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Nvidia purposefully hobbles PhysX on the CPU

Real World Tech proves Nvidia’s de-optimizations

NVIDIA JUST HAD one of their most sleazy marketing tactics exposed, that PhysX is faster on a GPU than a CPU. As David Kanter at Real World Tech proves, the only reason that PhysX is faster on a GPU is because Nvidia purposely hobbles it on the CPU. If they didn’t, PhysX would run faster on a modern CPU.
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3D Blu-ray software comes to the PC

Could be yours for $99.95

CYBERLINK IS UNDISPUTABLY the leader in software DVD and Blu-ray playback software for Windows and the company has announced a new version of PowerDVD called PowerDVD 10 Mark II which if you have the Ultra 3D version of it, allows you to watch your movies in 3D. Well, that is if you have the required equipment to do so.
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Acer’s dual core N550 Atom netbook leaked early

Sleek looking, but sorely lacking in features

THERE ARE ALREADY a few dual core netbooks on the market, like the Asus Eee PC 1215N which we wrote about a couple of days ago. However, Acer appears to be one of the first to market with a netbook that uses the first mobile dual core Atom processor, the N550. Sadly it seems like little else is exciting about the new Aspire One D255.
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Nokia to offload wireless modem business to Renesas

Signs strategic business alliance for now

NOKIA ISN’T DOING well and the company is now looking at offloading is wireless modem business unit to Renesas for roughly $200 million, not exactly what you’d call pocket change. However, Nokia isn’t giving up its wireless modem products, instead Nokia and Renesas has signed a strategic business alliance to develop HSPA+ and LTE products.
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Intel is smarter than Microsoft or IBM

Use your brain, not your big mouth

LAST WEEK, INTEL proved they were much smarter than Microsoft and IBM when they put out a widely ignored press release about an administrative motion with the FTC. While the text said next to nothing, the actions behind it had immense ramifications, especially if you are an Intel stockholder.
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Nvidia GeForce GTX460 gets priced in Europe

A Radeon HD 5830 competitor

THERE ARE STILL a lot of unanswered questions about Nvidia’s upcoming GTX460 which should be based on the GF104, but pricing of what appears to be a real card has appeared in a price search engine in Europe, with several retailers listed as having put the card up for pre-order. Price wise the new card is very close to what AMD’s Radeon HD 5830 sells for in Europe, so it’ll be interesting to see how it performs, once it launches.
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Apple’s respone to iPhone 4 antenna problems is unacceptable

Blame everyone but themselves, they are perfect

THE SMUG ONES from Cupertino have finally done the right thing for iPhone 4 owners with reception problems, that would basically be everyone who owns one. No, they didn’t fix the design flaw, but they did issue a sickly self-congratulatory press release, publicly blame their customers, then deny that the problem is real. How typical.
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Notebook manufacturers want standard power bricks

IEEE offers to lend a hand

ONE OF THE MOST expensive parts to replace for your notebook besides the battery is the humble power brick. If you’ve ever had to buy a replacement power adapter for your notebook, you’ll know that replacement units from the manufacturers can cost in excess of $100 if you’re unlucky, especially if your notebook isn’t a current model. However, it looks like the notebook manufacturers – well at least the ones in Taiwan – are looking at making a standard for power adapters.
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Toshiba launches Core i notebook with 16h battery life

Only in Japan for now

TWO THINGS THAT rarely go hand in hand when it comes to notebooks is battery life and performance – well, weight also plays in somewhere here – but it seems like Toshiba has gotten one step closer to solving this with its latest 13.3-inch dynabook RX3W that was announced in Japan today. Toshiba has combined a standard 35W Core i processor with a light weight chassis and up to 16h of unplugged usage, that’s what we’d call a good compromise.
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Microsoft solves problem with fitting batteries the right way around

Calls it InstaLoad, will license

IF YOU’VE EVER had problems figuring out which way you’re supposed to put batteries in your gadgets, then this is what you’ve been waiting for. Microsoft has gone and solved a problem that most of us have come upon at one time or another, which way do you put the batteries in. Well, with a bit of luck (and low royalty fees) we might just see Microsoft’s InstaLoad technology solve this little problem for once and for all.
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Finland celebrates as Internet access becomes a legal right

1Mbit of reasonably priced broadband, now that’s freedom

HOW TIMES HAVE changed, Finland has just entered a new era in history where reasonably priced broadband access with a minimum downstream speed of 1Mbit/s has become a legal right for its citizens and businesses. This is an issue that’s been discussed by many other European countries, but most of them came up with the view that internet access isn’t a right, it’s a privilege and then went on to implement various regulations based on that.
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Shotgun-Wielding Balmer Escorts ‘Kin’ Behind the Woodshed

nVidia hugs Tegra and cries softly

It seems that Verizon’s rabid pet wolf was able to sink its teeth into Microsoft’s ‘Kin’ phone not even two months after Arlis traded in his prized horny toad, $49.99 and a home-cooked meal for the privilege of owning one.  This unfortunate turn of events prompted Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer to don his executioner’s mask and place a 12-gauge slug between the eyes of the hydrophobic phone series.  When asked to comment on the sudden death sentence, we couldn’t quite make out his reply due to all the laughter and bad music coming from the Apple camp across the street, but it sounded something like, “developers, developers, developers, developers…”
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Asus Eee PC 1215N gets official

Of sorts

IN THIS DAY in age it seems like companies are relying a little bit too much on social media to get their message out and Asus has announced its Eee PC 1215N on facebook, yet there’s no mention of it on Asus’ website. The latest addition to the Eee PC family features a dual core Atom D525 processor an Nvidia ION 2 graphics which makes this 12-inch “netbook” a rather interesting offering.
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Cisco announced Android tablet for business users

8h battery life, 1.5lb, Atom powered

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, but Cisco has announced a tablet of its own that’s powered by an unspecified 1.6GHz Atom processor, 32GB of flash memory and a claimed 8h battery life. Considering that Cisco has managed to squeeze this into a 1.5lb (520g) package is pretty impressive, but is this really the business tool we’ve all been waiting for that’ll make us more productive?
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MSI’s two new Fuzion boards nearly here

Intel P55 and AMD 870 with Lucid Hydra

MSI IS GETTING ready to unleash two new motherboards with Lucid’s Hydra chip, but unlike the Big Bang Fuzion, the two new models should turn out to be a bit more wallet friendly. First up we have the P55A Fuzion which is the Big Bang Fuzion’s little brother so to say, as this board is also based on the Intel P55 chipset. The second board, the 870A Fuzion is based on AMD 870 chipset and is MSI’s first AMD board to feature Lucid’s Hydra.
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