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2010-03-12

Heaven 2.0 benchmark shown at GDC Semi-Related
GDC 2010: Unigine's new baby is more complex

Unigine logoONE OF THE most studied benchmarks of the DX11 era is Heaven from Unigine. At GDC, they were showing off version 2.0 of the benchmark with more assets and features.

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Human hamster balls invade GDC Semi-Related
GDC 2010: Virtuspheres for gaming

360 logoWHAT DO YOU get when you cross a human sized hamster ball with VR googles and a game engine? You have a Virtusphere, and it looks like a lot of fun.

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SemiAccurate wrong about Nvidia 480GTX power use Semi-Related
GDC 2010: Officially raised 50W, OEMs livid

Nvidia world iconIF YOU WANT to learn about Nvidia's Tesla and GTX480 cards at GDC, don't ask Nvidia, they have problems with the truth. The real story is found with the users, and they have interesting things to say about the upcoming card's upward bound TDP.

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2010-03-11

AMD starts banging the developer relations drum Semi-Related
GDC 2010 Logos and background work

Gaming evolved logoAMD IS FINALLY doing what we have all been waiting for, promoting its developer relations program to the masses. With that in mind, it introduced three new logos to go along with the program.

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2010-03-10

Mobile Nvidia Fermi GTX480 shown at CeBIT Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Big laptop, vaporware cooled

Cebit logoONE QUESTION THAT a lot of the financial set are asking has to do with Nvidia and mobile. While the company is effectively out of mobile for 2010, there was at least one GTX480 based laptop at CeBIT.

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Thermaltake makes a gaming 'clicky' keyboard Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Esports line makes a real keyboard

Thermaltake LogoCEBIT IS THE PLACE where Thermaltake tends to drop its bombs, and this year it had the launch of a new venture for the company, gaming. There were also some interesting coolers and cases, but the Esports line was getting all the attention.

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AMD shows off 6-core Thuban Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Hard to get excited about

AMD LogoAMD WAS SHOWING OFF its 6-core Thuban CPU at CeBIT along with its 890 chipset. The good news is the showing, the bad news is that it wasn't saying anything about it.

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2010-03-08

Nvidia's GTX480 case dissected Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Thermaltake Element V Nvidia Edition

Thermaltake LogoONE PART that Thermaltake has been getting a lot of press for is the new Fermi GTX480 certified case, a variant of its mainstream Element V case. Other than the day-glo green trim, how does it differ from the normal ElementV? Let's take a look.

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No Problem

512 - 64 = ?

Feel The Love

Told ya

No Hugs Here

 
     

2010-03-02

Gigabyte claims the fastest HD5870 and GTX260 Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Passive 5770s and new mobos

Gigabyte logoGIGABYTE HAS BEEN on a tear lately, releasing tons of USB3 based mobos around CES, so the new AMD 890 chipset had to hold the line. On the GPU front, things were a bit more interesting.

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Sapphire shows off an overclocked 4GB HD5970 Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 High end GPUs, netbooks and mini-projectors

Sappire logoSAPPHIRE HAS STARTED to branch out from GPUs, but that doesn't mean it didn't have a large selection of high end GPUs to show off. New to the boys in blue this year are micro-projectors, netbooks and micro-ITX boards.

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Nvidia threatens it's partners at CeBIT Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Don't you dare talk GTX480

Nvidia world iconWHAT DO YOU do when there is a major international trade show, and you can't even supply all your partners with upcoming parts? You threaten them, which is exactly what Nvidia did for its upcoming GTX480 at CeBIT.

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NDA

 
     

2010-02-20

SemiAccurate gets some GTX480 scores Semi-Related
Hot, buggy and far too slow

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA HAS BEEN hinting about the performance of its upcoming GTX480 cards, and several of our moles got a lot of hands on time with a few cards recently. If you are waiting for killer results from the 'puppy', prepare for severe disappointment.

Updated: Clarified a point on DX11 performance.

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Bouncing Baby

Bouncing Puppy

Selecting Bouncing

Future Hopes

Hey!

