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2010-03-05

Apple calls in the German police for CeBIT raids Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 How to kill a trade show

Cebit logoWHAT DO YOU get when you cross Apple, Siemens and Sisvel with the German police at CeBIT? Raids of course, with lots of police, lawyers, and people stripping booths clean of everything electronic.

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2010-03-02

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

 
     

2010-02-26

Sweden gets world exclusive GeForce Fermin card Semi-Related
Extremely limited edition card from XFX

WHO WOULD’VE BELIEVED that Nvidia was willing create an exclusive card with one of its partners that would only go on sale in a single country. Well, it’s true and we have sourced proof from the exclusive online retailer that will be selling these very rare cards.

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Fermin video

Bitchin'fast! 3D 2000

Swedish action hero

Wood screws

 
     

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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2010-02-08

Protex 3.0 protects the earth, systems and you Semi-Related
No, we don’t know what that means either

PROTEX 3.0, available in triple pack or singles. Oh, sorry. We were thinking about something quite different. Asus is apparently touting its latest mainboards under the Protex 3.0 banner, although we cannot help but think about condoms rather than motherboards, given a name like that.

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Protex 1

Protex 2

Protex 3

Protex 4

Protex 5

 
     

2010-02-05

Intel's next socket nearly doubles pin counts Semi-Related
Less than 1156 x 2 though

Intel LogoIF INTEL'S NEXT generation chip does indeed slip into 2011 as some rumors suggest, there is a very good reason for it. Intel works in strange and mysterious ways, and uses more Feng Shui than anyone would expect.

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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

 
     

2010-01-06

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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Sony-Ericsson shows off Windows Mobile 6.5 Semi-Related
CES 2010 It is called Wince for a reason

CES LogoWINDOWS MOBILE 6.5 has been getting a bad rap lately, mainly because it is an awful OS with bloated requirements and no upside for the pain. However at CES, Sony-Ericsson showed us why Windows Mobile 6.5 is best for mobile phones.

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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

 
     

2009-12-29

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

 
     

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

 
     

2009-12-09

Artists sue recording industry for $6 billion Semi-Related
Oh Canada!

CRIASEVERAL CANADIAN ARTISTS have formed a group to sue the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association) and the four major music labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner for copyright infringment.

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1) Afterdawn

2) Details

3) Edwin Collins

4) RIAA=MAFIA

5) RIAA Warning

 
     

2009-12-07

ATI and Cyberlink support Blu-ray Stereoscopic 3D Semi-Related
Expensive niche standard on an expensive niche standard

Blu-ray logo iconATI IS GETTING on board the Blu-ray Stereoscopic 3D train before it even exists. Lets hear it for an expensive and mostly useless standard that adds on to a expensive and mostly useless standard known for customer abuse.

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1) Flash Abuse

2) Profile Mess

3) Dual Decode

4) Can Do

5) Can't Do

 
     

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

 
     

2009-11-18

The MAFIAA makes P2P filesharing better Semi-Related
Pirate Bay 'victory' is pyrrhic

The Pirate Bay iconTHE BIG CONTENT MAFIAA just lost another round in the war on consumer rights, and they lost badly. The Pirate Bay won again, ironically by doing exactly what the MAFIAA wanted.

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1) Stronger Now

2) Faster Now

3) Quite Legal

4) Pyrrhic Indeed

5) Sue Them!

 
     

2009-11-04

New York blasts Intel in an antitrust suit Semi-Related
Ugly details revealed, it just keeps getting worse

Intel logoIT LOOKS LIKE the brown stuff has hit the rotating blades in the ongoing Intel vs AMD antitrust lawsuits. New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo just filed suit against Intel for all sorts of nasty things.

Updated: Links to the PDF

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1) Bad Behavior

2) Uglier Still

3) Sillier Yet

4) Bad Timing

5) Largest Suit

 
     

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

 
     

2009-10-19

IDF Taipei 2009 was slower than usual Semi-Related
Complete coverage of no real anouncements

Intel logoONE OF THE highlights of October in Taipei is not the odd Typhoon, but IDF in Taipei. We crashed it last year, and it was a lot of fun, so we did it again this year.

