AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Hands-On Preview

AMD's got six cores up its sleeve.

Today, AMD released two new six-core processors, the Phenom II X6 1090T and Phenom II X6 1055T. The two AMD processors don't break the bank, but they also don't set any speed records either. The Phenom II X6 1090T will retail for $295, and the Phenom II X6 1055T will cost $200.

Both chips have the same features, but they differ in clock speed and turbo core speed. Turbo core is new to the Phenom architecture and functions similarly to Intel's turbo boost feature. AMD's implementation recognizes when a particular application is not highly multithreaded and boosts the chip's clock speed by up to 500MHz.

Phenom II X6 1090T
Speed - 3.3GHz
Turbo Core - 3.6GHz
L2 Cache - 3MB
L3 Cache - 6MB

Phenom II X6 1055T
Speed - 2.8GHz
Turbo Core - 3.2GHz
L2 Cache - 3MB
L3 Cache - 6MB

To go with the new processors, AMD also released the 890FX motherboard chipset, which supports two 16-lane PCI express slots, 6Gbps SATA, and, depending upon the motherboard, USB 3.0 support. However, you don't need to upgrade to the 890FX in order to take advantage of the new six-core processors. AMD indicated that the Phenom II X6 is backward compatible with AM2+ and AM3 motherboards--quite a boon for users that want a drop-in upgrade.

CPU Tests

At the $285 price point, the Phenom II X6 1090T lines up with Intel's Core i7 930 and Core i7 860 (both are mostly identical CPUs that differ based on socket compatibility). We tested with the Core i7 930 across a broad selection of games. The tests were divided into two categories--those that were CPU limited (low resolution/quality tests) and those that were real world or GPU limited (high resolution/high quality). The Intel CPU scored more than its fair share of wins on the CPU-limited tests. When we switched over to how users actually play games, the two chips were dead even with both CPUs largely taken out of the equation.

Real World Gaming

The Phenom II X6 1090T did not dissappoint when it came to real world gaming, but its losses on CPU-limited tests made us pause. Should you already have an AMD AM2+/AM3 platform, the Phenom II X6 1090T makes for an easy plug-in upgrade. It's really hard to go wrong for the money (especially considering that there are already $50 rebates running for it).

If you're looking at a new system, the value proposition is on AMD's side when comparing it against Intel's Core i7 930, which functions on the relatively expensive LGA1366 socket. By comparison, motherboards based on the AM2+/AM3 platform can be had for a song. However, when taking into account for the Core i7 860, our purchasing decision tilts towards Intel (which should test similarly to the 930)--as the CPU is based on the equally affordable LGA1156 socket.

System Setup: Intel Core i7 930, AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, Intel DX58S0 (6GB DDR3), MSI 890FXA-GD70 (4GB DDR3), 750GB Seagate 7200.11 SATA Hard Disk Drive, Windows 7 64-bit. Graphics Card: Radeon HD 5870, beta Catalyst 10.3.

Java EE 6 New Powerfull Features.

EJB Technology, Even Easier to Use

Enterprise JavaBeans technology is the server-side component architecture for developing and deploying business applications in Java EE. Applications that you write using EJB technology are scalable, transactional, and secure. EJB 3.0, which is part of the Java EE 5 platform, made the technology a lot easier to use. The latest release of the technology, JSR 318: Enterprise JavaBeans 3.1, which is available in the Java EE 6 platform, further simplifies the technology and makes many improvements that reflect common usage patterns.

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Now Build and Run Interactive Contents for TV

TV Software Development Kit Getting Started Guide

1. Skill LevelBeginner
2. Supported VersionsJavaFX 1.3
3. Key FeaturesIntroduction to JavaFX Technology
4. Last UpdatedApril 2010

Introduction

This guide describes how to install and set up the JavaFX TV Software Development Kit (JavaFX TV SDK). The JavaFX TV SDK is available within the NetBeans IDE, and also as a command line version. The installation procedures for these two versions are presented in Installation.

Note: Normally, as a developer you will want to work with either the NetBeans or the command line version.

Overview
The JavaFX TV SDK provides an environment for developing and compiling JavaFX applications, and for demonstrating them in an emulated television environment. This guide gets you started compiling and running example JavaFX applications.

