01/04/2010 (Pre-CES) – In the digital age, people are creating and accessing digital content like never before. As such, they require a storage device that is powerful enough to store and serve this content, but friendly enough to manage quickly and effortlessly. Today, digital storage leader Thecus® Technology is proud to announce the Thecus® N4200. Fast, secure, and incredibly easy-to-use, the N4200 is the ideal home NAS for the digital lifestyle.

The N4200 was designed to enable users to access their data both quickly and easily. It begins with the new Intel® Atom™ dual-core processor D510, which runs at 1.66GHz and, in combination with 1GB of DDR2 memory, delivers both blistering data transfer speeds and increased system response. Users can easy manage their unit with the N4200’s dual displays. The LCD offers a wealth of system information, including hard disk and network status, while the big and bright 2.8” OLED display allows users to modify a number of settings directly on the device including WAN, LAN, Link Aggregation, languages and more, making the N4200 the friendliest Thecus® NAS ever.

“The enormous growth of Internet-connected devices and rich media content in the home is driving demand for innovative Network Attached Storage solutions that are powerful yet easy to use,” said Seth Bobroff, General Manager, Data Center Group – Storage. “The Intel® Atom™ processor D510 powers the Thecus N4200 NAS Server to deliver a responsive and reliable storage solution that enables consumers to enjoy and conveniently manage their digital lifestyles.”

Of course, the N4200 is incredibly adept at both storing and securing data. Four SATA II hard disk bays offer up to 8TB of storage capacity, which is plenty of space for all sorts of digital photos, movies, and music. To keep data safe, the N4200 comes with multiple RAID modes, including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD. The N4200 is equipped with Dual DOM technology, which uses a secondary DOM to reprogram the primary DOM in the event of a failure, and ensures maximum uptime and data availability. The N4200 can even handle itself during a power outage, thanks to the built-in battery backup module (BBM). Should the power go out for any reason, the N4200 automatically retains unwritten data in hard drives to maintain data integrity.

“Some memories are simply irreplaceable, which is why many home users would greatly benefit from the data security features of our new N4200,” said Florence Shih, Thecus General Manager. “Featuring both Dual DOM and battery backup, the all-new N4200 is the perfect device for storing, sharing, and securing all of our digital memories and media.”

For more information on the N4200, go to:

http://www.thecus.com/products_over.php?cid=10&pid=220&set_language=english

For more information on Thecus, go to:

http://www.thecus.com

Thermaltake, leading PC chassis, cooler, and PSU brand manufacturer, is celebrating their 10th anniversary in the PC DIY industry and will therefore present a very special highlight at this year’s Computex2009 show in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2 ~ 6.

Herewith we would like to cordially invite you to this exclusive ceremony with the Director of the European Studio of BWM Group DesignworksUSA, Laurenz Schaffer the AMD Vice President of Platform Business Development Levi Murray and the CEO of Thermaltake Kenny Lin. Don’t miss your chance to meet three of the most innovative technology leaders in their fields and directly ask them and tell what you think matters.

Thermaltake exclusively work together with the renowned design consultancy BMW Group DesignworksUSA and the prime manufacturer of processors and graphics solutions Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on a chassis project called Level 10. Level 10, the Extreme Gaming Station chassis, reflects the vibrant and pioneering vision of DesignworksUSA which results from their work in the automotive area as well as for diverse industries from lifestyle to aviation, yachting or IT. Level 10 entirely breaks with traditional case architecture conventions and explores a daring and futuristic concept in which most components are compartmentalized, making the case an open and modular structure, allowing for most convenient access to and exchangeability of the most important components. AMD’s highly overclockable CPUs and powerful graphics solutions bring the “Level 10” Extreme Gaming Station to life and in full gear for the best gaming experience.

The Director of the European Studio of BMW DesignworksUSA, Laurenz Schaffer, points out:
“With the Level 10 design we have created an exceptionally new and exciting design icon for the gaming market while at the same time focusing on ease of use. The dramatic architectural aesthetics is inspired by the visual motives of virtual worlds. A unique modular structure emphasizes the additive components. New functions and features are introduced to increase usability and provide maximum individual configurability”

AMD, manufacturer of first class CPUs and graphics chips, is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home, and gaming. The AMD Vice President of Platform Business Development, Levi Murray notes:
“Thermaltake attempts to search for product distinction and recognized that great design will lead the way. With many new and innovative features, Level 10 provides a breakthrough design that is an ideal environment for AMD’s high-performance CPU and GPU solutions.”

With many new features, utmost usage convenience and optimized cooling efficiency wrapped in an almost unreal aesthetical chassis design the Level 10 Extreme Gaming Station is bound to soon become a true collectors’ item among computer enthusiasts.

We look forward to seeing you at Computex Taipei 2009, if you want to register upfront or want to make individual appointments with Thermaltakes PR or sales team please feel free to do and just send an email to: PR@thermaltakeusa.com

Austin, TX � After AMD had acquired ATI, many folks had their doubts about the two companies coming together as one. Corporate cultures were almost polar opposites, management styles differed, and a host of other differences that, if this were a marriage, would have inevitably ended in divorce. I was pleased to see that the two are getting together quite well now and, two years after the merger, AMD/ATI have �got their groove back�.

Puma Platform
David Rooney, Senior Product Manager for the Puma Platform, was first at bat after the opening remarks by  Chris Claren (CVP Product Marketing) and Pat Moorhead (VP Advanced Marketing).

Chris Claren

Pat Moorhead

David Rooney

Tech Day this year centered on the launch of AMD�s new mobile platform codenamed �Puma�. Puma is similar to Intel�s Centrino initiative as it is a platform, not a processor. The Puma Platform consists of the following:

1. AMD Turion Ultra X2 processor
2. AMD 7xx chipset
3. ATI HD3xxx graphics
4. 802.11 BANG Wi-Fi

Unlike Centrino, which forces OEM to use Intel chips for all aspects of the platform, Puma allows some variation in graphics and Wi-Fi chips to allow best-of-breed performance.  For example, Centrino labeled notebooks must always use Intel Integrated Graphics Processors (IGP) chips. The Centrino Platform Specifications include some rather stringent thermal limits and variation in the chips used could lead to extra heat which would cause a laptop brand to lose their Centrino labeling. A Puma notebook can have an ATI IGP chip, or a discrete video card and, using Hybrid CrossfireX, combine the two to give the user video performance to rival desktop systems. Puma systems will be the first notebooks to support DirectX 10.1 on all models. HD3200 DX10.1 boasts 3x the performance of a Core2 T8100 + GMA X3100 (Santa Rosa reference). Puma will also support Wi-Fi chipsets from a variety of companies to give best of breed performance.

