming the Core i5 760 by around 25%, despite a lower price tag. It will consume less power as well. The real replacement for the i5 760, and possibly the best value-for-money part, will be the Core i5 2500K. This will be a 3.3 GHz CPU with no HT, but a Turbo Boost of 3.7 GHz. We can see this CPU comfortably outpacing the Core i5 760 by over 30%, at the same price point - $210. The most important part is the "K" suffix, indicating an unlocked multiplier. One of the major changes with Sandy Bridge is moving the BCLK generator to the chipset. Hence, this results in very limited overclocking of any kind from traditional means of increasing BCLK. The unlocked multiplier thus offers the best avenue for overclocking. The Core i5 2500 is identical to the 2500K, except it features a locked multiplier. The price difference between the two is $15 - something any overclocker can easily justify. If you are not interested in overclocking, the Core i5 2500 provides a formidable option at $196.

Above the Core i5 2500 series lies the only CPUs with HyperThreading for the initial release. Core i7 2600 is a 3.4 GHz product with 8 threads and 3.8 GHz turbo. However, unlike the Core i5 2500, the price difference between the locked and unlocked multiplier versions is massive. The i5 2500 is expected to be priced somewhere between $200 and $350 segment (more likely on the higher side), with the i5 2500K being priced as high as $562. At the lower end, the cheapest Sandy Bridge at release would be the dual-core Core i5 2100, which is a dual-core CPU clocked at 3.1 GHz, but with no Turbo. HT is enabled thankfully, for 4 threads. Lower priced Pentium branded products will release in Q2 2011 with even cheaper Celerons in Q3 2011.

The TDP for most quad cores will be 95W, with dual cores at 65W. However, the roadmap is further convoluted by "S" suffixed products, with TDP of 65W for quad-cores, and further low-power "T" products with 35W TDP for dual-cores and 45W TDP for quad-cores.

Finally, there is the on-die IGP featured with all Sandy Bridge products. While Intel made a major leap forward with Clarkdale, the graphics improvements with Sandy Bridge is even more impressive. Depending on the model, the IGP is clocked at 850 MHz, with an incredible 1350 MHz Turbo capability. The results are incredible, with Sandy Bridge obliterating not just Clarkdale, but every IGP out there today. In fact, it keeps up with the HD 5450 in most cases, and even sneaks by in some benchmarks. Low-res, low IQ gaming in modern games is definitely a possibility with Sandy Bridge for casual gamers.

Overall, there are no major surprises, and Sandy Bridge is turning out to be a worthy successor to the Nehalem generation. While it is an evolution of Nehalem rather than a brand new architecture, and clock-for-clock improvements are limited at best, Sandy Bridge makes up in the efficiency and clock speed department. Overall, we expect a roughly 30% increase in performance across the board at similar price points, with a drop in power consumption as well. Certain disappointments such as the very limited locked multiplier overclocking have been covered by unlocked K series CPUs and other benefits like AVX and massively improved graphics performance.

The Sandy Bridge CPUs previewed today by Anandtech will be available in January 2011. The lower priced CPUs will follow in Q2/Q3 2011. On the opposite end, the high-end LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge 6/8 core CPUs will only release in Q3 2011. With Sandy Bridge previewed and anticipated, the focus now shifts over to AMD's Llano.

For the full preview, you can read the Anandtech article.

Mobile Penryn Pricing Unveiled

X9000, T9500, T9300, T8300 and T8100 based on 45nm Penryn which is partof the Santa Rosa Refresh line-up will launch in Jan '08

Intel Prepares Penryn For Santa Rosa Refresh In Q1 2008

SegmentProcessor CodenameProcessor NumberClock Speed (GHz)FSB (MHz)L2 CacheCore 2ExtremePenryn
(Santa Rosa Refresh)TBA2.88006MBMerom
(Santa Rosa)X79002.88004MBX78002.68004MBCore 2 DuoPenryn
(Santa Rosa Refresh)TBA2.68006MBTBA2.58006MBTBA2.48003MBTBA2.18003MBMerom
(Santa Rosa)T78002.68004MBT77002.48004MBT75002.28004MBT73002.08004MBT72502.08002MBT71001.88002MB

Intel is preparing to include Penryn line-up for the Santa Rosa Refresh in Q12008 with Penryn-based Core 2 Extreme clocked at 2.8GHz/800FSB with 6MB sharedL2 cache and Penryn-based Core 2 Duo series from 2.1-2.6Ghz clock speed with3/6MB variants. Faster clocked and higher FSB Penryn will be available in Q22008 for Montevina Platform to be paired up with the new Cantiga chipsets. Therewill be Cantiga GM and PM chipsets with ICH9M that support DDR2-667/800 orDDR3-800/1066, 1066MHz FSB, Enhanced Intel AMT v4.0, Turbo Memory 2.0, Echo PeakWi-Fi/WiMAX combo, Shirley Peak Wi-Fi and Boazman GbE. There will also beCantiga GS and Cantiga GL with ICH9M later in Q3 2008 for SFF and Value segment.

Apple WWDC 2011 News Roundup

Apples annual WWDC kicked off this morning in San Francisco with Apple CEO Steve Jobs taking the stage to announce what has his company is going to release in the upcoming days and months. Here are what is announced this morning in children-friendly bit-size:

Mac OS X Lion - The lastest inception of the companys flagship operating system boast a whopping 250 new features for end users including Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, the Mac App Store (which by now most Mac users has experienced), Mission Control, Launchpad, and Mail app, just to name a few. Available as a digital download for just US$29.90, it will be available for all Mac users running Intel Core 2 Duo and above Macs on the Mac App Store next month in July.

iOS 5 - New version of Apples mobile operating system, iOS 5, will feature 200 new features to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users later this fall. New features includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, OTA updating and more.

iCloud - Apple will be offering an all-new cloud service which will give users former MobileMe services as well as iCloud Storage, iCloud Backup, iClouds Photo Stream services and enhancment to iTunes with iCloud. Most features will be available for free and it will be released later this year in fall.

Many expected the announcement of the successor to Apples iPhone 4 as traditionally, Apple has used WWDC as a platform to announce and showcase the latest iPhones since the iPhone 3G. But many were disappointed that not a single mention of the next iPhone was said. Speculation of the next iPhones announcement has pushed back to something in fall as a seperate special event.

