Sharp teases the HT world with 85-inch, capable of 7860x4320, also capable of reducing HT lovers into tears

Anthony Garreffa | Displays & Projectors | May 22, 2011 9:39 PM CDT

If this were my own tech site, where I didn't have to type up a few paragraphs on the news I post, the only word that would accompany this news would be: Wow. I would end it with "Wow" and a link to the YouTube video - but holy bloody crap, Sharp and Japanese national TV broadcaster, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have jointly developed an 85-inch LCD compatible with Super Hi-Vision, a next-generation television broadcast format.

The new format comprises of 33 megapixels, or 16 times the resolution of HDTV, Super Hi-Vision is being pushed as offering a powerful, life-like image reproduction. R&D began in 1995 (!) and they aim to have trial broadcasts before the decade ends. Sharp used their UV2A2 LCD technology which allows them to create the first direct-view LCD compatible with the insanely high resolution performance of Super Hi-Vision.

Sharp's TV features a Super Hi-Vision-compatible LCD, 85-inch in size, a native resolution of hold-onto-your-pants 7680x4320, a brightness of 300 cd/m2, a gradation of 10 bits for each RGB color and a refresh rate of 60Hz (boo!). The new LCD will be shown to the public at NHK's Science and Technology Research Laboratories in Tokyo from May 26, 2011 until May 29, 2011.

Continue reading: Sharp teases the HT world with 85-inch, capable of 7860x4320, also capable of reducing HT lovers into tears (full post)

Logitech unleash iPad and Android-based tablet accessories,

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | May 22, 2011 9:14 PM CDT

Ah, Logitech. You've put a smile on my face today. Logitech have released tablet-based accessories for the iPad and Android users out there, this includes keyboards, bluetooth mice, wireless speakers. First up Logitech have the Tablet Keyboard for iPad, US$69.99, Bluetooth compatible, includes a case and stand and also media controls.

Next up we have the Keyboard Case for iPad 2 which sells for US$99.99, it includes a very swish-looking keyboard (of course!), Bluetooth, rechargeable battery and 10-hour battery life. This is one of the best accessories, as the iPad 2 can dock into it and act like a netbook, or click on top of it and be used as a case to protect the screen. The final accessory from Logitech for the iPad is the Logitech Wireless Speaker which retails for US$99.99 and is a Bluetooth-based speaker setup which allows you to play music directly from your iPad without any wires, it features dual two-inch drivers which Logitech say are set to deliver rich, stereo sound and plenty of bass. The speaker lasts for up to ten hours straight playing, and is rechargeable (includes an internal battery).

Android-based Logitech accessories next! The Android accessories are virtually identical, including a Logitech Tablet Keyboard for Android 3.0+ at US$69.99, this version does not include the case, but is an actual separate dock and keyboard. It still features that Bluetooth goodness and is capable of being used within 30 feet of your tablet. Next up is the Tablet Mouse for Android 3.1+, this mouse retails for US$49.99 and features an ambidextrous design, laser-tech and of course, Bluetooth.

Continue reading: Logitech unleash iPad and Android-based tablet accessories, (full post)

BlizzCon 2011 Tix Go On Sale Tomorrow, Rapture May Interfere

Trak Lord | Trade Shows | May 20, 2011 7:16 PM CDT

Newsflash, Blizzard: A lot of people (who probably wouldn't be attending BlizzCon anyway) in the California area are very aware of May 21, as it's the day that Armageddon officially begins. And I'm not talking about a level-mod or Diablo 2 marathon gaming session- literally, the End of Days. Not this End of Days though, unless that Jeffersonian scandal of his was some act of divine intervention to clear his schedule in time to save the world.

I digress.

Anyway, in case the Earth isn't consumed by heavenly fire tomorrow morning (On that note, does Armageddon have a time zone? Does that mean midnight tonight? Could a cosmic-level event really be dependent on an arbitrary measuring system created by humans? I think I'd be more trusting of this if it coincided with the passing of a meteor, or an eclipse. Or, I don't know, even a solstice. C'mon Zealots, step your game up), BlizzCon tickets will be on sale for a limited time only. More information below from the blog post and more information on what could just be a religious conspiracy to sell T-Shirts.

Continue reading: BlizzCon 2011 Tix Go On Sale Tomorrow, Rapture May Interfere (full post)

Fable 3 dev: Used-game sales hurt industry more than piracy, say what!

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 19, 2011 9:09 PM CDT

Developers have complained for the longest time that piracy is the number one killer in sale numbers but it is now looking like the used-game sales could be an even bigger problem. Fable III designer Mike West says that the sale of second-hand Xbox 360 games costs the developer more than piracy on PC.

He elaborates by saying:

Continue reading: Fable 3 dev: Used-game sales hurt industry more than piracy, say what! (full post)

Apple MacBook Air set to get an injection of Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt in June or July

Anthony Garreffa | Laptops | May 18, 2011 10:20 PM CDT

Apple is set to inject their ultra-thin MacBook Air range with some Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt goodness come this June/July. The refreshed models will bring the Air range in line with the Sandy Bridge-refreshed MacBook Pro and iMac range that have just recently been updated. DigiTimes is citing industry sources saying that the supply chain makers for the new models remain the same.

Quanta Computer doing assembly work, Catcher Technology supplying casings and Simplo Technology and Dynapack supplying the batteries. The refresh should cause quite the stir as it'll give Apple the much needed speed boost in their ultra-thin notebook line at the same time as winking toward competitors like Dell and Samsung who are tripping over themselves trying to compete.

