NVIDIA sends GeForce GTX 550 Ti into the $150 graphics card wars

It wasn’t that long ago that we were commending ATI on the stellar regularity of its product launches while NVIDIA was floundering, yet now the roles are reversed and we’re seeing NVIDIA flesh out its second generation of Fermi products with the midrange GeForce GTX 550 Ti presented today. Its biggest attraction is a $150 price tag, but it makes a major concession in order to reach that pricing plateau — there are only 192 CUDA cores inside it, equal to the previous-gen GTS 450, but less than the celebrated GTX 460. NVIDIA tries to ameliorate that shortage of parallel processing units by running the ones it has at an aggressive 1800MHz allied to a 900MHz graphics clock speed, and it also throws in a gigabyte of RAM running at an effective rate of 4GHz. That too is constrained somewhat, however, by a 192-bit interface, rather than the wider 256-bit affair on its bigger brother GTX 560 Ti. What all these specs boil down is some decent performance, but few recommendations from reviewers — mostly due to the abundance of compelling alternatives at nearby price points. Hit up the links below for more.

Internet Explorer 9 disponibile per il download

Dopo un anno dalla prima versione “Platform Preview 1″, Microsoft rilascia ufficialmente il browser Internet Explorer 9, con nuovo motore javascript (molto più veloce rispetto alle precedenti versioni), nuovo rendering (che fa uso dell’accelerazione grafica della GPU), e un’interfaccia utente migliorata.Internet Explorer 9 non supporta Windows XP mentre da pieno supporto a Windows 7, Vista e Windows 2008 R2, con interfaccia molto più minimalista e icone molto semplici. Il browser è disponibile anche per le versioni a 64 bit dei suddetti sistemi operativi. Tra le numerose funzionalità aggiunte segnaliamo anche la possibilità di evitare il tracciamento da parte delle pubblicità.

Ricordiamo che Internet Explorer è utilizzato dal 49,1% degli utenti, seguito da Firefox al 29,5%. In terza posizione troviamo invece Google Chrome con il 10,9% seguito, al quarto posto, da Safari con il 7,4% comprese le versioni mobili.

Il download è disponibile direttamente a questo indirizzo: Internet Explore 9 download

Samsung presenta nuovi lettori Blu-ray e Home Theater Blu-ray 3D

Samsung  lancia sul mercato italiano una nuova linea di sistemi Home Theater Blu-ray e Blu-ray dallo stile impeccabile, in grado regalare un’esperienza di home entertainment sempre più ‘smart’, unendo alte prestazioni Blu-ray e funzionalità wireless a una qualità del suono superiore: l’esperienza multimediale raggiunge nuovi livelli di coinvolgimento, che cambieranno per sempre il modo di vivere l’intrattenimento domestico.

Samsung lancia sul mercato italiano i nuovi sistemi Home Theater HD-D6750W, HT-D7100, HT-D7200 e una nuova linea di lettori Blu-ray attraverso i nuovi modelli BD-D8900, BD-D7500 e BD-D6900 che sapranno stupire con funzionalità nuove e inaspettate, racchiuse in un design dallo stile lineare e minimalista.

Adobe finds 'critical' security hole in Flash Player, won't fix it before next week

Oh, here we go again. Adobe’s kicked out a security bulletin for users of its Flash Player on “all platforms” — that’ll be the entire population of the internet, then — warning them that a new critical vulnerability has been discovered that may cause crashes and potentially permit the hijacking of systems. The issue also affects the company’s Reader and Acrobat software products. Even better news is that Adobe has found it’s being actively exploited “in the wild” via a .swf file embedded in an Excel spreadsheet, but a fix won’t be forthcoming until the beginning of next week. So, erm, enjoy your full web experience until then!