Puma systems with discrete graphics cards will include DisplayPort as well as  DVI ports.

Another Puma innovation is the inclusion of UVD2 technology. UVD is the Universal Video Decoder introduced in the HD2xxx series of discrete video cards of the desktop and it offloads HD video decoding for playback from the CPU. Two laptops were shown side-by-side; one was a non-Puma system and the other a Puma system. The non-Puma notebook did very good job of playing the BD version of the James Bond film �Casino Royale�. However, bringing up the Windows Task Manager we saw that the CPUs were pegged out at 100% utilization. The Puma system, with its UVD2 chip, was only using 50% CPU. Both systems were dual-core.

AMD claims that graphics on Puma based notebooks are 5x sharper than comparable �Santa Rosa� systems from Intel. From what I saw there, they could be right.

Battery Life
With all this power under the hood, battery life should be non-existent correct? Nope, the Boys (and Girls) from Austin covered that as well in the design of Puma. PowerXpress Technology, based on technology first deployed in �Barcelona� class Opteron processors, allows Puma based systems to shut power off in the parts of the CPU that are not being used. Cores can be clocked slower independently to help conserve power.

Other PowerXpress features include the disabling of the discrete graphics card while on battery power, a new display enhancement called Vari-Bright (which saves power by dimming the backpanel’s brightness  and boosting the gamma of the images on the screen), HyperTransport v3 (HT3) now has a variable link width and can be shut down to conserve power, and the memory controller is on its own power plane independent of the CPUs. The CPUs can power down and the memory controller stays powered up to refresh the display. AMD tests show six hours of battery life as nominal

{mospagebreak title=A Surprise Guest}
A Surprise Guest
At this point in the presentation we received a visit by Nigel Dessau, the Chief Marketing Officer of AMD. He graciously fielded the questions we had for him. This one was the biggie:

Bloggers: Is AMD in decline?

ND: No, it just needs some work. When a CMO is hired, it’s usually with a company that needs help in that area. I was hired to turn marketing around.

Mr Dessau stated that the market needs AMD to survive as an engine of innovation. All of the major developments in the PC platform: x64, onboard memory controllers, hypertransport, and true multi-core were developed by AMD.

In order to survive, AMD must:

• Show product momentum
• Show business momentum
• Show financial momentum (product of the first two)

The server market is getting more sophisticated. The client market is getting frustrated over the amount of sophistication. AMD is looking to streamline things marketing-wise in order to make things easier for the client to understand:

• Work Model � AMD Work
• Performance/Play Model � AMD Game
• Home Model � AMD Live

{mospagebreak title=Shrike Platform}

Shrike Platform
After the break, Matt Mazzantini, Sr. Product Manager for the Shrike Platform came on deck to talk about his baby. Shrike is the notebook platform that will follow Puma in the second half of 2009. The Shrike platform is based around the Fusion processor, which is now codenamed �Swift APU (Accelerated Processing Unit)�.

The Shrike Platform will also lack HyperTransport of any kind. It doesn’t need it or any kind of Northbridge technology. The Swift APU supports DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI connectors, incorporates a DDR3 memory controller and is expected to out perform Puma by 20% on the CPU and 35% on the GPU. They also expect 6+ hours of battery life under Vista.

AMD Is targeting Shrike for the Ultrathin market (LV &ULV designs – *cough* Macbook Air *cough*) and the onboard GPU will be the next generation from Puma’s HD3xxx (HD4xxx?). The APU spec calls for support of Torrenza specialty processors in the future (more on this later). Hybrid CrossfireX is also supported.

Shrike is focused on the mobile space but this does not preclude its application to desktop designs. Current AMD solutions center around 35W TDP. Shrike will cover more of the market � ultrathin to extreme gaming systems.

• Gaming systems � 43W TDP
• General purpose systems � 30W TDP
• Ultra Portable systems � 19W TDP

By the way, the aforementioned TDPs include the GPU in the calculation.

Shrike is not targeted at VIA or Intel’s Atom processors. Those are more for embedded/handheld systems. Shrike is targeting LV/ULV systems.
{mospagebreak title=Accelerated Computing}
Accelerated Computing
Next, we spoke with Hal Speed (yes, that is his real name), Sr. Product Manager of the Accelerated Computing Group. Hal’s group is working on products for the 2012-13 timeframe. One of the things that has them concerned in the multi-core arena is not so much Moore’s Law, but Amdahl’s Law.

Amdahl’s Law is expressed as a mathematical formula which calculates the amount of speed-up one experiences as more cores are thrown at the work to be done:

Where Sw = Serial Work and N = No. of cores

This formula works great if your task is 100% parallelized (instructions can be processed with no set order), however, if even 10% of the work is serial in nature (instructions must be executed in a specific order), then the efficiency curve starts to flatten quickly.

Therefore, Intel’s plan to pack 8, 16, 32 & 64 cores onto their processors will hit a processing roadblock if any of the work is serial in nature. This require a complete rewiring of the way programming is taught and may take a couple of generations before it becomes widespread.

AMD has decided to concentrate on using the available space on the die to incorporate specialty processors to accelerate compute performance in certain CPU intensive tasks. This is the basic premise of the Torrenza Project.

This discussion was followed by a brainstorming session with Hal as the kinds of specialty processors we (as bloggers) would speculate the market asking for. This was very entertaining and really insightful to the deep thinking that occurs at AMD.
{mospagebreak title=AMD goes Hollywood}
AMD goes Hollywood
Charlie Boswell, Director of Advanced Marketing � AMD Live!, took the stage and told us about the interesting way that AMD engaged artists directly to use AMD technology to help them realize their visions faster and more effectively.

Luminaries like George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez tapped the power of AMD processors for films like Star Wars: Episode 2 & 3, Sin City & Grindhouse: Planet Terror. Barcelona-based pre-visualization systems allowed the directors and producers to see how shots would look before going out and filming. However, instead of taking a week to pre-visualize, AMD powered systems rendered the scenes in minutes allowing the creative geniuses to keep their trains of thought rolling without week-long interruptions.