Future Concept Digital Roll Laptop

Though many cool designs have been offered for the laptops of the future but digital roll is really awesome and unique concept designed by Hao Hua. D Roll Laptop can be considers as “next generation laptop design,” as it does away with the book-like form factor in favor of one mimicking an artist’s scroll. Whether or not something like this will even be possible in the near future seems to matter less when you look at how much effort Hua put in the design.

Though it’s just a concept but the design is inspiring and would definitely catch the eyes of other designers wishing to create a better-looking and practical laptop. If this hits the market, it would be swept off the shelves in no time.

Now you can send files in iGoogle and orkut chat right from your browser

What’s the easiest way to send a file to someone? Launch whatever IM client you both use and send it. And now, you can do that with the iGoogle and orkut chat right from your browser…

Transferring a file is dead simple – click Actions, select Send a file and that’s it. All kinds of files are supported – documents, photos and others. This works for the chat in iGoogle and orkut, and also if the other person is using the desktop Google Talk app.

It doesn’t work in Gmail (yet) however. The Google team are working on adding support for this feature in Google’s popular mail service, but it works right now in their personalized homepage, iGoogle, and orkut (which, for those of you outside of Brazil and India, is Google’s social network).

The chat UI also got a quick tweak – now the voice and video chat options are more easily accessible. You still need a plug-in for those to work, but I hear HTML5 will eventually give pages access to the webcam and microphone without extra plug-ins.

The Football – Real Kick: table football the iPhone way

You’ve gotta see this to believe it! I know that the iPhone lacks lots of features that even times cheaper phones have but how about that: the iPhone brings table football to a new level allowing you to play using only your phone, a tiny Styrofoam ball and the Football – Real Kick app. See how it works.

You’ve probably heard that sound waves create pressure that can move air. And if there are objects around that are light enough – the air can move them along its path.

The iPhone speaker is tiny but obviously it’s powerful enough to blow away a Styrofoam ball and to let you play micro-football with your pals. What you need is something to create the needed sounds, such as the 99 cent app Football – Real Kick found in the App Store. The more the iPhones, the more the football players. The more the fun.

All you have to do is come up with your own football board. Easy, isn’t it?

Source

Internet Explorer market share takes a hit as the Browser Choice screen starts rolling out

Tough times for Internet Explorer coming right ahead. Only a month has passed since the European Union forced Microsoft to give their users a choice of several browsers and the IE market share is starting to feel the heat.

Microsoft should send almost 200 million computers a browser choice screen, offering users to select a browser by the end of May. However even now, before March has ended, IE has lost market share in several of the key European markets.

According to web statistics provided by Statcounter, Internet Explorer’s share has dropped by 2.5 percents in France, by 1 percent in Britain and by 1.3 percent in Italy only in the past 22 days. If the trend continues (or even worse for Microsoft, accelerates) IE risks loosing its most popular browser status.

Meanwhile competitors are benefiting as Opera saw their downloads more than double in Europe, with downloads in Italy, Spain and Poland more than tripling. Mozilla also confirmed that they have a strong growth in their user base and expect the numbers to become even more encouraging as the Ballot Choice screen fully rolls out across all countries.

In case Microsoft still haven’t sent the choice screen update to you, you can flash forward to that moment by visiting this link.

Source

Guinness World Record for typing set with Swype, hype too

I’ve mentioned Swype here before (it was released as beta for Android) and I mentioned it should be a devilishly quick way to enter text.

Samsung decided to prove just how fast it is by setting a Guinness World record…

The record was set by Franklin Page, a “recent employee” of Swype, using the Samsung Omnia II, which comes with Swype preloaded (specifically the Verizon version of the Omnia II).

To set the record, Page had to type “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human”. That’s the official test phrase for texting-related records.

The record setting time was 35.54 seconds. If I did the math right, that works out to 42 words per minute (WPM).

Impressive, but the record was set in a new category (fastest text message on a touchscreen mobile phone), so it was guaranteed to be the best time.

Nokia Diagnostics is Symbian phones’ best friend

What I like about Nokia Labs is that they just don’t stop launching new apps. And some of them are really useful. Like the Nokia Diagnostics application.