If youre interested to watch the keynote delivered by Steve Jobs and his colleagues, head over to Apples stream and watch it there. QuickTime 7 is required on Windows.

AOpen Low Profile GeForce 6600 Card For SFF

AOpen, recognized worldwide as a manufacturer ofhigh-performance, high-quality display cards and computer peripherals, launched“Aeolus PCX6600–DV128LP”, one of the most powerful PCI Express video displaycards in the world today.

The new product is built with NVIDIA’s powerful GeForce™ 6 Series GPU — 6600.The graphics processing unit is designed to deliver a new generation ofperformance for powering 3D graphics and video processing.

Its foundation is a revolutionary new 3D graphics architecture that is the firstto deliver Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 support for ultra–realisticimages, and a superscalar design for unmatched performance. In order to addressthe growing demand from PC users for advanced video functionality, an on-chipvideo processor is added to the GeForce 6 Series GPUs — a first in the GPUindustry.

The company’s new display card comes with heat pipe solution which ischaracterized by excellent heat dissipation performance because high-end GPUsnormally generate high temperature and require heat reduction design.

A second unique feature of the graphics display card is its small size (lowprofile). It fits ideally into small size personal computers such as minibaresystems. In order to provides ultimate graphic power, Aeolus PCX6600-DV128LPuse MicroBGA type with latest DDRIII-2ns memory. “The Aeolus PCX 6600 will bethe perfect graphic card for small form factor with silence solution which basedon NVIDIA’s 6600 GPU,” asserts Jonathan Yen, product manager of the company.

Despite its compact size, the display card provides many valued-added strongfeatures with its integrated HDTV encoder. Within AOpen standard package, itprovides HDTV-output cable so that a computer system installed with this cardcan display world-class full-screen HDTV or plasma TV video of 1920 x 1080resolutions.

When a computer is installed with this graphics card and a TV tuner card, a usercan watch a TV program with higher resolution because the card providesexcellent video encoding capability. A user can store video sources (TV program)into the hard disc drive of such a system, and then copy the stored video onto aDVD disc given that user has the required software.

The card is designed with supercharged gaming performance that ensures top-notchcompatibility and performance for Microsoft DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 andsupports PCI Express bus architecture. It supports games like Far Cry andS.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl. Its PCI support delivers 8GB/sec of rawgraphics bandwidth in both upstream and downstream data transfers.

With the on-chip CineFX 3.0 engine, the card powers the next generationcinematic realism, which delivers stunning and complex special effects andfaster and smoother gameplay.

With the UltraShadow II technology, it enhances the performance of bleedingedgegames like id Software’s Doom III, that feature complex scenes with multiplelight sources and objects.

The 64-bit texture filtering support of the display card delivers full-speed,high dynamic-range lighting effects. It also delivers unmatched image qualitythrough the new 16x anisotropic filtering and rotated grid antialiasing.

The on-chip video processor delivers an unmatched multimedia experience. Thecard’s hardware-accelerated MPEG and WMV9 decoding delivers smooth,artifact-free video. The dedicated video hardware reduces CPU utilization andimproves overall system performance.

The high quality video scaling and filtering improves playback quality at anywindow size. The OpenGL 1.5 optimizations and support ensures top-notchcompatibility and performance for all OpenGL applications. “In conclusion, thedisplay card is an ideal product for consumers who require high-end graphicsdisplay card,” Yen says.

christmas with the psychopaths “santa’s slay”

Let’s wrap up our little Batshit-Crazy-Santas review series with a look at the 2005 straight-to-DVD “starring” vehicle for ex-wrestler Bill Goldberg, Santa’s Slay, shall we? Glad you agree.

So, yeah, here’s the straight dirt on Jolly Old St. Nick — he’s really a demon, got it? in fact, truth be told he’s not just any garden-variety demon, he’s the son of the Great Horned One, good ol’ Lucifer himself! Okay, so you could already have guessed as much.? Nobody’s that fucking cheerful out of the goodness of their heart, it just ain’t natural. He’s an unlucky demon, though, in that he lost a bet to an angel and had to go around being nice for the next 1,000 years. Time’s just about up, though, and this Christmas is the Christmas that Santa gets to revert back to his old ways and pay back the human race — with interest!

Teenage schmuck Nicholas (Douglas Smith, who’s absolute cardboard and represents the weakest link in this movie’s casting) lives amidst a family of typically nauseating Christmas-lovers (even his girlfriend, future Lost beauty Emilie de Ravin seems to enjoy the “festive” season), with one notable exception : his curmudgeonly old grandpa (the late, great Robert Culp, who I guess it’s fair to refer to here as a Christmas-horror veteran since he also featured in Silent Night, Deadly Night 3), who for some mysterious reason knows the truth about the jolly fat man and shares it with his grandson. It might be too little, too late though, since (again, for reasons initially unexplained) Santa’s set his newly-evil sights squarely on Nicholas and intends to make him and his family the first victims of his new campaign of sadistic evil!

I’m not much for the whole wrestlers-turned-actors thing, but Goldberg’s casting as the wicked Santa here was definitely a stroke of genius — he tackles the role with absolute relish and looks to be having the time of his life. Culp is fantastic as always as grandpa (sporting an uncharacteristic five o’clock shadow here), and Fran (The Nanny) Drescher ,? Dave Thomas of Mackenzie Brothers fame, and the always-solid Saul Rubinek turn in fun ? performance in smaller roles, as well.? the direction from David Steiman (who also wrote the screenplay) is unremarkable in any sort of stylistic sense, but certainly workmanlike and highly competent. My only gripe with this flick is that some of the CGI looks pretty dated (and was probably even substandard for its time), but apart from that this is a fun, original, slapstick-ish Christmas horror-comedy.

Santa’s Slay is available on DVD from Lionsgate and features a nice selection of extras including a full-length commentary track and some behind-the-scenes-type stuff. The anamorphic widescreen transfer looks great and the 5.1 surround-sound mix is very nicely done, as well.

If foul-mouthed children, even-fouler-mouthed old ladies, a flying bison, a gaggle of strippers, a demonic St. Nick out for revenge, jokes about caulk, and a cinematic salute to the sport of curling sound like your cup of tea, look no further — you’ll not only enjoy the hell out of Santa’s Slay, it will become a new holiday tradition in your home.