AMD’s goal is to put the human mind back on top of the tech.

In the world of professional music, analog recording systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars are being replaced with AMD-based digital recording systems. Smaller, more portable and far more affordable, these systems take advantage of AMD’s Direct Connect and multi-core technologies to achieve zero packet loss.

AMD first addressed the needs of the professional, then the consumer. They are now addressing the needs of the enthusiast space where mobility is key. Social media sites will see a vast improvement in the quality of content produced.
{mospagebreak title=Mobile Discrete Graphics}
Mobile Discrete Graphics
Ognjen �Ogi� Brkic, Sr. Product Manager � Notebook GPU’s, filled us in on the goodies AMD was getting ready to unleash upon us to improve our mobile gaming experiences. With Puma and the HD3xxx series GPU’s you get features like:

• Universal Video Decoder (UVD)- Accelerated HD decoding with 1080p support
• DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI interfaces
• DirectX 10.1 support
• Hybrid CrossfireX support
• ATI XGP support

XGP is short for eXternal Graphics Platform. XGP uses a proprietary external PCIe 2.0 connector. AMD will have exclusive use of this connector until August 2009, afterwards anyone can use it. This connector is the equivalent of a PCIe 1.1 x16 slot.

Built around this connector, XGP will allow AMD to expand the processing and graphics capabilities of Puma (and later, Shrike) based notebooks without having to alter the form factors of the laptops. Since the GPU(s) will be external to the laptop, the thermal profile of the laptop is unaffected. Ultrathin devices can keep their svelte profiles while being able to harness GPUs & APUs housed in externally powered and cooled enclosures. The connector is the 2nd generation of its kind, and will be available in lengths from .5m to 2m. The connector is latched to prevent accidental removal and is rated at over 10,000 insertions.

ATI Hybrid Graphics will allow you to switch between IGP and discrete graphics without rebooting. CrossfireX with XGP requires symmetrical GPUs in the laptop and XGP device. XGP boxes will allow notebooks to support up to six monitors simultaneously. There will be workstation SKUs available. USB 2.0 is provided over the same cable and XGP boxes will also serve as USB hubs.
{mospagebreak title=Cinema 2.0}
Cinema 2.0
Pat Moorhead took the stage again filling us in on Cinema 2.0: AMD’s push into photorealistic gaming. After some banter about AMD’s history as an innovator and possible future technologies like holographics and displays that exceed the resolution of the human eye, Pat showed us some in-game footage of ATI’s Spokesbabe Ruby that was indistinguishable from the cut scenes. Cinema 2.0 allows games tied in to Hollywood blockbusters to use the high resolution, high polygon count models used in filming directly in the games. Imagine playing a game where Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk look exactly like their film counterparts.

The HD4800 series of GPUs makes this all possible. With over a teraflop of processing power in each card  (housed in 800 Stream Processors) and coupled with state-of-the-art GDDR5 memory, UVD2 (dual stream decode for blu-ray picture-in-picture support), special encoders for Adobe Premier & Cyberlink PowerDirector. Add DVD upscaling in hardware with Dynamic Contrast and SD content can feel the love as well.

YouTube videos that are downloaded can be accelerated as well. Adobe has not jumped onboard with Flash video support, but Microsoft might with SilverLight.
{mospagebreak title=Benchmarking Realities}
Benchmarking Realities
Mark Welker, Client Analysis Manager, bounded onto the stage to explain how the traditional benchmarks we all knew and loved were no longer able to provide a accurate gauge of system performance.

Issues such as multi-tasking are hard to test with current methods (*cough* SysMark 2007 *cough*) and Mark’s group is tasked with coming up with better ones. In the mobile space , battery life can be affected by many factors. The backlight on the LCD display is a huge power hog. Use of technology like LED backlights or OLED will greatly reduce battery drain.

He also stated that this will be the Summer of 64-bit Vista Love. Many notebook makers will pre-load the 64-bit version to take advantage of 4GB of RAM that is now (relatively) cheap.
{mospagebreak title=Roadmap Time!}
Roadmap Q&A
Rick Gayle, Sr. Product Manager for Platform Planning, gave us a talk about future roadmaps. Here is the abbreviated (non NDA) version.

Rick’s groups sees the following technologies becoming prevalent:

• Wireless WAN
  • Currently cost prohibitive since 3G is prevalent.
  • Will probably be deployed as a 4G technology.
• Wireless USB (W-USB) to really start to take off in 2009-2010 timeframe
• Scaling of cores not as efficient as special purpose accelerators
• Virtualization will accelerate the decoupling of the OS from the hardware.
• UEFI (Universal Extended Firmware Interface) will begin shipping with Puma.

{mospagebreak title=Charlie’s Funhouse}

Demos at Charlie’s Funhouse
We were then escorted across the campus to Charlie Boswell’s Media Lab (aka The Funhouse) where we saw a demo of AMD Live in action as used by the pros. Thundering scenes from Star Wars, music mixed and recorded at Crossroads, and the gear used to do it all tantalized us as to the possibilities the technology afforded to everyone.

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion
AMD looks to have a real winner with Puma, Cinema 2.0 and Shrike. The face of mobile computing and gaming are starting to blur and merge leading us into the world of Accelerated Computing. Future system designs will concentrate on the needs of the user, not the OS, as improved mobility, cinematic gaming, specialty accelerators and the decoupling of the OS from the hardware lets people take charge of the tech, not the other way around.

The complete photo gallery is here.

Discuss this article here.

Freezone Elite, PURE, Boreas MTEC Chassis, and Dual Drive Bay VGA Coolers  to be on display at booth 73814 in the Sands

Calgary, Alberta – January 3rd, 2008 – CoolIT Systems follows up on its previous award-winning MTEC CPU coolers with a robust lineup of aggressive liquid cooling devices designed to meet the insatiable CPU/GPU cooling demands of any PC Enthusiast or Gamer.  Here is a sneak peek at the new standard of computer cooling.