The Nokia Diagnostics was first made available for touch phones running the S60 5th Edition and as of yesterday it’s also compatible with their non-touch bros with the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 on board.

By the way, make sure that you Symbian smartphone is running the latest available firmware version before you install the Nokia Diagnostics app because, according to Nokia Labs, older firmware versions might cause “undesirable behavior”.

And now, let’s see what the Diagnostics app can actually do for you. With its help you’ll be able to test the current network coverage and make a battery charger test. You can also check your loudspeaker and earpiece.

If you don’t know how to configure the Access point settings in order to get access to the Internet, Nokia Diagnostics is supposed to do that for you as well.

The following video shows what you can expect from the current version of Nokia Labs’ Diagnostics application:

As you can see, the Nokia Diagnostics app doesn’t do that much things (there are no tests concerning the display or the GPS receiver, for instance) but as the guy from the video above says, the Nokia Labs are open to new ideas for diagnostics for the future.

If you want to download the Nokia Diagnostics applications, hit the “Source” link.

Source

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 lands at ours, the demo video awaits you

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 will hit the shelves any moment now and just before that it pays our office a visit. We are pleased to meet again, this time with an almost *retail* sample. I can assure you we will take best care for it and the X10 will be inspected thoroughly.

We are already familiar with the Timescape and Mediascape UIs, but this time we are pleased to see them properly optimized running fast. Here is our demo video of both Sony Ericsson gems along with some digging into the Android OS menus.

You can expect our in-depth review soon, but meanwhile you’re welcomed to check out our close meeting with the Motorola BACKFLIP.

Abu Dhabi will be the home of the world’s fastest roller coaster

When I heard that the world’s fastest roller coaster is building I was sure it is in Abu Dhabi. It will be the next huge addition to the UAE sightseeing map after the world’s tallest building. Be sure to take a helmet, because you will be sitting in a real beast of a car!

Two roller coasters are being built right now. They will both have two parallel tracks to simulate a race between two cars.

The first attraction is a coaster for the Ferrari World theme park, which will use Ferrari replicas with four seats for the racing simulation. But this is just the runner-up.

The F1 is world’s fastest roller coaster, where the cars will be able to speed up to 240 km/h. It is supposed to be ready just before the next Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Wow, indeed. I’ve already started saving money for a trip to UAE to check out those babies myself.

A kidney or two will get you a Celsius X-VI-II Papillon, the mechanical phone

How many of you had a calculator watch? And how many had a mechanical phone? See, mechanical is, um, cooler! Yeah. Who needs a Ferrari when you can own this head turner…

This extravagant phone will be announced tomorrow and more details will become available. Until then here’s what I know – the Celsius X-VI-II Papillon is a clamshell with mechanical gadgetry inside, 547 hand assembled pieces to be precise.

The mechanism operates the clock on the top part of the clamshell and the one on the inside (above the screen). The cover is transparent so you can see the whole shebang tick and there’s even speculation that the mechanical parts play a role in the phone itself, perhaps charge the battery from the movement of the phone like a self-winding watch.

The Celsius X-VI-II Papillon is lavish, exorbitant and pricy

If you though to yourself “I want one!” then better hurry – the Celsius X-VI-II Papillon is probably going to be a strictly limited edition. At 300 000 US dollars a pop that’s hardly a surprise. That’s right, it’s three hundred thousand, I’ve counted the zeroes several times.

If that’s too rich for your blood (or you have some common sense) you can settle for another kind of Papillon. They are very athletic apparently. Oh, one more thing that makes the phone even manlier – “papillon” is French for “butterfly” (the dog was named so because of its ears).

Pictured: “papillon”

Canon want to get .canon top-level domain

Sorry ibm was a mistake::: it is Canon

The Japanese electronics manufacturer giant Canon will try to secure their own top-level domain – namely “.canon”. If they succeed they will become the first company with their own generic domain.

Don’t hold your breath just yet, though. Even if Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) grants the permission today, which is what Canon expect to happen the new domain won’t be up and running before late 2011.

