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NVIDIA G71 Chips In Short Supply? Iomega Offers New StorCenter NAS Products Intel To Push BIOS Replacement With 'Centrino 4' ViXS Systems Debuts First Video Processors Featuring HD Transcoding Capabilities Sony Unveils New Brand For Digital SLR Cameras Leadtek Delivers New Professional Quadro Graphics Cards ABIT Introduces AW8D Motherboard On Intel 975X Express Chipset NVIDIA G71 Chips In Short Supply? With motherboard makers maintaining a conservative outlook for the second quarter, a shortage of NVIDIA G71 (GeForce 7900 GTX/GT) graphics chips may have emerged in both Europe and the US market. Reports of shortages of the high-end chips have appeared since the product was released late in the first quarter, with sources at motherboard makers stating that NVIDIA did not aggressively push the product. Motherboard makers, for their part, were conservative about placing aggressive orders moving into the traditional slow season in the second quarter, the sources explained. NVIDIA Taiwan responded by saying that it only produces high-end chips on customer request and the company aims to preserve supply/demand balance for its products. Other market sources speculated that NVIDIA may be facing foundry issues manufacturing the G71 on 90nm node. The relatively low yields NVIDIA is seeing at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is prompting the company to adopt more controls on its shipment allotments, the sources claimed. In response, TSMC indicated that it has been shipping 80nm and 90nm products to customers and its shipments are smooth and on schedule. However, the sources at Taiwan motherboard makers commented that mobo maker have yet to realize any impact from any shortage and remain conservative about the second quarter. Source: DigiTimes
Iomega Offers New StorCenter NAS Products Iomega today announced the release of two new StorCenter network storage products: the Iomega StorCenter Wireless Network Storage 1TB, and the Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive 500GB. The StorCenter Wireless Network Storage 1TB features a Gigabit Ethernet connection and four 250GB hard drives that can be utilized in a RAID 5 configuration (striping plus parity). Users also have the option of RAID 0 (striping) for all-out performance or RAID 1 (mirroring) for data protection. Built-in wireless 802.11g networking is protected by a choice of WEP or WPA data encryption, providing the flexibility of secure username and password authorized access with cable-free placement anywhere in the home or office.  The little brother StorCenter Network Hard Drive features a Gigabit Ethernet interface and two 7200 RPM drives for a total native capacity of 500 GB. The combination of small size, quiet operation, ease of use and high capacity makes it perfect for home offices, and for those small businesses where the desktop is your datacenter. It offers professional features such as RAID 0 (striping) for performance or RAID 1 (mirroring) for data protection. Both StorCenter Network Hard Drives have two USB 2.0 ports and print server capability that permits an attached USB printer for shared access. When used with appropriate digital media adapters, each drive can also act as an AV media server that can operate seamlessly with other UPnP AV media devices. Iomega Automatic Backup Pro software is included for a complete set-and-forget backup and disaster recovery solution.  Both new StorCenter Network Hard Drives provide work under Microsoft Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP, Mac OS X 10.2.7 or higher, and Linux distributions Redhat 9, Mandrake 10, Debian 3.0, Gentoo, FedoraCore 3. The Iomega StorCenter Wireless Network Storage 1TB is available worldwide for $899.95, and the Iomega StorCenter Network Hard Drive 500GB is also available now for $499.95. (All prices are U.S. suggested retail.) Source: Iomega
Intel To Push BIOS Replacement With 'Centrino 4' Intel will drive the adoption of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) with the introduction of 'Santa Rosa', the next generation of its Centrino notebook platform, it has been claimed. So far, the only Intel-based machines on the market that use EFI instead of older BIOS technology are Apple's latest desktops and notebooks. Come Q1 2007, that situation may change. According to BIOS specialist American Megatrends, its EFI-compatible Aptio system has been selected by Intel as a key component of the chip giant's Santa Rosa reference boards. In the short term, the company said, Intel will "test and validate" Aptio for compliance with both EFI, Unified EFI (UEFI), and the Intel Platform Innovation Framework, the chip giant's own implementation of EFI and UEFI. Santa Rosa first emerged earlier this year, but was confirmed by Intel at its Spring Developer Forum in March. Intel's official timeframe for Santa Rosa calls for an H1 2007 introduction, though industry sources have suggested a late Q1 2007 window. Santa Rosa will incorporate 'Merom', the upcoming dual-core mobile chip derived from Intel's next-generation processor archictecture, along with 'Crestine', the notebook version of the 965 chipset family due to ship next quarter. Completing the Centrino triad is 'Kedron', the platform's wireless adaptor, which is set to support high-speed 802.11n. Current versions of Windows do not support EFI, which is why Intel-based Macs require extra code if they're to run the Microsoft OS. It has been said that Windows Vista will not support EFI - the pre-release versions certainly don't seem to - but given the proximity of its early 2007 debut and the launch of Santa Rosa, that may change. Source: Reg Hardware
