Latest News - Page 5125

For those of you who get hyped up about numbering systems, an Android engineer may have given you a little freak out today. While posting in the Android code forum, the engineer made reference to the next major Android build being version 2.3, not 3.0 like everyone has believed.

It's not like the jump from 2.2 to 2.3 can't be as large as the jump to 3.0, it's just an unwritten rule that generally the farther apart the version numbers are, the bigger and more groundbreaking the update will be. Whether Gingerbread will be version 2.3, 3.0, or 5,785.243 really doesn't matter as long as it continues moving the platform in the right direction.

It may be a day later than the official release of the 6800 graphics card lineup, but AMD has today made Catalyst 10.10, their latest driver release, official. Along with optimization for the new graphics cards, the new driver release includes support for Linux versions openSUSE 11.3 support (production) and Ubuntu 10.10 support (early look). AMD's HD3D Technology is also introduced with this driver release, giving Blu-Ray and Stereo 3D support. Check out the full list of updates after the break, and grab the new drivers at the Source Link.

The pros and cons of an SSD versus a HDD are well documented. No one will argue that the SSD offers more speed than your average HDD, but most will agree that the amount you pay for an SSD versus the storage space leaves a lot to be desired. However, users that want outright speed in their computers know that the SSD is the way to go.

SSDs that connect directly to the SATA port have bottlenecks inherent in the SATA design and to avoid those bottlenecks there are a few SSDs on the market today that plug into the PCI Express slot. A new SSD storage device has surfaced from a company called Angelbird that is a combination of a traditional SSD and one of the PCI Express SSDs.

There are many music games on the market today with offerings like Rock Band and Guitar Hero at the top of the market. There are other smaller and lesser-known music games though and some of them have some awesome controllers. Power Gig is a music game that works sort of like Guitar Hero in that you have a wireless guitar controller to play with, but Power Gig uses a real six-string guitar.

Seven45 Studios is the company behind Power Gig and it has announced an awesome new guitar controller is available for the game in versions for the Xbox 360 and for the PS3. The controller works just like the basic six string controllers for the game, only these limited edition controllers are handmade for gamers wanting the best controllers out there. The controllers are made by First Act and look more like real electric guitars than game controllers.

Word has quickly started to get around regarding the AMD Radeon HD 6850 carrying with it 1120 Shaders. This afternoon when I was testing for my HD 6850 OC article, I noticed that in GPU-Z my HD 6850 was listed as 1120 Shaders. When I realized I double checked the video card to see if it was actually the HD 6850 and it was.

I had a look at my Sapphire card and noticed that it also showed 1120 Shaders. With the version of GPU-Z being brand new, I put it down to nothing more than a software error since both cards showed it. It's becoming widespread that the cards actually have all 1120 Shaders enabled.

While it doesn't skew our opinion of the HD 6850, it does affect the overall performance. At the moment, though, we don't have a BIOS for the HD 6850 that's only 960 Shaders. Next week when everyone starts to get back to work, namely AMD and its partners we've got samples from, we will speak to them about the situation.

What we want to really find out is can we enable 1120 Shaders on all HD 6850s. We will keep everyone in the loop regarding this and let you know what's going on. Who knows we could be making the 1120 Shader HD 6850 BIOS public next week.

It has got us wondering, though, marketing stunt by AMD? You can kind of imagine it. Oh, people found out about the HD 6850 being able to have all the Shaders unlocked, how terrible the value looks so much better and it makes NVIDIAs cards look worse. Who knows? CONTINUED...

The gaming world has many iconic characters that have been part of some of the most important video games around. A few of these iconic characters include fan favorites like Pac-Man and Mario. Nintendo has been celebrating the 25th birthday of Mario all year long and has offered some cool facts about the game and is offering up some cool new bundles of hardware for Mario fans.

The latest hardware bundles include special edition glossy red Wii and DSi XL game systems. The red Wii bundle includes a glossy red console, the new Super Mario Bros. Wii game, a red Wii Remote Plus controller with built-in Motion Plus capability, a red nunchuk, and the Wii sports game that typically comes with the Wii. The coolest part is that the special edition console has a price that is affordable at $199.99 while supplies last.

If you are a big fan of PC gaming and aren't a fan of having to schlep down to the local game store when you need a new title, Microsoft has made a new announcement you might be interested in. The software giant is set to relaunch its Games for Windows Marketplace offering online access to games via a web browser.

The updated service will offer a streamlined experience that Microsoft built from the ground up for performance and ease of use for gamers. Users will be able to access the service online from anywhere they can get internet access. The store will have fast downloads, fewer clicks to purchase a game, and the ability to redownload games that are purchased if needed.

I have never tried Netflix's streaming content service. I have been on the company's mail order DVD program before and ended up cancelling when the movies I wanted never showed up. I am more interested in streaming content now when I miss a show than going and trying to rent it or waiting for a rerun and when Hulu announced its Plus subscription service I was interested. The price was a bit steep though at $9.99 monthly for access to shows from most of the major networks and older shows that are no longer on TV.

Hulu has been running a beta of the subscription offering for a while now ironing out all of the kinks before the official launch and getting ready to take the service to the general public. AllThingsD reports that sources have told it that Hulu is considering a much more palatable price for the subscription service. The $9.99 price is apparently hard for the beta users to stomach so Hulu is said to be eying a new price tag of $4.95 per month.

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Sometimes living in a big house makes getting wireless signal to all corners of the placea real pain, or you've got a room where you want a computer but no way to run the internet without drilling holes or buying a wireless card. Networking is getting quite a bit simpler thanks to Atheros' Hybrid Networking System.

The router gives you standard fare: 802.11 Wifi, Ethernet, all the usual goodies. The Homeplug AV powerline networking is where it gets interesting. Simply by plugging in the AC adapter, you've instantly got extended wireless signal and even an Ethernet port for network access on a non-wireless capable machine. No word on cost yet for this fun little device, but it is expected to ship by the end of the year.