Freezone Elite – Much like CoolIT’s award-winning Freezone, the Elite harnesses the power of both liquid cooling and thermoelectrics to drive CPU temperatures down to unprecedented levels.    The Freezone Elite builds off of the Freezone by offering a 120mm fan, increased heat dissipation of up to 250W, and a sleek new black faceplate.  The Elite package also includes CoolIT’s MTEC Control Center, a hardware/software module that enables you to monitor thermals in real time and adjust cooling power with a simple click of the mouse.  The Freezone Elite is the first sealed liquid cooling system fully ESA* certified bringing CoolIT into the forefront of the most cutting-edge PC hardware technology.  The CoolIT Systems Freezone Elite  is available now for $449.99.

*http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_esa.html

Dual Drive Bay VGA Coolers – After proving its expertise in CPU cooling, CoolIT enters the GPU cooling market with the Dual Drive Bay VGA Coolers.  This unique device fits easily into any dual drive bay slot.  Each on-card solution maintains a low profile single PCI card height and incorporates micro-channel technology for unprecedented performance. CoolIT currently offers the Dual Drive Bay VGA coolers compatible with the ATI HD 2900, ATI HD 3870, HD 3850, NVIDIA 8800GTX, NVIDIA 8800GT,  NVIDIA 8800GTS 512 and NVIDIA Tesla.  Each one installs easily with maintenance free operation and provides extreme cooling for optimal graphics performance while also significantly reducing noise.  The Dual Drive Bay VGA Coolers are available now starting at $299.99

PURE –  The PURETM utilizes a pre-plumbed, factory sealed, closed loop radiator and pump module designed to effectively and efficiently dissipate heat from the CPU.  Up until now CoolIT’s CPU coolers have harnessed the power of both liquid cooling and thermoelectrics.  While PURE doesn’t utilize peltiers, this close looped system has been engineered  for increased flow velocity and extreme cooling efficiency which still yields phenomenal performance while simultaneously reducing system noise.  The end result is a highly effective CPU water cooler available to consumers at a lower price point.  The PURE is universally compatible with any processor and chassis and is available now for $134.99

Boreas MTEC Chassis –  The Boreas MTECTM Chassis combines CoolIT’s most powerful liquid cooling device, the Boreas, with the award-winning Silverstone TJ-07 full-size aluminum tower case.   The Boreas utilizes 12 Thermoelectic Coolers(TECs) to dissipate a tremendous amount of heat, enough to chill multiple CPU/GPU configurations.  The Boreas MTEC  Chassis  comes pre-plumbed and factory sealed, provides extreme CPU/GPU performance, reduces system noise, enhances PC reliability, and is universally compatible.  The Boreas MTEC Chassis is available now, by special order, starting from $949.

“PC Enthusiasts and gamers everywhere have a lot to be excited about with CoolIT’s aggressive, new lineup” said Geoff Lyon, CEO of CoolIT Systems.  ” CoolIT has built off its previous success with the Eliminator and Freezone, listened to what the market is demanding, and developed a new roster of innovative cooling solutions to effectively and efficiently eliminate heat from any computing configuration.”

CoolIT’s new lineup of CPU/GPU solutions will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show from January 7th-10th in the Sands at booth #73814

For more information on the CoolIT Systems, go to www.coolitsystems.com

About CoolIT Systems
CoolIT Systems has been working with industry leaders in the computer industry to research, design, and deliver next generation cooling products that provide a comprehensive solution while exceeding high OEM standards for reliability and maintenance-free operation. This carefully designed and patented technology unleashes the full potential of a PC, providing superior cooling performance while reducing system level noise and improving reliability of vital components.  The CoolIT MTEC Technology can be found in the top names in performance computing like Dell, Alienware, Velocity Micro, MAINGEAR, Hypersonic, Biohazard, Ultra, Ultraforce, Systemax, War Machine and Shuttle.  CoolIT also works with the AMD engineering group to provide the Reference cooling solution for the latest high performance video cards.

The Build Your Own PC Race is a fun charity event and competition for the technology editorial community supporting education and non-profit organizations with thousands of dollars in gear and cash. This year’s event will be held from 5:30-8:00pm on January 7th at the fabulous Wynn Hotel and Resort in Las Vegas.  The 30 participating technology journalists representing major media outlets and analyst firms including the Wall Street Journal, G4TV, CNET.com, Revision3, Houston Chronicle, Wired, PC World, Maximum PC, Gizmodo.com, Computer Shopper, and Gartner.

Over the course of its 11-year history, the event has raised almost $2 million dollars in cash and computer equipment for needy schools and non-profit organizations.  TigerDirect along with the event sponsors donate the computers used during the event to the charities designated by the participants.  The top three winners also receive a total of $13,500 in cash that is also donated to their designated charities.

The objective of the Race is to determine who can assemble a computer based on the AMD Phenom™ 9500 processor in the fastest amount of time.  Last year’s winner, Charlie Demerjian of The Inquirer, assembled his PC in just 6 minutes and 47 seconds, winning the event for the third straight year.  He designated Saint Paul (Minn.) – based Wingspan Life Resources as the recipient of his computer and the $10,000 first prize cash donation.

To find out more about the race, be added to the VIP list, or to see a list of this year’s participants, visit www.charitypcrace.com, or send an e-mail to RSVP@charitypcrace.com.  

To learn more about the event’s main sponsors, please visit the following race sponsors at www.tigerdirect.com, www.systemax.com, www.amd.com and www.acer.com.

About TigerDirect
TigerDirect serves the needs of both personal and business computer users, selling consumer electronics, computers, digital media technology and peripherals via retail stores, catalog and Internet channels. TigerDirect is a subsidiary of Systemax Inc (NYSE: SYX). Visit www.systemax.com for more information.

About Systemax Inc.
Systemax Inc. (www.systemax.com), a Fortune 1000 company, sells personal computers, computer supplies, consumer electronics and industrial products through a system of branded e-commerce web sites, direct mail catalogs, relationship marketers and retail stores in North America and Europe. It also manufactures and sells personal computers under the Systemax and Ultra brands and develops and markets ProfitCenter Software, a web-based, on-demand application for multichannel direct marketing companies.

On a rainy day in Miami, I decided to cover the Leopard Launch Event at my local Apple Store. How many souls would brave the rain to stand in line to get a copy of the shiny new Mac OS? Would there be an iPhone level of hysteria surrounding this product? Read on and find out!

