 Guantanamo Bay is one of the world's controversial prisons. This may be its final chapter. With unprecedented access, National Geographic has the story you haven't heard. Both sides, told from the inside, before its doors close forever. Click to learn more and go Inside Guantanamo >> natgeotv.com/guantanamo |
Official Skype App is Now Available in the App Store
Skype, Inc. has just released their official Skype application for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Skype is a very popular voice-over-IP (VOIP) and instant messaging application that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. Call...
Electronic Arts Announced that Sims 3 Will Be DRM-Free
We all remember the embarrassing and annoying episode of the unreachable activating servers for the game Spore when it was released. Electronics Arts has decided to add DRM in this game to prevent its illegal distribution on P2 network. At the end it really annoyed people who purchased the game, as pirates quickly found a way to bypass the protection, making it useless. EA even had to use one of the bypass procedure to help customers to activate their legally purchased copy of the game as its serves were not able to deal with the requests.
To avoid any repetition, EA decided that Sim3, whose release date is expected for June 2009, will not include DRMs. It will only be protected by a serial number. this announcement might promote the sale of the game, as some Spore gamers claimed to have downloaded the pirate version of Spore as it was not possible to play with the legal original one.
Open CL to become the new Standard?
When Apple announced that Snow Leopard will use the Open CL API, not many analysts or websites had ever heard about it before. things have dramatically changed, and AMD already made demo of GPGPU based on ATi graphic cards via Open CL. If NVidia is heavy relying on its CUDa technology, it recently repeated that it is also supporting this API. It seems that all main players do not want to miss the Open CL train. Technically, ai all graphic card manufacturers/designers consider Open CL as a standard and adopt it, it will make things much easier for all developers and customers. Indeed, any card will be able to interpret instructions and speed some GPGPU processes. Of course, some GPU will remain faster than other, so it should not kill competition, and manufacturers will keep promoting their models based on higher component quality, more VRAM, more shaders, and not necessarily on the support for one API or another (such as support for DirectX 7, 8 ,9 ,etc.).
Road Tested: EcoRunner by Marware
Filed under: Accessories, iPod nano, Road Tested
As promised, we're launching a new series called Road Tested where we try out various products for a month or more, see how they hold up to extended "real world" use, and report back our findings. To kick things off we're looking at the EcoRunner from Marware [thanks to our friends at Dr. Bott for the review unit].The EcoRunner is a "green" product in that the primary material is not neoprene, but "a revolutionary environmentally friendly material." I'm not sure what that is, but I can say I like it better than neoprene -- it feels just as soft, but the cells are smaller and thus the material is more supple. The EcoRunner can be worn on the wrist or arm (using an extender strap, included) and is designed for the 4th-gen iPod nano. There's the requisite vinyl window for controlling playback and viewing the screen, plus the case can be used with the Nike+ Sport kit attached (there's a strap to keep everything in).
Does it work? Well, there's one caveat to our test: we used a 1st-gen nano, the white model that was infamous for being easily scratched. It's increasingly tough to find cases for this model, but we found the EcoRunner is stretchy enough to accommodate the slightly thicker model. The side effect of this, possibly due to thickness or the more squarish design: the vinyl window busted (see gallery), leaving the unit exposed and capable of falling out. Call it a "stress test." It's definitely a design challenge to secure the vinyl in a way that won't get too stressed, especially in cases where everything else is so stretchy.
The softness of the case can't be understated. It is really smooth and lightweight and stretchy. I'm partial to wrist straps, because I tend to skip around my playlists depending on my workout. If you find yourself monkeying with your nano during a workout, this is a terrific wrist strap. The extension strap to use it on your arm adds virtually no weight, and holds up well, but bulging biceps might strain that window. The Velcro used is very high quality, but the stitching on the end can sometimes be a little tricky to thread through the grommet -- so I recommend not removing it entirely. Just pull it off your wrist. One upside is that you can charge the nano in the case, so the entire unit becomes home to your nano. If you only use your nano for working out, you'll never have to remove it from the case.
After a month (OK, nearly 2 months) of solid use -- we're talking about near-daily use on the treadmill and at the gym -- the EcoRunner holds up well. As I said, using a 1st-gen nano isn't recommended by us or the manufacturer, so I don't know if the thinner nanos would bust the window after prolonged use. Other than that, there's very little visible wear-and-tear, and I'd recommend this especially if you a) prefer your nano on your wrist, and b) need a case that'll hold the Nike+ Sport kit. Your choices are pretty limited when it comes to both of those criteria, but the EcoRunner is a good bet either way. If you've had experience with this particular model, let us know in the comments.