AMD HD 5800 quot;mass widespread availability quot; by year's end

In a conversation with AMD Product Manager Dave Baumann, HardOCP hasclarified most of questions surrounding the much-debated availabilityof the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series. Excess demand and limited supply hasmeant it is difficult to get a HD 5800 series card, even at higherprices, and even though the product has enjoyed 6 weeks of launch.

However,availability has been improving, albeit slightly and at the cost of ahigher price. Mr. Baumann expects mass widespread availability by theend of 2009, assuming AIBs continue air freighting the products, whichis very likely.

Fortunately, there are no issues expected with HD 5700 stock - and indeed, they are widely available on e-tail.

Here's a summary of the conversation (Courtesy HardOCP):
TSMC is steadily rolling out production of 5800 series GPUs albeitat a slower rate than AMD wishes. There are daily production runs of5800 series GPUs.

AMD’s Add-in-Board (AIBs) partners are currently shipping thousands of 5800 series video cards per week on a worldwide basis.

The number of 5800 series video cards that have been shipped into the channel already is in the very "high tens of thousands."

While currently there are thousands of video cards shipped on aweekly basis, we will likely see this weekly number reach into the"tens of thousands" come late November or early December. This hingeson whether or not AIBs keep air freighting video cards. The likelihoodof air shipments to continue is very high, but AMD does not directlycontrol this.

Should air freighting continue we are still not going to see"mass widespread availability" by years end, but certainly supply willcontinue.

Most of these 5800 video cards are moving into e-tail and retail sales while the great minority are going into OEM sales.

Expect "well into the hundreds of thousands" of 5800 video cards to be shipped into the channel by year’s end.

Expect no issues with 5700 stocks.

TSMC is still having some 40nm production issues, but as youcan see from the points listed above, production is not close to astandstill and has ramped up greatly in the last 30 days. TSMC also hasnew 40nm machines as of September and that capacity is starting to nowcome online.

The current mix of 5870 and 5850 cards is running approximately 50/50.With Nvidia's Fermi nowhere to be seen, we can't expect price drops; at least not in a few months. Though, we can expect the prices to fall back to normal once supply meets demand.

Of course, both TSMC and AMD are working hard to ensure maximum availability of HD 5800 as soon as possible. Considering availability patterns and statements from both TSMC, it seems likely that a majority of availability issues will vanish by December. Another anecdotal evidence is that Hemlock is finally expected to hit retail in late November. Of course, AMD would only put out Hemlock when they have enough Cypress dies.

To conclude, while there are HD 5800 cards available, and you can get them if you are lucky, a widespread availability can be expected in December. There will be no big price drops however, though we can expect prices to return back to normal. Following which, let's hope a competition (Fermi) emerges soon.

Reference: HardOCP

ATi AIW Radeon 9600 Pro

ATI enhances the multimedia PC experience with the new ALL-IN-WONDER® 9600 PRO. ATI’s newest multimedia video card joins the award-winning ALL-IN-WONDER® family to provide customers with all the best of current PC Multimedia technologies combined with fantastic new features such as FM Radio, Dual VGA, Faster-than-Real time DVD / CD Authoring and the next generation REMOTE WONDER™ II radio frequency (RF) Remote Control.

ATI’s award winning MULTIMEDIA CENTER Software has been updated to version 8.6, which now includes DVD and CD Authoring. A customer can easily archive recorded television, video and audio programs to the media of their choice with a couple of clicks of the mouse. ATI’s media authoring solution supports DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, and CD-R/-RW. Depending on the media drive speed, ATI’s solution allows Faster-than-Real time authoring which makes real time authoring obsolete because it does not tie up a computer for an extended period of time.

Designed as ATI’s mainstream multimedia solution, ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO also includes the new REMOTE WONDER II and dual VGA support. The ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 PRO will be available from selected partners in Europe and Asia-Pacific within 4 to 6 weeks.

Emeza Zalando erffnet Online-Shop fr Luxus-Mode

Auf emeza.de will Zalando Luxus-Artikel verkaufen.

Die Plattform soll eigenstndig gefhrt werden, hie es. Die Konditionen sind etwas anders als bei Zalando: Retouren sind zwar auch kostenlos, aber nur binnen 30 statt 100 Tagen, wie Geschftsfhrer Felix Zirkler dem Handelsblatt sagte. Emeza solle mittelfristig profitabel wirtschaften, kndigte er an, ohne einen nheren Zeitraum zu nennen.

Zalando wchst auch dank einer massiven Werbekampagne (Schrei vor Glck!) rasant schreibt aber noch Verluste. Im vergangenen Jahr verdoppelte der Online-Shop den Umsatz auf ber eine Milliarde Euro. Zalando beliefert inzwischen rund zehn Millionen Kunden in 14 Lndern. Zu den Investoren gehrt der bekannte Berliner Start-up-Inkubator der Samwer-Brder, denen oft das Kopieren von Geschftsmodellen aus dem Ausland vorgeworfen wird.

Die Angebote der Woche im berblickGnstige Angebote ansehen5 Produkte

Apple snatches chip veteran from Samsung

Apple has just hired a veteran in the chip making industry, Jim Mergard, whose 16 year career with AMD led him to the positions of vice president, as well as chief engineer. Mergard is responsible for the development of AMDs mobile APU "Brazos". 16 months ago, Mergard finally left AMD to work for Samsung as chief system architect, but now, hes left that company as well, in favor of a position at Apple.

Naturally, this will impact Samsung, and perhaps more than one would think: Apple is currently dependent on Samsung for manufacturing their touch devices. Though the design is carried out by apple, the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch all make use of the A5 and A6 processors which are manufactured by Samsung. Thus, as Apples expertise grows, their reliance on Samsung diminishes. And that means a potentially massive future loss for Samsung.

Jim Mergard

Similarly, Intel manufactures the CPUs for Apples Macintosh computers. Mergards expertise may help develop chips for the Macs as well, thus reducing Apples reliance on Intel as well. Patrick Moorhead, former executive for AMD, stated that Mergard could absolutely help make Apple more independent: "[He] would be very capable of pulling together internal and external resources to do a PC processor for Apple."