{mosimage} 

The Apple Store in The Falls Shopping Center was the first Apple Store to open in Miami. Subsequently, two more stores have opened; one in the City of Aventura and the latest one on Miami Beach. Three Apple Stores? What did Miami do to deserve three stores? For the record, the City of Miami is one of 35 cities that reside in Miami-Dade County. The County itself has twice the area of the State of Rhode Island or about half the size of the State of Connecticut. Needless to say, commuting here is tediously long.

Being the first and oldest Apple Store here, The Falls Apple Store started being rennovated about six weeks ago. The main store was closed and a temporary store (basically a fat hallway 1/3 the size of the original) was opened. This was the venue to host the Leopard Launch Event here at The Falls.

Store management, well aware of their predicament, had a plan. How well this plan would work would remain to be seen. Queue poles and straps were already set up outside and a sign was posted alerting all passersby that the store would be closed today from 4 PM to 6 PM in preparation for the Launch Event.

Even at 2:30 PM there was a brisk level of activity in the store, but there was no one lining up outside. Could a Mac OS launch really bring out the crowds? Would the local Mac faithful brave the inclement weather just to get the new OS X in their hands (plus a spiffy T-Shirt)?

Four PM finally arrived and the Store Manager ushered out the last of the stragglers, thanking them for their patronage and asking them to return for the launch Festivities at 6 PM. At this point, poles and straps were used to seal off the store entrance and black plastic was placed over the glass doors to conceal whatever preparations the staff was involved in. At this point the line began to form outside the store. I took the opportunity to interview some of the folks in line.

The first person in line, Luis (on the right above), was a first-time Mac buyer who had recently sold all of his PC gear to purchase his first Mac. He was planning on buying a MacBook Pro with all the trimmings and had waited till today to get his new Mac with Leopard already installed on it. The second person in line, Nick (the the left of Luis), had already gotten Leopard that morning, having pre-ordered it on the Apple Online Store. He was here to partake in the festivities and see what useful peripherals were available.

In the two hours before the store reopened, the line swelled rapidly as the Mac faithful arrived in droves. The line made two turns as it wound its way through the outdoor shopping mall. Omar had arrived and was waiting to purchase a Family pack of Leopard for all of the Macs in his home. He was interested in the inteface improvements and wanted to be an early adopter. Alexander, a self-proclaimed early adopter and family tech support guy, was here to be the first on his block with the latest and greatest from Apple. Having bought the iPhone when it first came out, Alexander is confident that OS X leopard will not disappoint. The most interesting feature to him is Time Machine. "Backup is something that a lot of users don't bother with because it's just a bit on the complicated side."  Dean, an FIU student, also wanted Leopard for Time Machine, stating he wanted a system to help keep his schoolwork safe and help cut down on panic management. J.P. stated he was getting Leopard because he was a Unix junkie and Charles, a Mac developer, was getting his copy to test his applications on. Since he was not an ADC (Apple Developer Community) member, he did not have early access to the Leopard betas.

At 6 PM the entire staff of the store came out a greeted everyone in line. It was very euphoric with high-fives abounding. By my estimates there were almost 250 people in line to get in at opening. Customers were admitted to the store in groups of 25-30 and the entire chaos was well managed by the staff.

Luis, Customer #1, finally did order his MacBook Pro and an Airport Extreme. Nick, Customer #2, bought a part for his Time Machine (an external hard drive).

I stayed for about an hour and 15 minutes after the start of the event and during the whole time the crowding was well managed and the staff were all working very hard to educate and inform their customers as to the new features and abilities in Leopard. When I left people we still queueing up outside to get in! Not bad for a store operating at 1/3 it's size.

These shows tend to be fairly slick with lots of marketing slides, mini-trade shows, special offers, swag (t-shirts, giveaways, and other knick-knacks) and opportunities to network with major companies they would otherwise never get to talk to.

I was invited to attend and  discovered a wealth of info on upcoming products. Read on and get the scoop on the roadmaps!

Event: AMD/Microsoft Tech Tour 2007
Author: Carlos Echenique
Category: Site News/Trade Show  
Reviewed on: April 23, 2007    
Spelling and Grammatical Editors: Jon Aubrey, Jason Hambly

The AMD/Microsoft Tech Tour 2007 kicked off on April 5, 2007 in Tampa, FL. I caught it at the second stop in Miami, FL a week later. Various OEMs were in attendance in the mini-trade show including (in no particular order): Tyan, Shuttle, Visiontek, Sapphire, Foxconn, Seagate, Durabook, Gigabyte, and of course AMD & Microsoft.

{mospagebreak title=AMD/ATI Roadmaps}

As the headliner of this little circus, AMD/ATI was rarin’ to go with a ton of slides regarding the newly released 690G chipset which is aimed squarely at the mid level channel. Here are three poingant ones:

 The first slide talks about all of the cool features the chipset includes and why you want to have Vista on top of that. The second slide crows about the solidity of the systems built on this new chipset (remember this show is targeted at system builders) and the third slide shows off some impressive multi-monitor capabilities with sub-$100 components. One thing to note on the second slide is the AMD AVS (AMD Validated System) Program. This program assists systems builders in assembling components certified by AMD to work well together and provides levels of service for the system builders based on their sales volume. Multi-year mainboard replacement warranties are only one of the features of this program. Intel has had a similar program for years.

These next slides were direct shots at Intel’s i965 chipset. Benchmarks were shown to satisfy the measurebators (on the left) and then some gaming tests showing that this platform is more than adequate for the caual gamer (have no fear – they had goodies for the hardcore crowd as well) on the middle slide. The slide on the right is priceless as the info comes from Intel directly. It shows what games cannot be played on the i965 chipset.

 The four slides above address the new feaures found in the 690G chipset as well as the R600 based discrete graphics cards. Dubbed "Radeon HD", ATI has broken off the "X" naming convention that has been around since the Radeon X800. HDMI, HDCP (full resolution over dual-link DVI I might add) and a dedicated HD processing ASIC lend this new platform a lot of graphics muscle.

Afterwards, AMD engineers conscripted for the event came out and spoke about Barcelona/Budapest processors, the Server/Workstation roadmap, and the upgradeability of Socket F boards sold today.