TUAWRoad Tested: EcoRunner by Marware originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone Pirating App Attacks Rival Pirate App Store
A new application has been created for the iPhone which is designed to not only get all the latest Apple apps free of charge, but to teach a commercial iPhone pirate a lesson by opening his servers to all.
NVidia and VIA Will Strengthen their Collaboration. Who said a Merger?
NVidia is currently in a difficult position. On one side, the new GPU from ATI/AMD actively competes its leadership in the field. On the other side, Intel is working and acting in order to make NVidia's life as difficult as possible for both the forthcoming GPGPU market, as well as for chipset market, refusing to license its Nehalem technology to NVidia. If the success of the GeForce 9400M was a positive point for NVidia to increase its portfolio of products it for sure did not help to cool down its relationship with Intel. In addition, Intel and AMD are not really happy to see NVidia CUDA being developed and promoted as it is currently done..
In the meantime, some rumors indicate that Nvidia might be willing to develop x86 processors. A new information released by Digitimes support this hypothesis. NVidia might could take parts of VIA (in its capital for the time being). VIA is a x86 CPU designer/manufacturer that specialized in low power consumption CPU and have been providing the processor of most first generation netbook before the release of Intel ATOM. Nvidia could then provide complete solution based on relatively low performance CPU assisted by a high-performance GPU? It could be a GeForce 9400M clone able to deal with x86 instructions. The idea is not crazy if one consider the rather impressive performance level delivered by the NVidia ION platform (9400M) associated with Intel ATOM.
DirecTV iPhone app provides DVR controls
DirecTV has launched an app that allows customers to control their home DVR systems from an iPhone or iPod touch. A search function can be used to find shows up to 14 days in advance, or the content can be browsed by channel or date and time. The listings include additional information such as show descriptions, length and rating. Users can record single shows, an entire series or Pay Per View con...
Guantanamo Bay is one of the world's controversial prisons. This may be its final chapter. With unprecedented access, National Geographic has the story you haven't heard. Both sides, told from the inside, before its doors close forever. Click to learn more and go Inside Guantanamo >> natgeotv.com/guantanamo |
Presented By: Inside Guantanamo: Sunday at 9P e/p
Guantanamo Bay is one of the world's controversial prisons. This may be its final chapter. With unprecedented access, National Geographic has the story you haven't heard. Both sides, told from the inside, before its doors close forever. Click to learn more and go Inside Guantanamo >> natgeotv.com/guantanamo |
Official Skype App is Now Available in the App Store
Skype, Inc. has just released their official Skype application for the iPhone and iPod touch.
Skype is a very popular voice-over-IP (VOIP) and instant messaging application that allows you to make phone calls over the internet. Call...
Electronic Arts Announced that Sims 3 Will Be DRM-Free
We all remember the embarrassing and annoying episode of the unreachable activating servers for the game Spore when it was released. Electronics Arts has decided to add DRM in this game to prevent its illegal distribution on P2 network. At the end it really annoyed people who purchased the game, as pirates quickly found a way to bypass the protection, making it useless. EA even had to use one of the bypass procedure to help customers to activate their legally purchased copy of the game as its serves were not able to deal with the requests.
To avoid any repetition, EA decided that Sim3, whose release date is expected for June 2009, will not include DRMs. It will only be protected by a serial number. this announcement might promote the sale of the game, as some Spore gamers claimed to have downloaded the pirate version of Spore as it was not possible to play with the legal original one.
Open CL to become the new Standard?
When Apple announced that Snow Leopard will use the Open CL API, not many analysts or websites had ever heard about it before. things have dramatically changed, and AMD already made demo of GPGPU based on ATi graphic cards via Open CL. If NVidia is heavy relying on its CUDa technology, it recently repeated that it is also supporting this API. It seems that all main players do not want to miss the Open CL train. Technically, ai all graphic card manufacturers/designers consider Open CL as a standard and adopt it, it will make things much easier for all developers and customers. Indeed, any card will be able to interpret instructions and speed some GPGPU processes. Of course, some GPU will remain faster than other, so it should not kill competition, and manufacturers will keep promoting their models based on higher component quality, more VRAM, more shaders, and not necessarily on the support for one API or another (such as support for DirectX 7, 8 ,9 ,etc.).