Continue reading: Apple MacBook Air set to get an injection of Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt in June or July (full post)

ASUS 990FX Sabertooth Mobo flaunts in front of the camera, lifts skirt just above knee and bites its bottom lip

Anthony Garreffa | Motherboards | May 18, 2011 10:06 PM CDT

ASUS are really going for gold with the AM3+ platform by including the Republic of Gamers (ROG) teaming of two motherboards in the form of the ASUS Crosshair V Formula and The Ultimate Force (TUF) Sabertooth 9900FX which go hand-in-hand with AMD's 990FX chipset that is designed to run up to four discrete graphics cards. ASUS are keeping the color scheme in line with other TUF-series boards and it doesn't look too bad at all.

The board comes with ultra-durable components, 10-phase Digi+ VRM, four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866MHz memory and connects to the 990FX chipset over a HyperTransport 3.1 link. The board includes four PCI-Express 2.0 16x (capable of 16/4/8/8x or 16/4/16/nc - depending on what is installed). The electrical x4 slot is wired to the SB950 southbridge and is placed there to hold PCI-Express SSDs (such a great addition).

One each of the PCI-E x1 and PCI end the slots in a slower fashion. Storage wise the board sports six internal SATA 6Gbit ports supporting RAID, two internal SATA 3Gbit from a third-party controller, one power-eSATA/USB combo and one normal eSATA on the rear. To finish the board off we have 8+2 channel HD audio powered by a Realtek ALC892 with optical SPDIF output, one GbE port, four USB3.0 ports (two rear, two via header), a bunch of USB2.0 ports and Firewire.

Continue reading: ASUS 990FX Sabertooth Mobo flaunts in front of the camera, lifts skirt just above knee and bites its bottom lip (full post)

Angry Birds flies past 200 million downloads, like a boss

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 18, 2011 9:40 PM CDT

Rovio's famously awesome Angry Birds has reached a very amazing milestone. Downloads have topped 200 million, Apple's iPad and iPhone have contributed to this success by a large portion but the franchise has grown up a little bit. Angry Birds has seem phenomenal success even on Google's Chrome Web Store with 5 million downloads.

Keep in mind that Rovio had more than fifty games before they struck gamers across the globe with the amazing Angry Birds. Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka has shown off Angry Birds hoodies (omg!) and has said that he sees Angry Birds as a huge entertainment platform which isn't just limited to merchandise and movies but he will be experimenting with location-based services and other schemes to blend the game's footprint into the real world. Interesting, huh?

Continue reading: Angry Birds flies past 200 million downloads, like a boss (full post)

NBN launches for Armidale, 7 customers start up their torrents and download the_internet.zip

Anthony Garreffa | Networking | May 18, 2011 8:34 PM CDT

Seven customers have been connected to the National Broadband Network (NBN) trial services in Armidale ahead of the official launch. The launch of the NBN marks the start of trial customer services for various ISPs such as Telstra, iiNet, Internode and Primus. iINet and Internode have two customers each, Primus with a single lucky customer and Telstra has a "handful" of customers on NBN services.

Each telco had connected to the NBN on a trial basis with no cost to the customer (where's my invite?). iiNet has their two customers on 100Mbps services with 1TB of data per month. One of the iiNet customers said he would use his new 100Mbps NBN service to work from home. Peter Erskine is a researcher at the University of New England and has said:

Continue reading: NBN launches for Armidale, 7 customers start up their torrents and download the_internet.zip (full post)

Brink PC issues, affects virtually all NVIDIA GeForce 400 and 500-series owners - makes the game unplayable

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | May 18, 2011 8:19 PM CDT

Brink made its debut to the world over a week ago now and with the PSN being down at the time - fail number one occurred, Xbox 360 reviews were a bit hard on the game, fail number two occurred. The PC version seemed to be OK, apart from serious frame rate issues (for me at least), FOV issues (console port) but other than that it seemed to be stable. Well, that's what I thought. 5 or so minutes into the game and it's absolutely abysmal FOV (it really is bad) and I get a CTD.

YAY. It was thrilling. Yet another release of a game from a developer where they promise the PC won't get shunted to the side in favor of console releases. I tried tweaking the config, re-downloading my Steam files, downloading the new NVIDIA beta drivers I posted up yesterday but nothing worked. Tried it again last night after I installed the Beta drivers and CTD. This was really pissing me off. I wake up this morning to find "Frustrated Gamer" has e-mailed me with a forwarded e-mail he sent to Kotaku asking them about this issue.

As my readers would know, I'm against console ports and I hate seeing the destruction of the once great PC gaming industry. Sure it's still there, with releases from Valve strong, but from everyone else? Not so good. Splash Damage used id Tech for this game, you would think it would be perfect on PC - wrong. Bethesda have a great track record of PC games too, well, not anymore.

Continue reading: Brink PC issues, affects virtually all NVIDIA GeForce 400 and 500-series owners - makes the game unplayable (full post)

NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says Android tablets will overtake iPad in 30 months, time for a new tattoo?

Anthony Garreffa | Mobile Devices | May 17, 2011 8:56 PM CDT

I've decided, with the power vested in me, that today be renamed "NVIDIA Day". On with the news, NVIDIA co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has stated that Android-based tablets (and more specifically, Honeycomb-based tablets) will overtake Apple's iPad in 30 months. The tattoo-clad Huang was quoted at the Reuters Technology Summit saying:

NVIDIA is cementing their place into the tablet market by releasing very powerful Tegra 2-based tech and their line up for the future is looking nothing short of amazing. Especially after it's named after my favorite superhero, Kal-El. Kal-El is something I typed up a news piece about a few months ago, it will be a quad-core NVIDIA chip that will most likely be called Tegra 3. Kal-El has been sampling for the last three months and might find it's way into products as early as August.

Continue reading: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says Android tablets will overtake iPad in 30 months, time for a new tattoo? (full post)

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