{mospagebreak title=Microsoft and Seagate}

The Microsoft rep came up and spoke about Vista needless to say as well as future directions with Longhorn and it’s derivatives. Of all the slides he showed only one really piqued my interest:

If you look closely, shortly after the Longhorn launch in 2008, MS will launch Small Business Server "Cougar" which we were told is 64-bit only (probably owing to Exchange 2007 being x64 only) and also a Mid Market Server codenamed "Centro" (which is highly likely to be x64 only as well). Loghorn R2 is due in 2009.

 The Seagate guy (a rather dynamic fellow named Chaz), enlightened us to World According to Seagate. Get ready folks, 3.5" drives are going the way of the dodo, to be replaced by (wait for it…) 2.5" drives! Yes, the amazing power of perpendicular recording and SAS interconnectivity has allowed the world’s largest storage maker to shrink enterprise drives down to laptop sizes.

Why increase capacity when we can make’em smaller and stuff more of them into the RAID enclosure? Makes perfect sense to me. O_o

I see a large aftermarket in drive brackets.

Here are the shots supporting their mad theories…

{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}

In conclusion, AMD and MS did a fairly good job telling the channel (white box vendors) what to expect this year (and next) from them. Lots of T-shirts and swag were launched to keep the event from becoming Short Attention Span Theater and the attendees I spoke to came out with a better sense of what AMD is going to offer to counter Intel.

One interesting claim made by the AMD engineers was on thermals. They claimed that Intel’s reports of watts of heat expelled by Core2 are based on the idle state of the processor. While AMD’s reports are based on peak states and that, at idle, AMD procs will only emit 14W of heat. This claim bears investigation and we at PlanetX64 will endeavour to uncover the truth.

Stay tuned…

The largest marketing orgy in the US gets even bigger with 2,700 vendors displaying their wares to over 140,000 visitors in two major convention centers and an addition dozen side venues. Only in las Vegas (Orlando would argue the point, but CEA won’t move the show).

Microsoft was kind enough to fly me out there and I walked many a mile in this show. Here is the summary of what I was able to see.   

Wow, where to begin.

Well the first couple of days out there were mostly Vista classes provided by Microsoft is preparation to the retail launch on January 30, 2007. MS really is "betting the farm" on this release and they have been immensely responsive to the beta testers thoughout the process. Most notable was the re-writing of the EULA (End User License Agreement) to accomodate power users and gamers who update their systems frequently. Needless to say the mantra at the Microsoft booth was "Vista, Vista, Vista!".

{mospagebreak title=Microsoft}

Bill Gate’s Keynote address (his 10th in a row) was not as spectacular as in previous years. This is mostly due to all of the media buzz already around Vista and the vast sea of information already out in the open. One item that was shown was the Windows Home Server (see detail in my blog) which provides several key features previously available only to Enterprise customers. Some of the features include:

• Centralized Storage with easy expandability
• Automated Backup and Restore
• Media Streaming
• Easy Access via Windows Live

There were various other sundry items on display in the MS booth and they all centered on Vista.

 {mosimage title=Intel}

Next door was Intel (as usual) and they were announcing their new Core2 Quad Q6600 mainstream CPU. Other than that, the booth was mainly crowing about what was released last year. In the back, however, Intel had a little number dubbed "The V8". This machine was built with off-the-shelf (Newegg’s shelf anyway) components available in the channel.

The V8 is an 8-core dual Xeon 5300 workstation. This monstrosity can be yours if you do a little legwork as to the Intel mainboard model numbers and all of the components used are available on Newegg. I predicted this two years ago. There are other mainboards that support this configuration as well.

{mosimage title=Razer}

Razer didn’t have a booth, but they did have a meeting room that I was invited to. There I got to see their new bits of kit including:

• The DeathAdder – a right-handed gaming mouse powered by a 3rd generation IR sensor.
• Battlelight Add-on for the Tarantula keyboard
• Microsoft Reclusa gaming keyboard
• The Mako Audio system – a 2.1 speaker system

 {mospagebreak title=Corsair}

I was invitied to the Corsair Party at the Bellagio. They had a private suite with food, drinks and kit to show off. Pretty standard bill of fare here: new overclockable RAM, more USB devices, and flash memory. The ProLock (on the left) is a secure USB key that requires the entry of a security code to enable the device. The unit on the right rests in a watertight aluminum tube that is pretty much crushproof (unless you are in the habit of playing around steamrollers).

{mospagebreak title=Zalman}

 The Zalman booth was chock full of new goodies and some products that were merely prototypes last CES. Here is the lowdown:

This is the Zalman 3D monitor. This unit requires the use of special glasses in order to get the stereoscopic effect. Fortunately the glasses are rather stylish and make you look like a high tech craftsman instead of a nerd. The images were quite compelling but they did not leap out from the screen. 3D content has to be filmed in 3D for the effect to occur.

Any gamer knows who Fatal1ty is. More surprisingly most marketeers know who he is too. Zalman expands their Fatal1ty line with this really excellent case. Built like a tank, the chassis is made of solid aluminum and has plenty of ventilation. Now if only they made a version without the logos etched in.

 The HD160XT is a new HTPC chassis with a built-in display (similar to the Silverstone LC18). This is a very stylish chassis that would look good in any stereo rack. When paired with Zalman’s signature cooling fans, systems using this kit are nearly silent.

Zalman also introduced a new fan controller (on the left) that not only controls/monitors fan speeds, but also reports on the actual wattage being consumed by the system. This is done with a sensor module that plugs in between the power cord and PSU and reports via USB. This device can be externally or internally mounted. On the right is Zalman’s new line of heatpipe cooled modular power supplies. According to Zalamn reps, PC systems rarely need more than 750W as their monitoring gear shows, this is why 750W is the largest they make. The jury will be out till we get some of those fan controllers in.

{mospagebreak title=Silverstone}

 Silverstone was out in force as well, showing off quite a bit of new kit. New HTPC chassis, power supply units, tower units and case options were on display. On the left you see a custom wood HTPC case. It is a testament to the platform that such niche products are already starting to crop up. In the center is Silverstone’s latest HTPC case (whose name eludes me for the moment – I will update when the info arrives) and on the right is the amazing LC18 case paired with their HTPC liquid cooling unit. This combo allows for near-silent operation.

Silverstone’s TJ09 was on display. This is the case selected by Maximum PC magazine for their last Dream Machine. A custom TJ07 was on display as well with an amazing flame paint job. The new Decathalon series of modular power supplies were also on display. This particular model is 1000W quad-SLI model. Modular PSU’s appear to be all the rage.