The implications of switching to hardware unique to apple would mean returning to how Macs were built prior to 2006; that is, without the ability to natively run operating systems such as Windows alongside Mac OS X (though this would still be possible through emulators). Is this Apples plan, and if so, will it work?

indie sidebar richard linklater’s “bernie”

Okay, I admit it : I still like Richard Linklater. Always have and, at this point, probably always will. I dig the hell out of 90s classics like Slacker and Dazed And Confused. I thought A Scanner Darkly was one of the best sci-fi and best animated films in years. And yes, I even enjoy Before Sunrise and Before Sunset (especially the first one). Heck, even School Of Rock is pretty fun stuff all these years later. Sure, my guy Richard was overthrown in a silent coup as the coolest filmmaker working in the Capitol city of Texas some years ago by Robert Rodriguez (or so I’m told), but he’ll always be “Mr. Austin” in my book. And you know what? It pleases me to report that his latest directorial effort (for which he also co-wrote the screenplay), Bernie, shows him to be in fine form.

This little slice of low-key near-perfection centers on the true story of one Bernie Tiede (Jack Black in a phenomenal performance that sees him absolutely inhabiting the character, and also gives him numerous chances to showcase his singing voice on-screen for the first time in years), the more-than-likely-homosexual assistant funeral director of the only mortuary in the small East Texas town of Carthage who seems to take a rather unwholesome interest in comforting the sorrows of the elderly widows he naturally makes the acquaintance of in his line of work, particularly the wealthy ones. He hits the jackpot, so to speak, with Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine, who we just flat-out don’t get to see enough of anymore, and who ably proves she hasn’t lost a step at all here), the less-than-grieving inheritor of the local bank, who everyone in town seems to regard as a grade-A bitch. Hell, her own siblings, children, and grandchildren don’t even have anything to do with her.

She takes a liking to Bernie, though, who proves more than willing to step in and essentially handle all her affairs, both business and personal — but eventually, of course, she proves too much for even a guy of his apparently infinite patience and courtesy to deal with. The Bernie-Marjorie relationship is a complex one, certainly not romantic in nature (that would be too simple), but miles away from the expected gigolo-and-his-mark pairing that you would expect in a film about a guy who kills the old woman he’s living with shortly after she bequeaths him all her assets in her will (I guess I should say “whoops” at this point, but I honestly don’t think I’m giving anything away here). Instead, what we’ve got here in an evolving personal partnership that goes from “get the hell out of my face” to genuine acceptance to warm companionship to the kind of mental and spiritual cruelty and barely-disguised contempt that only over-familiarity can engender. Marjorie goes from wanting nothing to do with her too-damn-friendly would-be best friend to liking him enough to have him accompany her on all her travels to trusting him enough to take care of all her financial dealings to jealously monopolizing all his time and cutting him off from everyone and everything he loves (he’s big into community theater and being everybody in town’s best friend) so she can set him to work on the most trivial and dehumanizing of tasks.

So, yeah — eventually Bernie snaps and shoots her four times in the back before putting her body in a meat freezer and going around pretending she’s still alive (and spending her money) for as long as he can. Eventually the gig is up, though, as hard-charging, publicity-hungry, ultra-homophobic DA Danny Buck (Matthew McConaughey, for once not trading on his looks at all and clearly relishing the chance to tackle a role 180 degrees away from his typicalfare) digs in his heels when he smells a rat with Bernie’s “she’s had a stroke and is in a rest home” stories and decides to throw the book at the guy when a search warrant of her home finally reveals Marjorie’s gruesome final resting place.

There’s a catch, though — even though he confessed almost immediately to the murder, the townsfolk wither actively don’t want to believe that Bernie could do such a thing, or they just flat-out don’t care. He’s been recklessly foolish with the old widow’s money, after all, financing the construction of a new addition at the local Methodist church, buying up struggling businesses, treating people to new cars, spoiling their kids with expensive gifts, etc. — so naturally, they all love the guy more than ever. And they never had much time for old Mrs. Nugent in the first place.

It’s in capturing this dichotomy of “normal” life in a hick town “behind the Pine Curtain” followed by how desperate these simple folks are to maintain that sense of normalcy once the balance of their entire collective reality has been upset that Linklater really shines, even utilizing many actual Carthage locals to do documentary-style? interview bits talking about how much they still think the world of Bernie no matter what he might have done. Hell, many still desperately cling to the notion that he’s absolutely innocent despite his own hardly-coerced confession.? It’s a pretty quietly amazing thing to behold, and is handled with an unforced naturalism that retains sensitivity for the town’s situation without ever crossing the line into syrupy sentimentality. In short, Linklater treats this material, and the people involved with it, with the respect they deserve without ever once going to any extra lengths to make them look either quaint, folksy, or stupid. They just are who they are, and this flick is what it is. Sure, it’s a heavily-dramatized script that probably takes a few liberties with the facts, but it feels utterly authentic and he lets? both the story and its players speak for themselves. That may not make for the flashiest of films, but it’s a refreshingly honest one, and in the midst of all the half-billion-dollar CGI-effects-laden soulless blockbusters currently polluting our screens, a quietly engaging piece of cinema that values its own integrity above all else makes for a very refreshing change of pace indeed.

ARM announces the Mali-T658 GPU core

Its somewhat amusing when you consider how far ahead of actual product availability that ARM announces upcoming solutions, although as an IP only company ARM might not have a lot of direct competitors when it comes to its CPU cores, but todays upcoming GPU announcement is an entirely different kettle of fish. As ARM allows its partners to use whatever components and building blocks they want, ARM is competing with several companies when it comes the GPU cores in ARM based SoCs and as such the company needs to try and stay ahead of the competition.

Its latest GPU related announcement is of a product that were not likely to see in products until 2013, as ARM has another GPU core that will arrive ahead of the Mali-T658 called the Mali-T604 which is the replacement of the current Mali-400. The Mali-T604 is likely to end up in the first quad core Cortex-A9 SoCs built on 32 and 28nm and is based on a new architecture that ARM calls Midgard (based on Nordic mythology) whereas the Mali-400 was part of the Utgard architecture.

ARM claims that the Mali-T658 will offer up to 10 times the graphics performance compared to "mainstream Mali-400 MP implementations" although the company doesnt go into any greater explanation as to which kind of implementation its referring to. The problem here is that the Mali-400 comes in single, dual and quad "core" configurations and if the Mali-T658 is 10 times as fast as what were seeing in something like Samsungs implementation of the Mali-400 MP in its Exynos then were looking at an incredibly powerful GPU, but if its compared to a simpler implementation, then it wont be quite as impressive.