 
     

2010-02-17

A list of questions that Nvidia doesn't want to answer Semi-Related
More than a dozen fun topics it avoids

Nvidia world iconIT IS THAT TIME of year again, Nvidia's quarterly conference call for the financial set. Since the company gets pouty every time we try to ask it questions, we decided to publish an open list of questions for you, the people they have far less disdain for than SemiAccurate, to ask directly.

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Nvidia's Fermi GTX480 is broken and unfixable Semi-Related
Hot, slow, late and unmanufacturable

Nvidia world iconWITH ANOTHER LAUNCH of the Nvidia GT300 Fermi GF100 GTX480 upon us, it is time for an update on the status of that wayward part. Production parts have been coming back from TSMC for several weeks now, and the outlook for them is grim.

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2010-02-10

AMD finally outs the 32nm Llano core Semi-Related
ISSCC 2010 Fine details abound but overviews lacking

AMD Fusion LogoAMD IS FINALLY starting to talk about its Fusion CPUs, specifically the first one called Llano. The bad news is that it is not saying very much, but there are some interesting bits that leaked out at ISSCC 2010 in San Francisco.

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2010-02-01

ATI Grey Screen of Death fix coming soon Semi-Related
Windows 7 and GDDR5 state changes

ATI logoTHERE HAS BEEN a lot of talk recently about ATI's 'Grey Screen of Death' and almost all of it is hysterically overblown. Let's take a look at the problem in a bit more detail.

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Nice Bumps

Not This

Still Young

A Sixth

Recursive Parody

 
     

2010-01-17

Nvidia GF100 pulls 280W and is unmanufacturable Semi-Related
Details it won't talk about publicly

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA'S GF100 ARCHITECTURE is falling into the same trap that G200 did, shooting for the moon at the cost of the parts that pay the bills. Let's take a look at the architecture and how it stacks up in the market once again.

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Epic Fail

Add 100

You Doubted?

Falling Prices

Good News!

 
     

2010-01-16

Dueling graphics videos hit the net Semi-Related
Monkeys, ninjas and viral videos

ATI logoIT LOOKS LIKE it's time for dueling product videos once again, with ATI and Nvidia both releasing their own 'viral' videos. ATI's is about upgrading to a DX11 card and Nvidia's is about the birth of Fermi GF10.

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1) Dear Leader

2) Puppies Ahoy

3) Charlie Bites

4) Bye Bye

5) Road to Nowhere

 
     

2010-01-13

ATI launches 5670 into the heart of the market Semi-Related
Redwood falls on Santa Clara margins

Ati logoONE OF THE worst kept secrets of the year, all 14 days of it, is that the ATI 56xx Redwood parts are coming out today. They are more than half of a Juniper 57xx series and have all the goodies that those chips do.

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1) Cover Broken

2) Six Times

3) Three Times

4) Falling Symbols

5) War Machine

 
     

2010-01-09

EVGA's dual 1366 board explored Semi-Related
CES 2010 More and less than you think

EVGA logoEVGA TEASED US about a dual Intel Core i7 board a few weeks ago, and now it is showing that off. It is big, has lots of slots, and does indeed support two Intel Core i7 chips.

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2010-01-08

More fun with curves Semi-Related
CES 2010 Dirt2 in DX11

OSTENDO OFFERED CES something better than 3D. Easier on the eyes, and way more enjoyable. However, it has a price tag to match.

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AMD shows integrated DX11 and mobile quads Semi-Related
CES 2010 Danube and Dorado

AMD iconAMD WAS SHOWING off two new platforms today at CES, Danube and Dorado. Danube is the mobile quad-core and Dorado is the 8xx next generation DX11 IGP.

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2010-01-07

Asus ATI 890 board spotted Semi-Related
CES 2010 Not quite enough camouflage

AMD iconIT LOOKS LIKE the AMD 890 based motherboards are starting to break cover. This particular one is the mid-range Asus M4A89GTD Pro.

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Gunnar shows off 3D glasses Semi-Related
CES 2010 Nausea not included

GUNNAR OPTIKS brought its toys to CES and offered some solutions to the shiny screen syndrome along with easy on the eyes 3D.

