Zakeh Blog
AMD unveils new notebook graphics solutions 0
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
AMD has launched several new graphics solutions for notebooks and new processors for servers – the ATI XGP (external graphics platform) technology, the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3800, the ATI PowerXpress, and the quad-core Opteron 1300 series. XGP technology, a new external PCI Express (PCIe) 2.0 graphics platform, is designed to deliver enthusiast-class desktop graphics performance and true multimedia upgradeability to notebooks, according to the company.
ATI XGP capitalizes on PCIe 2.0 to deliver graphics via a connected cable to an externally powered and cooled device, delivering up to 4.0Gb/s bandwidth in each direction between the notebook and external graphics. XGP is fully optimized for new AMD Turion X2 Ultra (Puma) notebook platforms, which AMD also announced.
Apple’s iPhone, a new model of which is widely expected this summer, took 19.2 percent of the U.S. market for smart-phones sold in the first quarter of 2008, according to research firm IDC’s vendor survey. That was down from 26.7 percent of smart-phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, which included the holiday shopping season. Much of the slack was picked up by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which took 35.1 percent of the market in the fourth quarter and then 44.5 percent in the first. IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the BlackBerry is now strong in the “prosumer” segment, as RIM has successfully widened the appeal of the device beyond the professionals who have been its core customer group.
A recently published patent application discovered by MacRumors reveals that Apple is investigating the use of solar power in versions of their mobile devices — both handheld devices and portable computers. Integrating solar power into a mobile device holds the enormous potential of extending battery life significantly. However, successfully integrating solar panels into these small devices is not without its challenges.
We all suspected it, but now it is confirmed: someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch has told me that Apple will announce their new model at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th. The second-generation iPhone will be available worldwide right after the launch, and not at year’s end, as previously thought. The new model will also herald new sales policies in some countries.
Three of Intel’s chipsets, the G31, G33 and 945GC, are seeing an increase in price following the earthquake in Sichuan, China last week, according to sources at motherboard makers. Although Intel’s packaging and testing plant in Sichuan was unaffected by the quake, the local transport infrastructure has been severely impacted. The three chipsets occupy approximately 45% of Intel’s desktop chipset shipments which has lead to rapid shortages.
Yesterday at a press event hosted in London, HTC unveiled its latest Windows Mobile device, the diamond.
On top of the 
In Las Vegas Sprint has announced a new mobile called the Instinct made by Samsung. It weighs in and is about the same size as the iPhone, and seems to use similar interface ideas. One of the most touted features of the Instinct over the iPhone is the ability to run on EVDO Rev. A, which can achieve much faster speeds than AT&Ts EDGE network. Instinct will come with a 2GB microSD card and it can be expanded up to 8GB. It also features a 2 megapixel camera, GPS navigation (using Telenav), Visual Voicemail (using the touch screen to scan through and browse voicemail messages), and two 1000 mAmp batteries giving up to 5.75 hours of talk time each, as well as some other accessories.