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1) Boob Toob

2) 12 Cores

3) A not B

4) Wrong Color

5) Form Letter

 
     

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

 
     

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

 
     

2009-09-21

AMD has a booth at IDF Semi-Related
Shocking candid pictures inside

Intel LogoTHERE WAS a sight at IDF today, right there in the far back corner of the showroom floor, that proved that heck just got slightly chillier. DAAMIT has a booth at IDF.

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2009-08-20

AT&T can't see the Apple products it sells Semi-Related
No MobileMe, but they get IE

Apple Logo IconHOW DO YOU SAY irony in corporate-speak? How about AT&T selling a service that it can't show, demonstrate or debug properly in its stores because its IT department only lets its staff use Internet Explorer.

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1) Me Work

2) Bad Alternative

3) Worse Alternative

4) True Standards

5) Grow mold

 
     

2009-08-01

Defcon 17: Still going strong Semi-Related
Some signs of grey hair in the mohawks

Defcon 17DEFCON, THE 'HACKER CON', part of the security conference activities in Las Vegas this week, seems to not have suffered too badly from the economy. Thousands of people - computer professionals, government security folks, frat boys looking to learn to pick locks, and various other flavors of geeks have shown up at the Riviera for Defcon 17.

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1) Defcon

2) ISC

3) US CERT

 
     

2009-07-31

Defcon 1 memorabelia shown off Semi-Related
Dead Addict cleans the closet

Defcon logoIN A BLAST from the past, a hacker named Dead Addict dragged out a bunch of his memorabilia from Defcon 1. It pulled into focus exactly how far the show has come in the 16 years since that first gathering.

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1) SCI saves

2) Primitive art

3) More modern

4) Really modern

 
     
Getting arrested in Las Vegas Semi-Related
What to do, what to expect, and why

Defcon logoWHAT HAPPENS IF you do something really stupid at Defcon, or even in greater Las Vegas? You get arrested, which is precisely why Jim Rennie gave a talk titled, "So You Got Arrested at Defcon....".

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1) The Talk

2) Dry heat

3) Vegas crime

4) Not Vegas

 
     

2009-07-28

Nvidia starts cutting costs Semi-Related
Eerily targeted cuts

Beast power iconTHE VOICES IN our head that talk to us and tell us the secrets of the industry are now saying that Nvidia is going to cut one of their most prominent people. It is going to be a sad day when he goes, working with this man was never boring.

Article updated 1x

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1) GT300 video?

2) Rotten Apple

3) Competiton 3

4) Competitor 1

5) Decorum rules

 
     

2009-07-07

Telltale releases a new Monkey Island game Semi-Related
Almost two decades of waiting

MI logo iconAFTER LITERALLY YEARS of silence, the new Monkey Island game is out. Yes, mere weeks after revealing it's existence at E3, you can now get the first episode from Telltale games.

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1) SCUMMy

2) Worth It

3) Animated humor

 

 
     

2009-07-02

Hoopla over Chinese "Green Dam"... Semi-Related
an exercise in rhetoric and the bottom line

IN ORDER TO GAIN access to the Chinese market, US companies have co-operated in one way or another with government requests to restrict freedom of access to the Internet. Why are those companies pushing back now because of China's new Green Dam web filter?

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1) Nannying software

 
     

2009-06-29

Battery life claims become a class action Semi-Related
First step, look for anyone with a laptop

IT LOOKS LIKE the killer attack lawyers are circling the big OEMs, the scent of payola in the air. If you have been following the whole battery life tiff in the news, you will not be surprised that the affair is about to become a class action.

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HP proves you can make a desktop worse Semi-Related
Pavilion PC hobbled by stupidity

HP logo JUST WHEN YOU thought PC OEMs couldn't get any dumber, HP reaffirms that the bottom has yet to be reached with their new Pavilion PC. How any OEM could be this abjectly stupid is beyond me, but they managed to take a PC that aspires to mediocrity and make it worse.

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2009-06-12

ATI gets into a new market, Ammo Semi-Related
Aims to kill the competition

ACCORDING TO THE always accurate chip news site, AmmoLand, ATI is launching a line of ammunition. No, not the DX11 missiles heading at Nvidia in October, but real bang bang stuff.

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2009-06-01

Terracotta army has good memory Semi-Related
Hordes of USB sticks at Computex

Terracotta usb warriorsTHERE IS NOTHING new under the sun when it comes to USB memory sticks in odd looking cases, but every once in a while some company does something silly that grabs your attention. This time it was Supertalent and their terracotta warriors.

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