Furthermore, ARM is claiming four times the GPU compute performance compared to the Mali-T604 which is said to offer 68GFLOPS of compute performance in whats presumed to be a four core design at high clock speeds. That said, the Mali-T658 will be scalable to up to eight cores which looks pretty impressive right now, but we shouldnt forget the competition. Imagination Technologies PowerVR Series5XT GPU which is already available can scale to 16 cores, its just a matter of someone implementing into an ARM based SoC.

As far as software support is concerned, ARM is claiming that the Mali-T658 will support DirectX 11, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, OpenCL, DirectCompute and Renderscript. Thats most of the major APIs and as far as software developers are concerned the good news here is that the Mali-T604 and Mali-T658 will use common drivers of which the end result should be better software compatibility and a quicker and easier transition to the new GPU core. ARM has listed Fujitsu, LG, Nufront and Samsung as its launch partners, although others are likely to follow once we get closer to actual products.

In related news, Samsung has announced that it has licensed Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX MP core technology. As to what this means in the long term will be interesting to see, but it suggests that Samsung is trying to make sure it can offer the best GPU core possible with whatever next generation ARM based SoC the company is working on. Theres no doubt that the ARM space is where its happening at the moment and with Windows 8 expected to end up on quite a few ARM powered devices, it looks like were got quite an interesting future ahead of us when it comes to low power mobile computing.

Source: ARM, Anandtech

Athlon 64 3400+ DTR On Sale

Athlon 64 3400+ Desktop Replacement (DTR) is out selling atAkiba Japan now for approximately US$ 420, about $ 120 more than a Athlon 64 3200+DTR out selling last week. The Athlon 64 3400+ DTR has an OPN of AMA3400BEX5APand has the same specs as the desktop Athlon 64 3400+ with 2.2Ghz clock, 1MB L2cache and 1.5V operating voltage. It has no heatspreader and the substrate isbrown in colour instead of the usual green.

Apple files patent for technology to identify and lock out authorized users from future portable dev

Sometime in the future, your iPhone or iPad may no longer be that easily passed on from one user to another, especially if Apple has its way in the patent office. After all, it has filed a patent application which will apparently allow the device to restrict its usage based on certain criteria.

According to the application, if the iPhone, iPad or any other Apple mobile device fails to find a match in either of the variables listed out in the previous paragraph, the current user can then be recognized as an unauthorized user. When this happens, the device can then be set up to perform various tasks, such as informing the owner that it has been tampered with, such as sending a text message, an email or a voice call to another trusted user. Alternatively, the device can also be configured to take more drastic actions, such as actually informing the relevant law enforcement agencies about the theft, thus facilitating justice and a quick retrieval of the stolen item.

In addition to just visual and audio recognition, the application also claims that the technology can be used to detect the presence of unauthorized users through various behavioural patterns. Not surprisingly, “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking and SIM cad removal” were listed down in the patent application.

Of course, how Apple intends to implement this 'new technology' remains to be seen. For one, the specifically listed behaviours comes across as being created purely to prevent a user from modding his device or transferring ownership of it to another party, actions which Apple has been actively trying to clamp down on for either business-related concerns or security issues.

However, Apple might face some issues with its decision to include 'SIM card removal' as part of the uncharacteristic behavior it has listed out. At least, in our local context, swapping out SIM cards is a fairly common practise in a country such as Singapore, where teenagers can sometimes be found exchanging each other's phones for a few days to try out each other's mobile phones. And having to deal with a locked or disabled device will probably be the last thing such users will want to contend with.

That being said, such features will no doubt be very valuable to enterprise customers, who require that kind of added security on any portable device carried. But considering that Apple's mobile devices have yet to make any significant headway into the enterprise market, these feature will probably end up causing more frustrations for the consumers. But we will have to wait and see.

Source: AppleInsider

AOpen Ryou Series Art PC

For a long time, high technology products had nothing to do with art, culture, or traditional handicraft. In recent years, however, some 3C brands have been trying to combine their designs and concepts with fashion brands or to create their own luxury brand. Examples are Vertu mobile phones and Acer Ferrari notebook PC. These products combine high quality materials with special design to make them very special and expensive products, but they lackan important thing – a soul.

These extravagant products are outstanding in terms of material and design - some of them are even handmade. You need to wait at least one month after you placed an order forthe Vertu phone, but Vertu phones are still mass-produced. There will always be someone who will own the same Vertu phone as yours; the only differenceisthe serial number. And this is not good enough for some collectors - they needa more unique products with an artistic touch and soul.

Every human hasdifferent characteristic and unique features; therefore, unique productswouldpossess unique features as well. Artists havetheir way to animate none-living things;Leonardo da Vinci gave life to Mona Lisa using his painting skills and Michelangelodi Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni crafted the famous sculpture David out of a stone. A real masterpiece must be given a soul by a great artist with outstanding handicraft skills.

To perfectly fusion technology and art, Universal Roaming Inc. and AOpen Inc. proudly present the Ryou series Art PC. Every Art PC is handmade by a Japanese master and sports unique features. Your Art PC is just like you – the one and only.

Source: AOpen

ASUS sued over quot;Transformer Prime quot; trademark infringement

The new ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Android tablet was showcased at the AsiaD: All Things Digital event in Hong Kong, andhas garneredgreat popularity from the name it bears, but this has apparently also brought along some troubles. Toy manufacturer Hasbrohas sued ASUS for the use of the name which they had trademarked, and stated that they will defend their brand. While the two companies and their productsmay be targeting different market, Hasbro does have a series of video games and accessories for PC and Xbox 360 game console which are under the name “Transformer”, thereby providing the toy company with adequate relevancy to be concerned that consumers may be misled into thinking Hasbro had endorsed the ASUS product. As for now, Hasbro is requesting for an injunction against ASUS, and a 21 day period for them to respond.

Source: Into Mobile

AMD Safe Boot Technology

AMD is now developing a Safe Boot technology with mainboard and chipset manufactures to enhance the compatibility. The technology is to add a unified register code such that the system can boot up without appropriate Microcode. With that Microcode, the processor’s voltage and clock are set to a minimum only. Users still have to update the BIOS under the DOS mode. Manufacturers will enclose a bootable OS in the driver disk so that one may update the BIOS much easier. However, AMD has no release schedule for Safe Boot technology yet.

