New AMD Phenom™ II X6 Processor, AMD 890FX Chipset and ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series Graphics Create AMD’s Most Powerful Desktop Platform Ever

AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced the immediate availability of the AMD Phenom™ II X6 processor and AMD 890FX chipset ushering in a new era of immersive 3D entertainment and visualization. Trailblazing consumers seeking immersive 3D entertainment and high definition multi-monitor display now can affordably upgrade to six-core performance and award-winning ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 series graphics. Today also marks the availability of the flagship AMD Phenom™ II X6 1090T Black Edition processor, AMD’s fastest and most tunable desktop processor ever.

“With AMD Phenom II X6 processors, discerning customers can build an incredible, immersive entertainment system and content creation powerhouse,” said Bob Grim, director of Client Platform Marketing at AMD. “AMD is answering the call for elite desktop PC performance and features at an affordable price.”

AMD Phenom II X6 processors feature new Turbo CORE technology that transfers performance to three dedicated cores operating at higher frequency. AMD Phenom II X6 processors can shift to Turbo mode for demanding games and productivity software which may employ two or three cores, or shift back to six real cores for the demands of core-hungry content creation and immersive 3D applications.

Systems based on the AMD Phenom II X6 processor and the AMD 8-series chipsets are immediately available in North America from BOXX, iBuyPower, CyberPower, Systemax, MainGear, NCS Technology, Velocity Micro, and ZT Systems. AMD Phenom II X6 processors and AMD 8-series chipsets are available on motherboard sold by online retailers NCIX, Newegg, TigerDirect, and ZipZoomFly.

The AMD Phenom II X6 processor works with existing AM3 and AM2+ socket motherboards with proper BIOS support, making these processors an easy upgrade
With the new AMD OverDrive™ 3.2.1, computer enthusiasts can tune system performance, customize settings, and tune memory performance for the latest AMD platforms with the new AMD Phenom II X6 processor1
The AMD 890FX chipset is the premier complement to the AMD Phenom II X6 processor, featuring ATI CrossFireX™ technology, and is ready for up to four ATI Radeon HD graphics cards and award winning ATI EyeFinity multiple-display technology2
All of the necessary components to build a complete AMD-based system featuring the AMD Phenom II X6 processor can be purchased for less than the price of our competition’s only six-core desktop processor3
The AMD 890FX with SB850 chipset includes the latest SATA 6Gb/s hard drive interface, Gigabit Ethernet, HyperTransport™ 3.0 technology, and PCI Express® Generation 2.0 designed to provide high performance data flow
Many AMD 890FX-based motherboards feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0, quickly synchronizing and transferring digital media files on the new generation of USB 3.0 devices

Secure IronKey Flash Drive Will Self-Destruct in 3...2...1...

Designed to be the world's most secure flash drive, the IronKey employs military-grade AES hardware-based encryption using its IronKey Cryptochip. The encryption keys are stored on the drive itself and your password is required in conjunction with the keys to access and decrypt files. If you forget your password, you may be in trouble; after ten consecutive failed password attempts, the IronKey self-destructs (internally) and erases everything on the drive using "flash-trash" technology that physically overwrites every byte, making the data completely unrecoverable.

The hardware encryption is one aspect of the IronKey, but the online component is another. When you log in to the IronKey website (which again requires both your password and your IronKey to be physically plugged in to your machine), you can activate their secure web-browsing service which turns FireFox into a malware-protected, "stealth surfing" application. Other security-nut features include a "potting" technique that fills the innards of the key with black goo, waterproofing it past military standards and preventing hardware crypto-analysis. $79 will get you 1GB of peace of mind, but the biggest option is the 4GB drive for $149.

Adobe CS5 Master Collection

ADOBE System has unveiled its Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, which provides a comprehensive suite of design tools for the creative industry.
The Creative Suite 5 Master Collection consists of 15 applications including Flash Catalyst, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Flash Professional, Illustrator, InDesign and Dreamweaver.
Flash Catalyst is the new application to join the Master Collection. According to Adobe, the application allows designers to quickly create interactive content without writing code.
There are more than 250 new features that have been integrated into the Creative Suite 5 Master Collection, the company added.
For example, in Photoshop, the content-aware fill feature let users to remove a picture element from background.
This element will be replaced by pixels by matching the lightning, tone, etc of the background picture. The end result is that the picture looks as if the element has ever existed.
Another feature is Refine Edge, which accurately detects and masks the trickest type of edges such as hair. The puppet wrap feature, on the other hand, lets users to reposition any picture element such as straightening a bent arm into a photo accurately.
Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects are also now native 64-bit applications on both Mac and Windows.
In Premiere Pro, the nVidia GPU-accelerated Adobe Mercury Playback Engine allows users to open projects faster, refine effects rich high-definition sequences in real time and play back complex projects without rendering.
Additionally flash Professional allows designers and developers to create, test and deliver wed content across a wide range of mobile platforms and devices such as smartphones, tablets, netbooks, smartbooks.
As for Dreamweaver, the app supports popular content management systems such as drupal, Joomla! and wordPress, thus allowing designers to get accurate views of dynamic wed content from within the product.
The Creative Suite 5 Master Collection cost about RM10,100 and can be ordered online or via Adobe's authorised distributors. It's scheduled to be available here by middle of next month.

Win 8? It's it too fast?