This is Silverstone’s new little treat. The SG03 is a microtower chassis that can hold a full size ATX PSU (this unit has a 1000W Decathalon installed) and can accomodate a quad-SLI configuration (depending on the motherboard). Granted you can only fit micro-ATX mainboards but the options in this regard is getting broader and broader every day.  The front houses up to two 120mm fans (one is standard) but can be user upgraded. It is also avaialble in black.

{mospagebreak title=LG}

LG resolves the High Definition format war with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD multi-format drive. This trinket will set you back $1200 USD but then you have the peace of mind that you actually don’t have to choose a side. The PC version on the left can also write/rewrite Blu-Ray discs. On the right you have LG’s 100 inch 1080p LCD panel. Makes my 30 inch Dell tiny by comparison…

LG also had a 3D flat panel display. However, theirs doesn’t require you to wear special glasses in order to see the effect. Sadly those of us with astigmatism will get headaches watching it due to the corrections in our glasses. A DTV adapter for older TV’s was on display. This unit downsamples HD & digital content back to analog. Designed for the cheapskates waiting for the $49 HD set. Upconverting DVD players are now hitting 1080p with some more advanced scalers. I’m not sure if my photo does it justice.

{mospagebreak title=AMD}

The AMD booth (housing both sides of the house but nary an ATI logo in sight), while not as large as Intel’s or Microsoft’s, carried quite an array of tech. Most interesting of which is the ATI Digital Cable Tuner. This little USB device allows you to decode digital HD content from your cable service provider without the use of s set top box. The DCT has been approved by CableLabs and accepts standard CableCards. Sorry, no DRM hacks here. Still it will allow Media Centers to record more than just the OTA HD content they’ve been restricted to up till now. Intially this will be deployed to OEM’s and later in retail.

I couldn’t track down any solid evidence of Barcelona or the upcoming ATI video chip. However, both are slated for a Q1 2007 launch, so stay tuned.

{mospagebreak title=Cooler Master}

Fan fave Cooler Master also had a bushel of new goodies to show off. None the least of which was custom case designs based on their chassis as well as new Mini-Aquagates for single and dual processor systems.

That last case on the right is the new CM Media 280 chassis. If you look closely, you will see the built-in liquid cooling system for the CPU. Pop in a passively cooled video card and you have yourself one quiet box for the living room.

 {mospagebreak title=Asus}

A visit to the Asus media room was very informative. Asus has a bevy of new kit on display including the nearly mythical L1N64 (QuadFather) motherboard. I want you all out there reading this to wish deep in your hearts that AMD keeps its promise that they will send us one for review. Also on display were the new P5B Deluxe mobo, the M2A-VM (AMD Live! + HDMI) mobo, several new laptops including a 12 in. unit, a SideShow equipped unit, and a UMPC. The real scene stealer here is the XG Station: an external device that allows you to add desktop/workstation video to any ExpressCard equipped laptop! In fact, I saw another one of these at the Ageia booth running video and PhysX on a laptop! Video cards were represented as well and they had an 8800GTX with it’s own water cooling system built-in (sort of).

{mospagebreak title=Miscellaneous}

UMPC’s and small form factor laptops abounded from all sorts of vendors: Sony, OQO, and newcomer Flybook. The Flybooks were especially cool as the V5 was a tablet convertible laptop and the VM had a telescoping display. Both units are powered by Core Duo ULV processors, but the rep told me that they will be releasing updates later this year that will be powered by Core2 Duo ULV processors and will be 64-bit capable.

Just to give you an idea how small these machines are the OQO Model 2 is 5.6" W x 3.3" H x 1" D and weighs less than a pound. It is shown here running Windows Vista Ultimate. It comes with WLAN 802.11abg, Bluetooth, and (optionally) EVDO WWAN.

The Flybooks are tiny notebooks that pack a ton of connectivity in their tiny frames. The VM has a telescoping display and the V5 is convertible to a tablet. Both weigh in a little over 3 lbs and have widescreen displays (the VM is 12.1" 16:10 and the V5 is 8.9" 16:9). Both are currently powered by Core Duo ULV processors but a revision is planned for later this year to Core2 Duo ULV processors. They were shown running Vista and will be 64-bit with the chip upgrade.

HP showed off their Voodoo PC division quite proudly however the that part of the booth was about as well lit as an opium den. In the well lit parts , printers and more mundane PC’s were strewn about attracting business customers. The Photosmart B9180 printer was on display as well.

This printer has already been Vista Certified and has some pretty amazing features. First, it performs automatic gamut matching between the image on your screen and the printer. This means that photos will come out with proper colors with little or no adjustment. Second, is the automatic switching between the two shades of black (photo and matte) plus a light gray ink for excellent black and white printing. Third is it’s astounding array of media. This printer accepts everything from 4×6 glossy prints, to large format (13×19) art papers and even prints on special canvas! The best part is the price. Comparable units from other manufacturers start around $1300. The HP B9180 lists for $699!

Other bits of fun:

Wow Wee (makers of the RoboSapien and RoboRaptor toys) showed off several new prototypes:

In order: the RoboQuad, the RoboBoa, the RoboDragonfly and the RoboPanda. I foresee them on your kids’ Christmas lists this year and terrorizing your pets in late December.

Taser International presented their signature self defense device in it’s new C2 model which is available in 4 fashion colors!

Real men carry pink Tasers.

Get your couch potato into the pool with this little number:

All you need after this is a Playstation 3 and the 100" LG LCD TV floating on a barge and you’ll never get your gamer out of the water.

That about wraps it up for now. As more info comes in I will post updates and add pictures. The gallery is located here. Discuss this report here.

SIGGRAPH (short for Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques) is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics (CG) convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974.

This year’s conference was held in Boston and I was asked by AMD to speak every day at their booth.

Originally, Siggraph was convened so that scientists, engineers and propeller-heads in general could tackle the issue of getting computers to display graphics. I realize that this may seem an alien concept to anyone born within the last 20 years, but computers were all text based back in 1974 when the conferences started.

Nowadays, it is a Mecca for artists, movie studios, hardware and software OEM’s to get together and show what amazing things you can do with computers these days. I will try to give you the highlights (be gentle with me, it’s my first time at Siggraph.): 

Nvidia Quadroplex

Ever wonder what an $18,000 video card looks like?