ASUS X79 OC Challenge!

First Prize:ASUS Rampage IV Extreme with Battlefield 3 Full Game

Second Prize:ASUS Sabertooth X79

Lucky Draw Prize:ASUS P9X79

ASUS and VR-Zone will be having another online competition before the year ends.ASUS X79 OC Challenge is already on-going and will end on 8 January 2012. Participants are required to make a submission each week.The ASUS X79 OC Challenge is divided into 4 weeks.

1st week: 12th December 2011 - 18th December 20112nd week: 19th December 2011 - 25th December 20113rd week: 26th December 2011 - 1st January 20124th week: 2nd January 2012 - 8th January 2012

Points are awarded at the end of each week! The deadline for the 1st weeks submission is 18th December 2011, 2359H. Be sure to make a submission before the deadline to be eligible for the Lucky Draw!

For more details, please refer to the forum thread:ASUS X79 OC Challenge

Dirt 3 shines in reviews

Dirt 3, which is set to be released in North America on 24 May, has received positive reviews around the web. Reports are saying words like "Excellent", "Outstanding" were given to Dirt 3 in all of the early reviews. The game will have more cars, routes and events. It will be available in PC, XBox 360 and Playstation 3.

Source: Fudzilla

Check out the official Dirt 3 Website.

Check out some of the Dirt 3 reviews: GameTrailers, Bit-Tech, IGN.

EA's discount code led to free games

Electronic Arts recently had a campaign where answering a survey about their company led to a discount code for $20 worth of content from their online store. Over the weekend though, this promotional campaign backfired, as the code was released in a post on Reddit.

Unfortunately for EA, the code wasnt unique; it could be used multiple times, and by multiple users. As a result, over the next 18 hours, hundreds of users downloaded games with a big discount, or in some cases, for free. In total, 44 games, including Mass Effect 1 and FIFA Soccer 12, were available for free by using the code.

EAs button logo

The code was only meant for use within the US and Canada, though a fake US address in the billing section, though breaching the terms of service for EAs store, allowed users worldwide to make use of the code. It is unknown how much money EA lost as a result of the discount code, but one can assume it was enough to cause a bit of frustration.

After the coupon code was disabled, the Reddit post which had originally spread it, instead began showcasing the spoils of what its users had acquired. It is a shame though, that the people who originally took the survey in order to get the code legitimately, will no longer be able to use it.

ECS KA2 MVP RD580 Board Specs

• RD580 + SB450 chipsets
• HT 2000 MHz
• Dual channel DDR-400
• Dual Gigabit and 10/100 network connections
• 8-channel audio
• 2 PCIe x16 + 2 PCIe x1 + 2 PCI slots
• 8 USB 2.0 + 2 IEEEa ports
• 2 SATA II + 4 SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1 and eSATA

ELSA Unveils Epee Workstation Barebones

ELSA has officially announced their workstation barebone series at Computexwhich are equipped with NVIDIA Quadro series graphics cards. Marco Chen, thegeneral manager of ELSA revealed that they are upbeat about their workstationbarebone series and are currently working closely with NVIDIA on providing theQuadro solutions as well as Gigabyte on providing the motherboards. Pricing ofthe Epee series is expected to be very attractive and ELSA aims to tackle theChina market initially.

Epson launches 3LCD projector with new D7 panel technology

SINGAPORE, 8 June 2009 — Today, Epsonlaunches theirlatest Full High Definition (HD) 1080p flagship projector, EH-TW5000, which is engineered to offer the best possible home cinema experience.

Equipped with Epson's new D7 panel technology with C²Fine, the EH-TW5000 provides stunning 3LCD picture quality with a ground breaking dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1.

The EH-TW5000 reproduces outstanding pictures, whatever the content, with full HD resolution at 1080p. Whether viewing movies, sporting events, digital pictures or playing video games, this projector’s range of features and stylish design will ensure this high quality product is the centrepiece of your big screen home cinema experience.

Incorporating Epson’s innovative 3LCD technology, the EH-TW5000 provides brighter images, more accurate colour reproduction and finer grey scaling. For the first time ever, an amazing dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1 has been reached, thanks to the new D7 C²Fine panels, advanced DeepBlack technology and an improved E-TORL lamp to minimise light leakage and ensure jet blacks. Furthermore, Epson’s improved Cinema Filter allows a viewing experience second to none in any lighting environment.

Built with the advanced HQV processor, the EH-TW5000 features a true HD 12-bit video processing and 4-4 pull-down, resulting in stunning picture quality and motion flow. The frame interpolation feature also ensures perfectly smooth video playback; blurring is suppressed and motion pictures are much sharper to offer film-like images. The ISF certification means that the EH-TW5000 can be calibrated by an Epson dealer to ensure the performance of the projector is professionally fine-tuned to suit its environment. Colour isolation calibration is also possible without the need for optical colour filters.

Priced at SGD6,688 (including GST), the Epson EH-TW5000 is now available.

Key Features:

- Home cinema projector ideal for those who desire a premium home cinema experience - Sophisticated and stylish black design
- Full HD 1080p with true high-definition 1920 x 1080p resolution
- Superior image quality with Epson’s 3LCD technology and C²Fine inorganic D7 panel
- Amazing dynamic contrast ratio of 75,000:1 with Epson DeepBlack technology for jet blacks
- High brightness of 1600 ANSI Lumens - Convenient viewing in any light condition with perfect rendering, thanks to the improved Cinema Filter
- HQV video processor to realise clear and sharp motion pictures
- 12-bit video processing, frame interpolation on and 4-4 pull-down for film-like images
- Flexible placement with horizontal/vertical lens shift and 2.1x optical zoom
- Anamorphic wide mode (to use with third party anamorphic lens)
- Connect to a range of input sources including 2 x HDMI version 1.3, YUV and VGA
- x.v. Colour mode for vivid colour reproduction
- ISF calibration menus for professional calibration
- Included cable cover for stylish and neat ceiling mount installation
- Quiet projection of 22db
- Five year warranty (including Saturday visits) on lamp and projector

DIOTEK released DioPen Cursive handwriting recognition software for Windows Mobile

Seoul, July 31, 2009-- DIOTEK (www.diotek.com), Korea’s leading mobile software company, has released the DioPen™ Cursivehandwriting recognition software for Windows Mobile 5/6-based touch screen devices.

