Cydia Store breaks 53,000 Purchases
More news about the iPhone but this one has a little twist. We always hear about how insanely popular the App Store is. It is on the TV, on the web you name it, there is Apple telling you that.
But you know what? It is not the App store at all, it is the Apps. Yes here I am to state the obvious. People like the idea of downloading and installing different applications for their mobile devices. To prove this point Cydia, the most popular of the third party applications repositories has just passed over 53,000 purchases totaling in almost $.25 million US dollars.
This number will only grow as Apple continues to ostracize its own developers. Look at what happened to GV Mobile, Apple rejected it and now it is available on Cydia. The more arbitrary and inane their approval process the more people will jailbreak their phones just to have access to freedom of choice.
Continue reading: Cydia Store breaks 53,000 Purchases (full post)
Tim Sweeney predicts the end of the GPU Roadmap
With the advent of possible new CPU manufacturing processes and materials come an interesting article saying that they GPU may reach its limit by 2020.
The article is not an Intel product (in response to nVidia's repeated claims that they CPU is dead). No this is from Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder of Epic Games.
In a recent presentation Sweeney says that by 2020 developers will move away from the highly optimized GPU and push for more flexible code. Thie code will take advantage of parallel processing and move most hardware "fixed functionality" features to software.
Continue reading: Tim Sweeney predicts the end of the GPU Roadmap (full post)
IBM working with DNA to improve CPUs
The race for new methods of manufacturing CPUs is on in earnest. Although most of us cannot see the efforts on the back ground, we do hear little bits from time to time about this or that new technology that could be used in CPU manufacturing.
The problem is that no matter what the new idea is today, it will take the better part of a decade to realize any real changes in the way we make our processors.
So while we have news that IBM is working with DNA strands to find new ways to make CPUs or that Intel is working on Grpahene (a 2 dimensional sheet of pure carbon) and Carbon Nano Tubes. These changes will not see daylight until 2020 or later.
Continue reading: IBM working with DNA to improve CPUs (full post)
nVidia maybe working on a Dual GT300
I have already talked about how much I enjoy new operating system releases but to be honest with you I enjoy the hype that leads up to and following any product launch.
Since we have word that ATi/AMD is launching Evergreen in September we need a new rumor about nVidia. Well we have one. According to a few sources we hear that nVidia will be pushing out a dual GT300 card. This will be a direct competitor to ATI's planned dual RV870 card.
There is not much information to go on other than what we already know about the GT300. The big thing to ask will be what form factor will this be. Traditionally nVidia has chosen to implement dual cards with a dual PCB solution. However recently nVidia allowed for a single PCB design that worked very well.
Continue reading: nVidia maybe working on a Dual GT300 (full post)
nVidia to make entry level LGA 1156 chipset
In the early part of last year there was talk that nVidia would not be making any new chipsets. According to the rumor at the time nVidia asked a group of OEMs if there was any reason for nVidia to continue; after a few minutes of silence nVidia made the decision to drop out of the chipset market.
This rumor seemed to be confirmed when it was announced that nVidia would license their SLI technology to Intel for the X58 chipset. This would not be in the usual NF200 bridge chip, but by actually enabling native SLI support for the X58. a few months later Intel announced that nVidia's current licensing did not cover new CPUs with an integrated memory controller. Things were not looking good for anything new in the mainboard world from the green team.
All that might be changing though as there are now rumors of an LGA 1156 chipset from nVidia. Unlike the past where nVidia would hit in the high-end and enthusiast market, the new boards appear to be all entry level with an IGP that has its own memory bus (64 bit).
Continue reading: nVidia to make entry level LGA 1156 chipset (full post)
Rumored September Apple Event Brings new Rumors
With the rumor of an Apple special event in September of course there are rumors about possible new Apple products.
One that is gaining ground is a rumor that the next gen iPod Touch will have a built in camera. This would be a great idea and would give the Touch a feature that many have asked for.
But is this one of the announcements that is really going to happen? With Apple's track record of leaks and hints and hype it very well could be.
Continue reading: Rumored September Apple Event Brings new Rumors (full post)
Zune HD's HD TV out videoed
We have been talking about the Zune HD a lot lately especially given its potential as a true competitor of the existing champ, the iPod touch/iPhone.
We have seen the browser, the case, the hardware underneath, the dock. pretty much everything. The one missing component has been just how well does the 720p HD out to TV work?
If it is crap then the Zune loses a big part of its attraction. If it is great then there is another bit of ammo to fire at the iPod.
Sony and MS working to get Apps ported from iPhone
In the war of the PMPs the big deal now is developing third party applications for the device. This is even more important than base functionality (but is still behind proper marketing).
So what do you do if you are trying to enter or get back in the game in the PMP space? We know that Apple has a very large number of mobile developers. This is evidenced by the large number of Apps in the iTunes App store. How do you tip the scale to your favor?
The plain and simple answer is money.
Continue reading: Sony and MS working to get Apps ported from iPhone (full post)
Maxitweet gives you 200 characters from Twitter
In today's episode of short attention span theatre we will show you how to expand your attention from a mere 2 seconds to a staggering 3.5.
To do this all you need to do is expand your twitter from 140 characters to 200. I am not sure why you would want to do this. After all most of your followers would not be interested in anything that would require them to read an additional 60 letters and/or spaces.
But as this must be in some sort of demand a company in New Zealand has found a way to do it. What they do is allow you to put your "tweet" into their web page and convert it to a slimmer version using Unicode characters. This makes your tweet look like a letter from a bad TV movie killer but does allow you to drone on about all the little things you are doing.
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Lenovo Issues battery recall on ThinkPads
Important news for any Lenovo ThinkPad owners as Lenovo announces another recall on their batteries.
This is not the first time Lenovo has had to recall its batteries but this one is not about anything overly dangerous. These batteries are merely defective and cause mundane things like "irreparable damage" errors popping up.
Other indications are your battery life becoming very short. a message saying that the battery cannot be charged. Lenovo has announced that they will replace the batteries for free and have even posted a tool to help you determine if you have a bad battery.
Continue reading: Lenovo Issues battery recall on ThinkPads (full post)