A roadmap timeline slide shown by Microsoft at the 2009 Professional Developers Conference shows that Code Name "Windows 8" is scheduled to be released sometime around 2012. Development and other aspects of Windows 8 have not been detailed in public, although job listings have mentioned improved functionality for file access in branch offices.
A recently-departed Microsoft employee's blog has revealed a rough version of Microsoft's roadmap for key software, including Windows 8. According to the information, Microsoft aims for Windows 8 support to start on July 1, 2011. Support for Windows Server 2012 starts on July 2, 2012. Look like there will be a compete between Windows 7 and Windows 8. Let's see who will be the winner of the century.

Microsoft Office 2010 codenamed Office 14

Microsoft Office 2010, codenamed Office 14, is a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows, and is the successor to Microsoft Office 2007 for Microsoft Windows. Office 2010 includes extended file compatibility, user interface updates, and a refined user experience. It will be available for Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Windows Vista SP1, and Windows 7. With the introduction of Office 2010, a 64-bit version of Office is available for the first time, although only for Windows Vista SP1, Windows Server 2008 SP1, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Neither the 32-bit edition of Office 2010 nor the 64-bit edition is supported on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
On April 15, 2010, Microsoft announced that Office 2010 had been released to manufacturing, with those Volume Licensing customers who have Software Assurance being able to download the software from April 27. Availability in retail stores in the US is to be from June.
Office 2010 marks the debut of free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which will work in popular web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari). A new edition of Office, Office Starter 2010, will replace the current low-end home productivity software, Microsoft Works.
Microsoft's update to its mobile productivity suite, Office Mobile 2010, will also be released for Windows Phones running Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Phone 7. In Office 2010, every application has the Ribbon, including OneNote 2010, Publisher 2010, InfoPath 2010, SharePoint Workspace 2010 (the new name for Microsoft Office Groove 2007) and the new Office Web Apps.
A new feature in Microsoft Office 2010 is the Social Connector. This allows users to write emails while keeping track of their family, friends and colleagues by viewing status updates and past communication history with the individual. When users view their emails a name, picture, and title will be available for the person they are contacting. Upcoming appointments can also be viewed with this new feature and users can request friends. The Social Connector doesn't work with Office x64 bit versions and Microsoft suggests to use the 32 bit products on their official forums and support. Sync features for Windows Mobile phones like email, contacts and other integration will also not work with x64 versions of Office 2010. There is no information if the final releases coming up in a fews days will patch this feature as to date a lot of features and integrations are rendered in the x64 version of Office 2010.

Next Xbox 720 to launch in 2011-2012 according to Microsoft

Yippi and hurray for the teens who urge for the next generation games. This device certainly were design for ya all. In an interview with the head of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, Peter Moore, EGM magazine asked him when their next video game console would come out, and also asked if they’d drop support for the Xbox 360 like they did with the original Xbox. He said that they were going to support it “as long as it sold.” Possibly because they saw the Xbox sell well into 2007 despite not producing the console after October 2005In late 2008, The Inquirer newspaper reported on speculation from industry insiders that Intel is trying to get its high-performance, new architecture GPU Larrabee chipset into the next-gen Xbox 720… both of which are codenames…

Their sources claim that: “Intel has offered Microsoft a very sweet deal indeed in exchange for pushing AMD out of the running for Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox 720. Offering everything from chips to chassis, Intel is purportedly wooing the Vole right down to designing its thermals and pimping the Larrabee chipset out to Microsoft to subcontract out as it pleases. Needless to say, this gives the Vole some rather hefty bargaining power, and leaves both AMD and Nvidia quivering in their boots.

[...] in all likelihood, Larrabee version one will barely take off, but with the right console deal, Larabee Two — which should be making its first appearance somewhere around 2010 — could be a big player.”

As you may or may not know, the Xbox 360’s internals consist out of a PowerPC-based CPU from IBM and a GPU designed by ATI. So an Intel deal would definitely change things up, and aside from emulation, hardware backwards compatibility might be out of the picture as a result. Advantages of the Larrabee chipset are shown in this image above.

New phone on da Rock- SE Vivaz

Sony Ericsson is an alliance of two tech giants and with phones like the Vivaz it shows. It’s a gadget all the way, one that will galvanize geeks and charm the regular user.
A whole bunch of point-and-shoot cameras today boast 720p video recording, but are they not an endangered species feeling enormous pressure on both sides? For one, there are compact video recording DSLRs pushing down with competitive price tags, and then cameraphones are eating into compact camera territory with comparable still image resolution and video capture.
Eight megapixel still images and 720p video with continuous auto focus make the Sony Ericsson Vivaz a predator of point-and-shoot cameras. The Vivaz is not just a cameraphone though, it’s a smartphone as well – a tricked out Symbian running on a 720MHz CPU with a 3.2” nHD display to show it all off. That’s all in a package more compact than any combination of a stand-alone camera and a phone you can think of.
High-end smartphones have a long history of trading compact size for cramming in one feature more than the competition. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz strikes a perfect balance between being compact and feature-full – great news for anyone who doesn’t appreciate the recent craze of smartphones the size of a table… umm… tablet.


Key features
---3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
---8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection, geotagging and touch focus
---HD 720p video recording @ 24fps with continuous auto focus
---Symbian OS 9.4 S60 5th, topped with a custom-brewed homescreen and media menu
---720 MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX dedicated graphics accelerator
---Quad-band GSM support
---3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support
---Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
---microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box)
---Built-in accelerometer
---Turn-to-mute
---TV out
---Stereo FM Radio
---microUSB and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
---Web browser has full Flash support
---Preinstalled Wisepilot navigation software
---Office document viewer
---Decent audio quality