DioPen™ Cursive is a very convenient software product that recognizes cursive handwritings of users and converts them into characters to input into devices. This product boasts high recognition rate for various cursive handwritings of Americans and Europeans. In addition, DioPen™ Cursive can recognize print handwriting as well as a mixed use of cursive and print handwritings.

Multiple lines written sequentially on the screen can also be recognized with the software. To improve the accuracy of recognition, letters not recognized correctly are corrected automatically with dictionary embedded in the program.

In particular, DioPen™ Cursive’s optimized user interface allows users to input characters correctly only with fingers without additional stylus pen. The entire touchscreen area can be used for handwriting without limitations on space and direction.

Currently, DioPen™ Cursive supports English, French, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian. Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Dutch will also be supported soon.

DioPen™ Cursive can be purchased at DIOTEK’s global app store (English site: www.diotek.com, German site: www.diotek.com.de), and its free trial version can also be downloaded with no functional limitation for 15 days.

Source: Korea Newswire

Cubitek Has Big Aluminum Case Plans for 2012

The series starts off with the most common PC form-factor, the ATX mid-tower. The ATX Ice is larger than most mid-towers, treading very close to being categorized a full-tower. It measures 230 x 508.5 x 513 mm (WxHxD), weighing in at 7.1 kg (net.). As mentioned earlier, Cubitek designed these cases with aluminum sheets as thick as 3 mm to give them the sturdiness of 1 mm thick SECC steel.

Pictured above is the main facade. You can find four exposed 5.25-inch drive bays, and a dust-protected inlet for the 200 mm intake fan. You can also get an idea of the outer texture of the aluminum body, dark brushed aluminum.

The internals dont used anodized aluminum, rather exposed. This helps with radiating heat. Although some cable management holes are rubber-valved, there are some wide open holes, such as the one next to the PSU bay, a cutout over the CPU socket area (to help with handling coolers with backplates), and one on the top-left corner of the motherboard tray (for CPU power capbles. You can immediately tell that Cubiteks Ice cases are not tool-free.

Theres nothing "loud" about the rear panel. You find the usual PSU bay at the bottom, a 120 mm grilled fan exhaust, two rubber-valved holes for water cooling tubing, and the expansion slot bays. Beating the ATX specification, there are eight bays instead of seven. This should help with multi-graphics card setups in which one of the graphics cards occupies the bottom-most expansion slot of an ATX motherboard.

Exclusive Sandy Bridge-E to ship without cooler

How many of you rely on aftermarket coolers for your CPU? We dont know anyone that thinks Intels stock coolers are great and when details reached us of Intel not shipping coolers with its upcoming Sandy Bridge-E processors we were at first surprised, but considering the target market it makes a lot of sense.

The upcoming Core i7 processor from Intel, the 3820, 3930K and the 3960X will all ship without a cooler in the box. That said, Intel has decided to offer own brand coolers for the platform, its just that they wont come in the box with the CPU. We cant really see why anyone would buy an Intel cooler over a third party cooler as not even Intels high-end heatpipe cooler for its current and past Extreme Edition models were all that great. Some of the third party cooler makers will have products ready at launch, but worst case scenario, we might be looking at a cooler shortage at launch.

On top of this, were hearing that although the rated TDP is 130W these beasts are consuming closer to 180W and thats without even overclocking them. In fact, according to PSU design guidance weve seen, Intel is telling power supply makers to make sure their Sandy Bridge-E PSUs can cope with a peak current of 23A on the 12V2 rail and based on an 80 percent or better efficiency rating of the PSU.

As such it might be a very good idea to invest in a water cooling kit if youre planning on going Sandy Bridge-E, especially if youre planning on pushing the boat out and overclock. The bad news for LN2 crowd is that at least early samples of Sandy Bridge-E is suffering from the dreaded cold bug, although this might have been fixed in later revisions of the processor.

On top of all that it looks like the quad core 3820 model has been delayed and will arrive later than the 3930K and 3960X, although we dont know exactly when Intel intends to release it to the market. Intel is currently working on the C1 stepping and this should be what ships in the end unless there are any unforeseen issues with the latest stepping. So in other words, good news all around…

Firefox 5 to be officially released in June this year

Getting used to the various new features introduced to a web browser that was only recently updated will probably most average users some time to pull off. After all, most browser updates usually introduces some minor changes to the user interface, and that alone will require some time for users to familiarize themselves with. And that does not include other under-the-hood changes which users need to get acquainted with as well, such as new privacy features and more extensive user-customizable settings, among many others.

However, it seems that all of that will no longer be a factor when it comes to Mozillas new release schedule for its Firefox web browser. According to development notes hosted on its GIT repositories, version 5 of the Firefox web browser will feature a much shorter development phase: this is due to the fact that Firefox 5 lacks what the Mozilla team calls development overlap with Firefox 4.

However, it should be pointed out that this accelerated development schedule only applies to Firefox 5, and that Firefox 6 will revert back to the old schedule, where each phase of the cycle will undergo six weeks of development:

Last but not least, the nightly builds for Firefox 5 have reportedly been made available for public testing already. While the builds have been signed off as being nothing more than alpha releases of Firefox 4.2, we have got word from TechCaverns report that these builds are actually the pre-release versions of what will eventually be known as Firefox 5. Of course, these builds are also highly unstable due to the fact that they have not been tested, so download at your own risk; we cannot be held responsible for computers and the data residing within its hardware going up in smoke at the click of a mouse button.

Source: Mozilla Github

Dell Introduces New XPS Laptops in Singapore

At yesterday'sevent, Dell showcased thenew Dell XPS laptops which claim to incorporate JBL and Waves sound design, and high-definition Nvidia graphics to provide the cinematic experience to consumers. The latops are also 3D TV ready and include Nvidia's 3DTV Play software that allows you to hook up to your 3D TV and play your PC or movies in stereoscopic 3D.

Offered in 14- and 15-inch screen sizes, the XPS machines are also Skype-certified with HD video streaming webcams so that you can do video calls with friends and family easily. According to Dell, the XPS 14 and XPS 1 are available now (from http://www.dell.com.sg/) and the starting prices for both are S$1,499.

