Posted 11/11/09 at 12:00:00 PM by David Murphy

Everyone wants a piece of the direct-download pie. With apologies to our gaming columnist for inching onto his beat just a tad, I think that some intrepid gamer - or, better, an intrepid gamer-businessman - needs to put his finger in the swelling dike of direct download services before it bursts all over the Web and ruins us all.

Dramatic? Perhaps. The description is no less dramatic than my growing frustration at the inability to manage my downloads, multiplayer experience, and cash across the many platforms that exist on the modern-day "Gamer's Internet." In a perfect world, the various game publishers would band together and come up with a common solution-a universal iTunes, if you will-by which all could contribute core content, extras, add-ons, and share the costs of bandwidth, UI development, and communal matchmaking.

As you might expect, that's hardly the case.

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Posted 11/04/09 at 03:31:21 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Digitimes claims to have got the inside scoop on AMD's desktop strategy in 2010 from its sources at motherboard makers. The world's second-largest supplier of microprocessors is said to be working on two new desktop platforms, called the Leo (high-end) and the Dorado (mainstream), which the informants say will be unveiled in May 2010.

The Leo will reportedly combine a 45nm Phenom II series processor with either the 890FX or 890GX (RD890) northbridge and SB850 southbridge chipsets and an ATI Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card. This high-end desktop platform will also support AMD's upcoming six-core Thuban CPU, as per the report.

Moving on to the other platform, the sources said that the Dorado will bring together an Athlon II CPU, 880G (RS880P) northbridge and SB810 southbridge and HD 5000 series GPU. AMD refused to comment when contacted by Digitimes, saying that it cannot comment on unannounced products.

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Posted 10/29/09 at 12:15:44 PM by David Murphy

What a wonderful world that open and closed platforms have created on the World Wide Web. I can have an untold number of features and applications inserted into my Web browser without having to lift much more than a finger to access them. I can take my favorite Web platforms and expand their usefulness by linking them to other Web-based services. I can even download a variant of my Web browser of choice that bridges the best of two worlds under one new roof: new innovations mixed with standard familiarity.

So, what happens when these architectures fight back?

It's a stupid thing to say on its face, because I don't believe that it's up to a particular program or application to breach your defenses and fight its way into your cyber-life. Most, if not all instances of malware, spoofing, and hijacking (to name a few) can be directly traced to user stupidity in some fashion. Either a person leaves the ol' back door unlocked, fails to frisk the guests as they enter the home, or actively invites a heap of trouble to come on over for a party.

Simplified examples, perhaps, but the underlying fact remains a constant: You are the gatekeeper for your PC. Unfortunately, as we begin to adopt an "everyone's allowed" mindset for Web integration, we're only making it easier for the bad guys to do what they do best. Unfriendly, if not downright hostile bits of malware can be pushed back with but a few simple changes in behavior--are you as security-focused as you should be in today's cross-platform world?

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Posted 06/18/09 at 09:30:37 AM by Paul Lilly

Amazon's Kindle source code has been garnering a lot of attention lately, despite being available since the latter part of 2007. But it's not all old news - the new and larger Kindle DX source code has also now been added to the list of downloadable codes.

"Amazon is pleased to make available to you for download an archive file of the machine readable source code ("Source Code") corresponding to modified software packages used in the Kindle device," Amazon wrote in a source code notice.

Users can also download the code to all previous firmware versions of the first and second generation Kindles, but the question is, do you really want to? As Rod Begbie, a senior software engineer at Slide, points out, this isn't the actual source code for the Kindle application, and instead is "just the GPL libraries used to pwoer the Kindle software, along with the patches made by Amazon to those libraries."

Still interested? If so, head over to here to grab your download(s).

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Posted 05/26/09 at 08:03:28 AM by Paul Lilly

Originally scheduled to debut in July, DigiTimes says Intel has gone ahead and postponed the launch of its Core i5 platform until the first half of September, or so that's what "sources at motherboard makers" have been telling them.

Bummer, right? Maybe not. The news and rumor site went on to say that Core i5 processors will show up in the retail sector by late August, with P55-based motherboards surfacing in mid-August. So to sum it up, Core i5 has been delayed until September, but Core i7 will be available in August. Color us confused.

As it currently stands, Core i5 will launch in three speed grades: 2.93GHz, 2.8GHz,and 2.66GHz for $562, $284, and $196, respectively (thousand-unit trays).

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Posted 05/20/09 at 09:03:40 AM by Paul Lilly

Intel's Atom platform has been such a resounding success, one has to wonder what the No. 1 chip maker has planned for a follow-up. You don't have to wonder anymore, as Intel this week officially unveiled 'Pine Trail', the codename for Atom's successor.

The CPU used in Pine Trail, called 'Pineview,' moves the memory controller and GPU onto the same die as the CPU. This means Pine Trail will be a two-chip solution, one less than Intel's current netbook platform. In theory, this should result in cost savings and lower power consumption.

Pineview is being built on a 45nm manufacturing process. Intel hasn't said what type of memory controller it will use, though previous speculation pointed to single-channel DDR2. But what's most interesting is how the war between Intel and Nvidia is shaping up. Like Pine Trail, Nvidia's Ion platform is also a two-chip solution and will have had time to mature by the time Pine Trail debuts later this year. Performance looks to be better on the 9400M-based Ion as well, but Intel's price structure for selling standalone Atoms could put Nvidia at a disadvantage. Moreover, what chips will Nvidia use once Intel makes the move to a CPU+GPU solution?

Stay tuned!

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Posted 05/14/09 at 09:06:26 AM by Paul Lilly

Netbook makers hoping to offer Nvidia's ION platform will have to open their wallets a little wider than what they might be accustomed to. Straight from the horse's mouth, Intel charges more for the Atom processor as a standalone product than it does when combined with its own chipset.

"We have historically offered better pricing to people who buy more product," Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a conference call to discuss Intel's $1.45 billion fine from the European Commission.

In January, Nvidia was asked how much the ION would add to the cost of a netbook.

"It's hard to guesstimate, but our GPUs have a price range from $30 to $40," responded Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia CEO. "It replaces two other chips, the Northbridge and Southbridge, and will certainly be less than that."

Or more, depending on the price premium Intel puts on ordering a bare Atom chip. Given the record setting fine Intel just received for alleged anti-competitive practices and the existing bad blood between Intel and Nvidia, this could get very interesting.

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Posted 01/02/09 at 02:00:00 PM by David Murphy

As we get ready to celebrate the end of 2008 and start of 2009, it's important to put down the champagne glasses for a moment and consider all of the big open-source stories that have come across over the past year.  There have been a lot.  In fact, we've even gone and chronicled some of the bigger stories for you already.  If you haven't checked it out yet, do so.  Like watching The Empire Strikes Back before A New Hope, you'll be lost if you read on much further.  That's because we're now taking a look at what's in store for the open-source world in 2009.

We'll get to the specific predictions in a big, but here's the big picture: the open-source software world is on the up, up, up.  We called this out in a news article awhile ago once the economy started taking a dive.  Guess what?  The economy's still taking a dive, and companies long and far are taking an increased interest in the open-source community.  That's because open-source solutions can help them generate cost savings over expensive, proprietary software without a loss of business quality or functionality. And that translates into increased opportunities for open-source developers -everybody wins!  Unless you're Microsoft and think the entire affair is rubbish.  But enough of that...  onto the predictions!

Click the link to jump into the open-source world of 2009!

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