Road Tested: EcoRunner by Marware
Filed under: Accessories, iPod nano, Road Tested
As promised, we're launching a new series called Road Tested where we try out various products for a month or more, see how they hold up to extended "real world" use, and report back our findings. To kick things off we're looking at the EcoRunner from Marware [thanks to our friends at Dr. Bott for the review unit].The EcoRunner is a "green" product in that the primary material is not neoprene, but "a revolutionary environmentally friendly material." I'm not sure what that is, but I can say I like it better than neoprene -- it feels just as soft, but the cells are smaller and thus the material is more supple. The EcoRunner can be worn on the wrist or arm (using an extender strap, included) and is designed for the 4th-gen iPod nano. There's the requisite vinyl window for controlling playback and viewing the screen, plus the case can be used with the Nike+ Sport kit attached (there's a strap to keep everything in).
Does it work? Well, there's one caveat to our test: we used a 1st-gen nano, the white model that was infamous for being easily scratched. It's increasingly tough to find cases for this model, but we found the EcoRunner is stretchy enough to accommodate the slightly thicker model. The side effect of this, possibly due to thickness or the more squarish design: the vinyl window busted (see gallery), leaving the unit exposed and capable of falling out. Call it a "stress test." It's definitely a design challenge to secure the vinyl in a way that won't get too stressed, especially in cases where everything else is so stretchy.
The softness of the case can't be understated. It is really smooth and lightweight and stretchy. I'm partial to wrist straps, because I tend to skip around my playlists depending on my workout. If you find yourself monkeying with your nano during a workout, this is a terrific wrist strap. The extension strap to use it on your arm adds virtually no weight, and holds up well, but bulging biceps might strain that window. The Velcro used is very high quality, but the stitching on the end can sometimes be a little tricky to thread through the grommet -- so I recommend not removing it entirely. Just pull it off your wrist. One upside is that you can charge the nano in the case, so the entire unit becomes home to your nano. If you only use your nano for working out, you'll never have to remove it from the case.
After a month (OK, nearly 2 months) of solid use -- we're talking about near-daily use on the treadmill and at the gym -- the EcoRunner holds up well. As I said, using a 1st-gen nano isn't recommended by us or the manufacturer, so I don't know if the thinner nanos would bust the window after prolonged use. Other than that, there's very little visible wear-and-tear, and I'd recommend this especially if you a) prefer your nano on your wrist, and b) need a case that'll hold the Nike+ Sport kit. Your choices are pretty limited when it comes to both of those criteria, but the EcoRunner is a good bet either way. If you've had experience with this particular model, let us know in the comments.
TUAWRoad Tested: EcoRunner by Marware originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
iPhone Pirating App Attacks Rival Pirate App Store
A new application has been created for the iPhone which is designed to not only get all the latest Apple apps free of charge, but to teach a commercial iPhone pirate a lesson by opening his servers to all.
NVidia and VIA Will Strengthen their Collaboration. Who said a Merger?
NVidia is currently in a difficult position. On one side, the new GPU from ATI/AMD actively competes its leadership in the field. On the other side, Intel is working and acting in order to make NVidia's life as difficult as possible for both the forthcoming GPGPU market, as well as for chipset market, refusing to license its Nehalem technology to NVidia. If the success of the GeForce 9400M was a positive point for NVidia to increase its portfolio of products it for sure did not help to cool down its relationship with Intel. In addition, Intel and AMD are not really happy to see NVidia CUDA being developed and promoted as it is currently done..
In the meantime, some rumors indicate that Nvidia might be willing to develop x86 processors. A new information released by Digitimes support this hypothesis. NVidia might could take parts of VIA (in its capital for the time being). VIA is a x86 CPU designer/manufacturer that specialized in low power consumption CPU and have been providing the processor of most first generation netbook before the release of Intel ATOM. Nvidia could then provide complete solution based on relatively low performance CPU assisted by a high-performance GPU? It could be a GeForce 9400M clone able to deal with x86 instructions. The idea is not crazy if one consider the rather impressive performance level delivered by the NVidia ION platform (9400M) associated with Intel ATOM.
DirecTV iPhone app provides DVR controls
DirecTV has launched an app that allows customers to control their home DVR systems from an iPhone or iPod touch. A search function can be used to find shows up to 14 days in advance, or the content can be browsed by channel or date and time. The listings include additional information such as show descriptions, length and rating. Users can record single shows, an entire series or Pay Per View con...
Guantanamo Bay is one of the world's controversial prisons. This may be its final chapter. With unprecedented access, National Geographic has the story you haven't heard. Both sides, told from the inside, before its doors close forever. Click to learn more and go Inside Guantanamo >> natgeotv.com/guantanamo |
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