Besides the XPS 14 and 15 laptops, Dell also showcased their some of their other products including the 5-inch Dell Streak Android tablet and Dell Venue Pro Windows Phone 7.

Quick hands-onof Dell Streak

The Dell Streak is the company's first Android tabletwith a 5-inch display. While it is smaller than the iPad, we have no problem reading the text and the size feels about just right in our hands. According to a Dell executive, the Streak will appeal more to the ladies as it is smaller and lighter compared to other Internet tablets or ebook readers.

The Streak also offers a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. At the top are the 3.5mm audio jack, volume/zoom control and the camera button. When you want to take a picture with the tablet, you hold it exactly like how you would with a touchscreen phone, in a landscape orientation.

On the right is a unique connector that fits to the power adapter, USB cable or docking station. The Streak when its available here could be Android 1.6, but is upgradeable to 2.1. No pricing and availability information available yet though.

Quick hands-on of Dell Venue Pro

The Dell Venue Pro was one of the Windows Phone 7 when Microsoft announced their highly anticipated mobile platform, but it was only available in US. And it seems like the company could be bringing the phone to Asia after all.

The Venue Pro has a intuitive 4.1-inch touchscreen with a layer of toughened Gorilla glass to give the brilliance and durability, although it also offers a QWERTY keypad. But unlike most of the QWERTY phones that slide from the side, this one slide out from the bottom. The keys are pretty small to type on, though there is always theoption of using the onscreen keyboard.

The power button and 3.5mm jack are at the top, while the volume control are on the right. At the rear is the 5-megapixel camera with flash for taking pictures and videos.

No word as to when the Dell Streak or Venue Pro Windows Phone 7 will be available in Singapore yet, or their pricing. But they are definitely coming.

Final Specs Of ASUS-Lamborghini VX1 Unveiled

Since its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the exceptionalASUS-Lamborghini VX1 has aroused global interest and received greatappreciation. At CeBIT this year, the ASUS Lamborghini VX1 notebook, displayedwith its supercar counterpart, continued to be the centre of spotlights. ASUSTechnology Pte Ltd (ASUS) today unveils the final details of theASUS-Lamborghini VX1 specifications.

The much-anticipated ASUS-Lamborghini VX1, supernote is expected to be availableon Lamborghini e-shop (http://www.lamborghinistore.com) and from the exclusivemerchandising shop at the Automobili Lamborghini headquarter located inSant’Agata Bolognese, Italy, at end April.

Speed – Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology
By continuous partnership with Intel, the slim and light ASUS-LamborghiniVX1 is based on the latest Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology with Intel®Core™ Duo processor T2500. The dual-core capability of the VX1 enablesmultitasking computing and provides fast processing performance that exceedsdesktop level. Stay in commend as the notebook works with short response timeand carry out tasks without delays.

Mobility – Slim and Lightweight Design
Just as the streamlined supercars are designed for maximum acceleration withsupreme aerodynamics, the slim and light VX1 is design for superior mobilitywith compact housing. The 15” notebook, weighing less than most of the 14”notebooks, is a lean and powerful mobile computing machine.

Power – Long Lasting Battery Life
The VX1’s mobility is enhanced with extended battery life that empowersbetter productivity. ASUS Power4 Gear+ power management automatically adjustsCPU speed according to system load. Offering up to 8 operation modes that aredesigned for gaming, watching DVD, listening to music and word processing, thisinnovation effectively extends battery life up to 20-25%, providing a reliableand continuous operation power on the go.

Pleasure – Exceptional Digital Entertainment Enjoyment
The 15” VX1 with Color Shine glare type high-resolution LCD screen offersvibrant video and cinematic audio performance perfect for both work and play.Exclusive ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology integrates andsynchronizes different multimedia data sources to reduce noise and conversionrate for vivid image displays with improved image contrast, brightness, skintone and color saturation with true brilliance.

Freedom - Extensive Wire-Free Connectivity
The VX1 also accommodates fast and easy wireless connection solutions.Built-in WLAN 802.11 a/b/g ensures wireless Internet access wherever receptionis available. Bluetooth 2.0 enhanced data rate provides data transfers at a ratethat is three times faster than the standard Bluetooth for increasedconnectivity and synchronization between digital devices.

The ASUS-Lamborghini VX1 Notebook Series is the ultimate fusion of informationand automobile technologies of two companies. Based the mutual passion foradvanced technology and innovative design, this true mobile computing revolutionrepresents the irrefutable leadership of both ASUS and Automobili Lamborghini intheir respective market


Specifications
Platform: Intel® Centrino® Duo
CPU: Intel Core Duo Processor T2500
Chipset: Intel 945PM
WLAN: Intel 3945ABG
LCD Screen: Colour Shine Glare Type 15” SXGA + (1400 x 1050)
Graphics: nVIDIA GeForce 7400/ 512MB Turbocache
HDD: 120GB
ODD: DVD 9.5” Super-Multi Double Layer
RAM: 1GB DDRII – 667 MHz
OS: Windows XP Professional

eBay to ban sale of Tarot readings and spells

eBay is to ban the sale of Tarot readings and spells on its auction website from the end of this month, citing difficulties resolving customer complaints.

The popular website will be removing any listing for witchcraft-related services, such as Tarot readings, spells, curses and blessings, in September, according to the BBC, and those who still attempt to sell such services may suffer account suspension.eBays rationale is that these services often cause problems between buyers and sellers which are not easy to resolve. It is almost impossible to prove that a witch has actually performed the spell an individual has purchased, for example, while a Tarot reading may simply be waffle about tall dark strangers and good fortune, leading to customers demanding their money back.Of course, there is an opposing argument for allowing such services to remain available. Users should always be entitled to purchase what they want, within obvious limits, and providing such services feature disclaimers and are transparent about exactly what is being offered, no real harm can be done (except maybe if someone does purchase a curse that works).The ban is seen by some, including 1140 people who signed an online petition against the move, as a form of censorship, as it prohibits the free sale of services that may be tied to peoples beliefs or religious practices.On the flip side, there are undoubtedly many fraudsters out there who take advantage of the inability to prove these occult phenomena, and so eBay has a responsibility to protect buyers. The difficulty is in walking that tightrope between protecting people and censoring others.Source: BBC