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Expensive part

 
     
Nvidia shows off Fermi and 3-monitor cards Semi-Related
CES 2010 Too little, too late

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA FINALLY SHOWED off Fermi, or in this case, GF100 today, running Unigine without any numbers. It didn't show off cards with three display outs yet, that has to wait for tomorrow.

Edit: TDP updated

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1) Good Friends

2) Bouncing Baby

3) .1 Less

4) 64 Less

5) Hundreds Less

 
     

2010-01-06

8-Core Becton gets put into a laptop Semi-Related
CES 2010 Ace makes wretched excess portable

Xeon LogoIF YOU ARE sick and tired of slogging along with your wimpy 4-core Nehalem laptop, Ace Computer has a solution for you, the 8-core Xeon 5500 (Beckton) based Ace Raptor 5 Server Workstation AC-Raptor55V. Yes, some insane company just put an Intel 8-core Becton server chip in a laptop, let's hear it for wretched excess.

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2010-01-05

Bit Cauldron has standard 3D Glasses Semi-Related
CES2010 Everyone but Nvidia

IT LOOKS LIKE 3D glasses are going to make a big splash at CES, and one of the best pairs I have seen is by Bit Cauldron. Although they are still shutter glasses, they remove most of the glaring problems that current 'solutions' have.

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2010-01-03

Nvidia mobile 3-series lose DX10.1 Semi-Related
More green marketing sleaze

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE Nvidia's mighty mobile business is hitting the skids, and it is going back to competing on price again, begging for deals and renaming the G92 again. The problem is seen with the release of the renamed 3xxM mobile GPUs, and how these are messaged.

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1) G92 = GTS250

2) GTS250 = GTS350

3) GTS240M = GTS340M

4) G210 = G310

5) Gizmo's Galore

 
     

2009-12-31

Nvidia's ION2 is a G218 GPU, not a chipset Semi-Related
The renaming scams continue

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA IS TRYING to make Ion2, its next generation 'chipset' seem like something it is not, but the specs say otherwise. It is just a warmed over G218 integrated graphics chip with a few ports added on.

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1) Yawners Abound

2) Add 100

3) Add 95

4) Add S120M

5) Add Dirt

 
     

2009-12-29

Nvidia GTS360M is a renamed GT240 Semi-Related
Hits the market with a dull splat

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA'S RENAMING SCAM has another name to add to the list. The G215 is now called the GTS360M. Consumers aren't warned that they are getting old tech with a new name, but Nvidia will proudly tell you that it is 120 more of something than the GT240 that was in desktop form, and the S and M are added bonuses.

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1) First Scam

2) More Scams

3) And Another

4) And Another

5) Worse Yet

 
     

2009-12-21

Nvidia castrates Fermi to 448SPs Semi-Related
Unmanufacturable, hot and slow

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE we were right about Fermi being too big, too hot, and too late, Nvidia just castrated it to 448SPs. Even at that, it is a 225 Watt part, slipping into the future.

Updated: Nvidia declines to respond

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1) Too Fast

2) Too Late

3) Too Expensive

4) Too Real

5) Too Fun

 
     
DFI rumored to exit consumer mobos Semi-Related
Industrial to continue on, consumers lose a great maker

DFI logoIT IS OUR really sad duty to inform you about rumors that DFI will be leaving the consumer motherboard business in January. The company is not going away, and will be refocusing on the industrial PC business.

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1) Industrialization

2) Mighty Mite

3) Fast'n'Easy

4) Glowing Fun

5) Retail Minefield

 
     

2009-12-16

Oak Ridge cans Nvidia based Fermi supercomputer Semi-Related
Fermi power use the culprit

Nvidia world iconREMEMBER THE TRIUMPHANT WIN for Fermi at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory that Nvidia heavily touted at its GDC conference keynote? The supercomputer project was just killed for power reasons. Fermi power reasons. Whoops.

Update: Nvidia doesn't respond.

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1) GTC Conference

2) Puppies Attack!