 Behold Nvidia’s solution to rising power and heat demands graphics cards are making on a PC’s cooling system: The External Video Card! Yep, we’ve gone Back to the Future as Nvidia resurrects more 3dfx technology hidden away in it’s coffers. But, like SLI, this is no clone of ancient tech from a bygone era. It is the highly evolved descendant of the 3dfx 6000 returning to us as a quad-GPU, self-contained, externally powered, independently cooled external system. To top that the systems can be daisy-chained to give you unmatched graphics power!

Havok Physics Engine

In the ATI booth there were about a zillion systems on display all sporting everything from an X1600 Mobility to the FireGL V7350 (drool). However, tucked away in a corner was a lonely guy demoing the upcoming Havok Physics Engine. Havok differs from Ageia by using a spare GPU to power the physics instead of a dedicated card. More interestingly, the minimum configuration is 2 GPU’s and the system allows for asymmetric card configurations! Yes, you do not need a Crossfire pair + a third slot and the cards don’t even have to match. The GPU for physics must be an X1600 or higher. I saw the system running on a FireGL V7350 + X1900XT on an SLI mobo! What were they demoing? Well they were running a bowling simulation, but instead of 10 pins, you had to knock down 5000 pins to get a strike. It was highly entertaining to watch.

VESA DisplayPort

VESA (the Video Electronics Standards Association) has developed a new interface standard to replace the aging (and limited) DVI connection. Dubbed DisplayPort, the new connector uses twisted pair wires to for longer cable lengths (up to 15m) and provides greater color depth for HDR. The DisplayPort is a standard connector for TVs, computer monitors, and projectors.

The DisplayPort technology on display was of the demonstration variety. No actual products incorporating this technology are expected  until mid-2007.

3D Printers

OK, being a die hard trekkie, I love to see tech supposedly from the 24th century showing up early. This device amazed me. There were several models on the show floor from different companies, but they all did more or less the same thing: "print" (and I use the term loosely) three dimensional objects. The objects were made of polystyrene (and in one case plaster), but they emerged from the machine fully assembled and almost ready for use (a little air blowing is needed to clear manufacturing debris). These objects are not carved from a solid block (called subtractive assembly), but are built up using a mechanism similar to an inkjet printhead. However this printhead sprays molten plastic instead of ink, building up the desired objects layer by layer. The objects can simple maquettes, mechanical devices or even be complex mechanisms that would be impossible to assemble by hand.

New Product Versions

Newtek was present in a large booth nestled between ATI and Boxx. They were announcing the release of Lightwave3D 9.0 with great fanfare. I even saw an old friend gracing the banner of the Newtek booth.

As my talks were centered around the practical benefits of 64-bit computing in digital content creation (using Lightwave3D in our case) I tended to loiter there a bit. I even got to run some benchmarks using a Boxx Apexx8 (a truly sick little number sporting 16 processor cores and 64GB of RAM). I discovered that Lightwave3D v.9 is currently limited to 8 cores max out of the box. Some dicussions with the developers yielded that the next dot release will support 32-cores (in the 64-bit version only). Start saving up for quad-cores. 

Autodesk was also present showing off Maya 8 (now available in 64-bit!) and previewing 3D Studio Max 9 (also available in 64-bit). For those of you with small children, the Autodesk marketing types did not get the joke about them now owning Maya and Max.

Avid was showing Softimage XSI 5.11 and Face Robot 1.5. Softimage XSI is now available for 64-bit platforms as well.

Boxx Technologies

Boxx had a very large booth right across from Newtek. They had their Apexx8 workstation out in force. For those who do not know, Boxx is a specialized PC maker whose target market is the very high-end crowd. So high-end in fact, that Silicon Graphics (SGi) announced that they were partnering with Boxx and that Boxx would be manufacturing workstations for them.

The Apexx8 is their premium 8 socket Opteron workstation specially designed for 3D modelling, CAD and other high-end graphics work. I had the chance to play with one and it was nothing short of amazing.

AMD

AMD (who sponsored my trip) had the largest booth at Siggraph. Opterons were the CPU de rigeur and you were not going to find an Athlon64 anywhere there. IBM was a guest in the AMD booth and had their new Socket 1207 Opterons servers & blades on display. Many other companies shared the booth as well, including a firm called Bunkspeed who was demoing their 3D rendering package capable on manipulating scenes with 20 million+ polygons in real time! It’s amazing what $55K will buy you these days.

Studios

The following studios were also present with large (and very animated) booths: Disney (who was hiring animators and engineers for their upcoming film Meet the Robinsons); LucasFilm/LucasArts; Sony Pictures/Dreamworks; Pixar Studios and various others.

Open Source?

The Open Source community was well represented by the team that brought you Blender, the free 3D modelling/rendering program for Linux and Windows; and the Jahshaka Project: a freeware non-linear video editing package.

Conclusion 

I could go on babbling about all of the very cool stuff I saw there, but I restrained myself. Needless to say the realm of professional graphics is well represented in this venerable, yet constantly fresh, event. I look forward to Siggraph 2007 in San Diego.

Some early news from the Audio/Visual trade show:

ORLANDO, Fla. –(Business Wire)– June 2, 2006
Westinghouse Digital Electronics, one of the top five
LCD TV manufacturers in the U.S.(1), today announced the latest
addition to its high-definition (HD) 1080p line, the 47-inch model
LVM-47w1. The LVM-47w1 joins the Westinghouse HD 1080p LCD monitor
line, which includes a multi-award-winning 42-inch model and the
best-selling 37-inch model, LVM-37w1.(2)

Read the full Press Release here

Gefen intorduces several new products at InfoComm06

Including:

The Gefen CAT5-5500 HD and CAT5-7500 HD provide a plug-and-play method
of extending two digital displays and computer keyboard/mouse away from
the computer while sustaining HD video resolutions and USB 2.0 devices.
RS-232 touch screens and audio components are also supported on the
CAT5-7500 HD.

VGA to DVI Scaler goes beyond the traditional
analog to digital video conversion by allowing users to customize and
scale digital video imagery for the finest high resolution results.

Gefen showcases its 1:3 Component Distribution Amplifier and its 1:3 HDMI Distribution Amplifier

Read the press releases here