ViXS Systems Debuts First Video Processors Featuring HD Transcoding Capabilities ViXS Systems unveiled its newest breed of video processors, now featuring support for high definition broadcast content. ViXS' XCode 2121 and 2111 combine MPEG encoding, transcoding and transrating with world-compliant conditional access and content protection to support multiple digital rights management schemes. XCode 2121 and 2111 have the ability to encode MPEG2 and MPEG4 streams and are based on ViXS' XCodeHD Engine, which gives consumers high-speed transcoding and transrating capabilities for reprocessing of MPEG streams to lower bit rates, resolutions and MPEG formats. The XCodeHD Engine delivers high-speed HD-to-HD transrating, as well as HD-to-HD and HD-to-SD downscaling. XCode 2121 and 2111 are suited for handling high-definition broadcast content and support a wide array of encryption and decryption technologies. For example, the HD transport stream is input and simultaneously de-multiplexed, descrambled, transcoded and re-encrypted to support any number of DRM schemes for storage or distribution. The processor's efficient XCode encoding and reprocessing technology can reduce video bit rates while maintaining the same quality as the original content. This reduced bit rate capability enables consumers to store content on any fixed or removable memory media using only half the space required by other video encoders. The XCode 2121 video processor includes added features such as low bit rate encoding and transcoding to support small portable media players such as the video-enabled Apple iPod, Sony PlayStation Portable or video-capable cell phones. Moreover, it is suited for remote TV applications such as Sony's LFX product. Both the XCode 2121 and 2111 have PCI and PCI express interfaces and have the ability to self-boot for embedded application. ViXS Systems' XCode 2121 and 2111 development kits are available today. Source: ViXS Systems
The "Best D-SLR Entry Level" was given to Nikon D50, a lighter modification of Nikon D70. Another Nikon's camera, D200, was named the "Best D-SLR Expert". Canon grabbed the "Best D-SLR Professional" for its popular EOS 5D. Besides, the "Best Ultra Compact Digital Camera" and "Best Large Format Printer" also went to Canon for Digital Ixus 65 and imagePROGRAPH iPF5000, respectively. Fujifilm obtained the "Best Compact Digital Camera" seemingly for the highest ISO value - 3200 this time in FinePix F30 based on new 6th generation SuperCCD HR. Panasonic was awarded the "Best Superzoom Digital Camera" for Lumix DMC-TZ1 and its 10x folded Leica lens and the "Best Small Format Photo Pinter" for KX-PX1 / KX-PX10 solutions. The "Best Imaging Innovation" expectedly went to Olympus EVOLT E-330 and its tilting LCD monitor on the back. Samsung was marked with the "Best Multimedia Digital Camera" for its multimedia-playing Digimax i6 PMP. The Hi-End models were awarded as well: "Best Hi-end Professional Camera System" for Sinar m and the "Best Medium Format Digital System" for the 39-megapixel Hasselblad H2D-39.  Here's a complete list of nominations and laureates:
Source: TIPA
Sony Unveils New Brand For Digital SLR Cameras
Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet and carries the meaning of "beginning" and "essential". The brand name was chosen to reflect Sony's enthusiasm for entering the digital Single Lens Reflex market. Sony has adapted the "α mount system" name for the "Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system" which Konica Minolta Photo Imaging has continuously developed from the age of analog film and it inherits the reliability of that system. Under this brand, Sony will aggressively produce a range of camera models that are to "enhance customers' enjoyment of photography." The α brand will converge the mechatronics technologies for digital Single Lens Reflex cameras related to the "Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system" with Sony's technology and device know-how developed from its video camera and compact digital still camera lineup. These include CCD and CMOS imaging sensors, image processing technologies, and technologies to achieve compact and light designs. This will enable Sony to introduce new digital Single Lens Reflex cameras compatible with the "Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system" (which currently has assets totaling 16 million units of exchangable lenses) from summer 2006. Furthermore, the website for the new brand was opened today. The contents will be updated in order to establish closer communication with customers. Source: Sony
Leadtek Delivers New Professional Quadro Graphics Cards Leadtek Research today announced new NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solutions for computer-aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), and visualization applications. This new line-up includes: Quadro FX 5500, Quadro FX 3500, Quadro FX 1500, Quadro FX 560 / FX 550 / FX 350.  The NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 ultra-high-end graphics card features a radically new graphics architecture, delivers 33.6GB/s of memory bandwidth and has a 256-bit memory interface with support for 1GB ultra-fast GDDR2 frame buffer memory. Featuring two dual-link DVI connectors, Quadro FX 5500 supports resolutions up to 3840 x 2400.  NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 high-end graphics and FX 1500 mid-range workstation graphics cards also feature a new architecture claimed to offer 2x the geometry and fill rate, 5x the hardware pixel read-back performance and 1.55x the memory bandwidth of previous generation workstation graphics. Quadro FX 3500 and FX 1500 support up to 256MB ultra-fast GDDR3. Implementation of rotated-grid FSAA function introduces greater sophistication in the multi-sampling pattern, increasing color accuracy and the visual quality of edges and lines.  The Quadro FX 5500 and FX 3500 professional graphics cards also feature NVIDIA scalable link interface (SLI) technology as well as (together with FX 1500) dual 400 MHz integrated RAMDACs and two dual-link DVI ports. New products are naturally certified for a wide set of CAD, DCC, and visualization applications. Source: Leadtek Research
ABIT Introduces AW8D Motherboard On Intel 975X Express Chipset ABIT introduced its new ABIT AW8D motherboard, based on the Intel 975X Express chipset. The novelty has two PCI-E x16 graphics slots and supports ATI CrossFire. It also works with dual-core CPUs, 1066MHz FSB and up to 8GB of DDR2-800 memory.  Also onboard is ABIT's AudioMAX 7.1 High Definition audio. Interfaces include dual SATA 3Gb/s, dual PCI Express Gigabit LAN, IEEE1394, USB2.0. Speaking of technologies, the board supports ABIT's µGuru interactive system management and Silent OTES silent cooling. Source: ABIT
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