3) GPU Parts

4) True Innovation

5) Lovely Place

 
     

2009-12-10

Fermi A3 silicon is in the oven Semi-Related
Real launch possible in February

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE Nvidia has put the A3 stepping of Fermi in the oven, it happened some time last week. That means that you may see cards as early as February, depending on two or three other factors.

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1) Last Gen

2) First Gen

3) Low Life

4) Lower Lives

5) Big Guns

 
     

2009-12-04

Intel kills consumer Larrabee, focuses on future variants Semi-Related
Not a shock, dev and HPC platform at first

Intel logoINTEL HAS FINALLY done what we had all expected it to do, and pulled the plug on the consumer version of Larrabee. In a statement today, Intel said that the chip will be a development platform and an HPC part, but there will be no retail version, at least not any time soon.

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2009-12-02

Gigabyte does USB3 and SATA3 right on the 333 series Semi-Related
A long look at the X58 Extreme 2 and GA-P55-UD6

Gigabyte LogoWITH SEVERAL REALLY useful new standards on the horizon, wouldn't it be nice if there was a board or two that did both, USB3.0 and SATA3, and did them well? If you have been waiting for such a beast, the '333 Series' Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 and X58 Extreme 2 are the boards for you.

Updated: Name changes

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1) Wrong Chip

2) Right Case

3) Chips Away

4) Use This

5) Pure Evil

 
     

2009-11-25

Nvidia G310 spotted, just a renamed G210 Semi-Related
Nvidia scams consumers again

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA IS RENAMING parts once again. Now the 200 series is the 300 series, just like we told you months ago. Nvidia has no new parts and no chance of coming up with any soon, so all it can do is unethically try to snow consumers.

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1) Roadmaps Aplenty

2) Slimy Worms

3) Experts Agree

4) Ethics Abound

5) Spin -> English

 
     

2009-11-20

G.Skill releases DDR3 2200 CAS7 Memory Semi-Related
Can do 2000+ with CAS6 and 1.65V for $199

Gskill logoG.SKILL'S LATEST AND GREATEST memory kit, the F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS, comes specified at an impressive 2200Mhz CAS7, and even more impressive is that it only needs 1.65V to get there.

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1) XtremeSystems

2) Newegg

3) Elpida wants 40nm

4) More RAM

 
     

2009-11-16

ATI 58xx parts are delayed a bit more Semi-Related
TSMC's problems are very very odd

tsmc iconIT LOOKS LIKE the wait for more Cypress/HD58xx cards just got a little longer, but not by much. One has to wonder how TSMC can be so bad for so long.

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1) Premature Exclamation

2) Improvement Room

3) Homework Done

4) Future Slide

5) Tuned Correctly

 
     
Fermi massively misses clock targets Semi-Related
Slow, late and unlikely to make money

Nvidia world iconOFFICIAL WORD FROM NVIDIA is that gaming is now a footnote for the formerly leading graphics company, its latest and greatest Fermi chip won't see the light of day until at least Q1 of 2010, and Fermi's clock speeds so far are massively off what the firm had hoped for. Yup, it is a mess, just like we told you.

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1) Their Words

2) More Truthful

3) Corporate Honesty

4) Come Clean

5) MS Honesty

 
     

2009-11-11

AMD uncovers Bulldozer, Bobcat and Fusion Semi-Related
Two cores and a memory controller

Fusion logoAT ANALYST DAY, Chekib Akrout of AMD spilled the beans on the chip company's two new CPU cores, and Fusion. AMD's Bulldozer and Bobcat processors plus its memory controller that is called Fusion were all outed.

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1) Base Tech

2) 2 x 2

3) Blue Competition

4) Killer App

 
     

2009-11-04

Nvidia crushes MSI's Lucid based board Semi-Related
More green photoshopping antics

Nvidia world iconWHAT DO YOU do when you can't keep your promises to investors? You quash fair competition just like Nvidia is doing to Lucid.

 

Updated: MSI response now included.

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1) Puppies Everywhere

2) Victorious Retreat

3) Best Foot

4) Done Right

5) Future Plans?