Since ICANN liberalized the top-level domain obtaining procedure in 2008 it was only a matter of time until the large companies enter the game (it still costs several hundred thousand bucks to get one). Let’s now see who else will follow suite.

Microsoft announce Internet Explorer 9, they have got to be kidding

If at first you don’t succeed, getting up, dusting yourself off and trying again might be the thing to do, but if you fail 9 times in a row you might better give up all together. Just when we thought that things couldn’t get any worse for Microsoft and their internet browsing solution and here comes the announcement of Internet Explorer 9 to prove us wrong.

The company takes great pride in two novelties introduced by the new version – HTML5 support and a new JavaScript engine. And with hardware graphics acceleration for video content and even text rendering and 7x faster JavaScript (than IE8) they might have some ground for bragging. But here come the bad news – the 7x faster JavaScript is still twice as slower than the already released Chrome 4.0 and Opera 10.50 web browsers.

And the ever-present rendering issues that have plagued the Internet Explorer browser for ages now are obviously here to stay. IE9 scores 55 (out of 100) on the Acid3 synthetic test, where as most of its competitors get a perfect 100.

So that’s that then – if HTML5 video playback is your thing and you run Vista or Windows 7, then the IE9 might be worth all those inconveniences. All the rest should move along as there is nothing else to see here.

Here you can download a developer’s preview of the Internet Explorer 9 browser and take it for a quick spin around your favorite websites.

Dotcom websites turn 25, rule the traffic charts

On this day, exactly 25 years ago Symbolics computers of Cambridge, Massachusetts, registered the first web address, ending in dotcom. Five more companies dared to go in the dotcom area that same year and nothing suggested the avalanche that was to follow.

Twelve years later the millionth dotcom domain got registered and now there are 668 000 dotcom sites registered every month. In the meantime the world saw the rise of dotcom websites that defined the internet as we know it today.

Google.com (15 September 1997), Yahoo.com (18 January 1995), Facebook.com (29 March 1997) and Twitter (21 January 2000) are probably visited by most of you on a daily basis and one can hardly imagine what the internet would be like without them. In fact 13 of the 20 most popular websites according to the Alexa statistics are of the dotcom family.

Our website joined the ranks of the dotcoms in June 2000 and while it’s nowhere near the scale of the ones mentioned above, we like to think of ourselves as one of the places you visit daily as well.

So here is one for you: What you would do tomorrow if all dotcom websites suddenly went offline?

Think Wide

Develop Expressive Content with the JavaFX Platform

JavaFX is an expressive rich client platform for creating and delivering rich Internet experiences across all the screens of your life.

The JavaFX platform gives you unparalleled freedom and flexibility to create expressive content across multiple screens, including mobile devices, desktops, televisions, and other consumer devices. It combines the best capabilities of the Java platform with comprehensive, immersive media functionality into an intuitive and comprehensive one-stop development environment.

The JavaFX platform empowers content developers by enabling them to focus on creativity instead of coding. It enables developers to create game-changing applications and engaging content with maximum market penetration opportunities.

Support for Visual Studio 2008 and Silverlight 3 have been dropped

The Silverlight Toolkit has been an integral part of the Silverlight platform since it first appeared in 2008. Now on its seventh edition, support for Visual Studio 2008 and Silverlight 3 have been dropped in favor of recently released Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4.

Since the Toolkit is open source, developers who need the new features but wish to remain on Silverlight 3 can backport portions of this edition. Since the components were developed with Windows Presentation Foundation in mind, many of the components can also be ported to that platform.

The components in the toolkit are grouped into four quality bands: Mature/SDK, Stable, Preview, and Experimental. Over time these components generally move up from one band to the next. The best ones make their way into the Silverlight SDK. In addition to the components are experimental development tools for unit testing, code coverage, and automated tests inside the browser. New in this release are

• Charting Stacked Series for Bar, Column, Line, and Area Series
• ContextMenu and ContextMenuService to allow easy right click integration
• Dynamic theme switching at runtime as well as SystemColors theme
• PanelDragDropTarget to allow drag and drop between panels

It should be noted that the Toolkit has also dropped the Reactive Extensions Framework. This was done to allow developers to get the latest version of the Rx Framework.