 
     

2009-11-02

Nvidia finally gets Fermi A2 taped out Semi-Related
7 weeks into a 2 week process

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE Fermi A2 silicon has finally taped out, so the timetables are a little firmer once again. There is no chance of a real launch in 2009, making the chip a shining example of Nvidia's engineering mire.

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1) 7 Puppies

2) Bleak Times

3) Quasi-Accurate

4) Homework Done

5) Spiraling Down

 
     

2009-10-16

Hardware Roundup Semi-Related
DirectX11 is more than just a pretty face

Semiaccurate Roundup LogoWHEN DIRECTX10 came along it wowed gamers with its features, but underwhelmed with the performance hit you took. So now, Windows 7 is just around the corner and Vista is pretty much toast. Now DirectX11 is stepping and some major gaming titles are about to get upgraded to benefit from the new API. Here's a preview.

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1) Hardware Roundup VI

2)  Hardware Roundup V

3) Hardware Roundup IV

4) Hardware Roundup III

5) Hardware Roundup II


 
     

2009-10-11

Nvida launches uncompetitive G210 and GT220 Semi-Related
Barely at parity

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA IS ABOUT to unleash its latest 40nm GPUs on the world, and the best part is these are only 3 quarters late. Welcome the new and utterly forgettable G210 and GT220.

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1) Pretty Waterfall

2) Distant Relatives

3) Old Competitior

4) More Competition

5) Bad Move

 
     

2009-10-06

Nvidia kills GTX285, GTX275, GTX260, abandons the mid and high end market Semi-Related
Full on retreat, can't compete with ATI

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA IS KILLING the GTX260, GTX275, and GTX285 with the GTX295 almost assured to follow as it abandons the high and mid range graphics card market. Due to a massive series of engineering failures, nearly all of the company's product line is financially under water, and mismanagement seems to be killing the company.

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1) Pricing Problems

2) Dinosaur Size

3) Avoided Homework

4) Evergreen Giant

5) Watch Closely

 
     
Nvidia will crater GTX260 and GTX275 prices soon Semi-Related
Shortages are completely artificial

Nvidia world iconWHAT DO YOU DO when you have nothing, and are facing quarters of buying markeshare and have no competitive products on the horizon? If you are Nvidia, you spin, and use the F, fear, U, uncertainty, and D, doubt, in FUD to pretend there are shortages.

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1) Not Good

2) Empty Road

3) Spin Hard!

4) The Hope

5) Looney Bin

 
     

2009-10-01

Nvidia fakes Fermi boards at GPU Technology Conference Semi-Related
Jen-Hsun says one thing, pictures prove another

Nvidia world iconWHAT DO YOU DO when you have a major conference planned to introduce a card, but you don't have a card? You fake it, and Nvidia did just that.

Updated 3x

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1) Only 2%

2) Source Pics

3) Tape Out

4) Little Brother

5) Porcine Airborne

 
     

2009-09-29

AMD shows Fiorano and Kroner Semi-Related
IOMMUs are the important part

Opteron logoAMD OFFICIALLY BROKE SILENCE on the Fiorana and Kroner platforms, right on top of IDF. Most of the specifications are already known, but there are a few interesting things left to tell you about.

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1) 6.67W/Core

2) 24 Dimms

3) 48 Dimms

4) 64 Dimms

5) Gamesmanship

 
     

2009-09-25

Intel talks TV, problems remain Semi-Related
IDF 2009: Lots of 3D tech as well

Intel logINTEL'S LAST KEYNOTE of IDF focused on TVs and how PCs could integrate with them. All it managed to do is convince me that the future is darker than I had feared, the wrong forces are in control, and Intel doesn't understand this market.

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2009-09-23

CrestaTech ships a software defined radio Semi-Related
IDF 2009: Flexible and international TV, radio and GPS

CrestaTech logo iconCRESTATECH IS SHOWING one of the most misunderstood devices in recent memory at IDF, a software defined radio. It went from pre-production silicon at CES to OEM shipments in a very short time.

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