Philips' new camcorder comes with 23x zoom and WiFi, but no price or release date

Philips makes plenty of audio / video equipment for use when consuming our content, but until now, the company didn’t offer many options on the creating end. Well, Philips fanboys (they exist, don’t they?), take a gander at your next must-buy purchase — the ESee HD camcorder touts a 23x zoom, 1080p recording to an SD card, touchscreen viewfinder (of unknown size), WiFi for uploading vids (so as not to keep fans waiting for your next cinematic masterpiece), and an audio zoom feature. Yeah, a zoom for your audio. Details about pricing and availability are nowhere to be found, but not knowing makes you want it all the more, right?

'Soul by Ludacris' headphone series priced from $69 to $299, shipping in May

You know what they say — if you can’t Beat ‘em, undercut ‘em. Signeo’s Soul by Ludacris headphone series — which made its debut a couple of months ago at CES — has just been priced, and sure enough, each pair is cheaper than what Dr. Dre and co. are charging for the HP Beats assortment. The top-end SL300 is set to sell for $299, while the similarly styled SL150 goes for $199. The more conventional SL100 will list for $149, and if it’s earbuds you’re craving, the SL99 will sport an MSRP of $99 while the low-end SL49 offers itself for just $69. Specifics on each one are hosted up after the break, and Americans can expect to see the whole crew this May. As for everyone else? There’s no time table yet, but we’ve been assured by the company that international distribution is being worked on as we speak. Word.

 

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G from Samsung announced, coming 'later this spring'

Sure, Danger’s servers are going away, but the Sidekick brand belongs to T-Mobile — and that particular component of the teen-friendly smartphone ecosystem pioneer isn’t going anywhere. Of course, the carrier’s been saying for a couple months now that it’d be relaunching Sidekick on Android, but they’re making the device very official today with the unveiling of the Samsung-sourced Sidekick 4G. Though it lacks a swiveling display, T-Mobile is quick to note that the phone’s got a “pop-tilt” mechanism that should still be pretty unique in the market — and this is the first Sidekick with a touchscreen (3.5 inch WVGA, to be exact). The Android 2.2-based unit has a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 3 megapixel primary cam, and a pretty fierce-looking user interface (dare we say a tad Kin-like?) that comes loaded with a couple Samsung staples — Samsung Media Hub, notably — along with Qik video calling, DriveSmart texting-while-driving lockout functionality, and Sidekick Group Text and Cloud Text, which together form some manner of cross-platform messaging tool. Pricing and availability are a little murky at this point, but we can expect it “later this spring” in your choice of black or “pearl magenta.” Follow the break for the full press release.

Internet Explorer 9 launches tonight, we've got your early look (update: it's live)

Yes, we know it’s PI day, but don’t tell the guys and gals at Microsoft — we hear they’re celebrating something a little different. That’s right, the long-awaited IE9 browser is finally coming out of its beta and RC stage, and will be hitting the global download airways this evening at 9PM PT, which is midnight here on the East Coast. Microsoft tells us the .exe file will be available for you to download at those times right from http://www.beautyoftheweb.com — but should you? Obviously, the RC release has been out for awhile, but we’ve spent the last day or so using the final build and we have to say if you’re a PC user it’s definitely worth a test drive. Hit the break to find out why we think so.

Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say (video)

Is this the creepiest ad ever produced to introduce a new video game console? That’s a high bar to pass — but is it the creepiest ad for a new smartphone? Perhaps. The minute-long spot for Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Xperia Play called “The Donor” appears to explain the backstory behind its last ad, relaying the tale of a young gentleman who was clubbing with friends, met an attractive woman, took her home, and woke up the next morning to discover that his thumbs were stone cold gone (notice the dirty, poorly-bandaged stumps on the table as he tells his tale of woe to a local law enforcement official). Cut to the next scene, where we’ve got our cute, lovable Android bot waddling around town… oh, and he’s got human thumbs crudely sewn onto his arms. Go ahead, recoil in horror, vomit in the trashcan next to your desk, then cue the inevitable increased desire in owning this phone. Follow the break for the video, if you dare.

Wirefly: 'no Skype' on Thunderbolt, but simultaneous 3G voice and data is a go; ships on March 17th

Wireless retailer Wirefly is pushing ahead with pre-orders for the beleaguered HTC Thunderbolt starting at midnight Pacific Time this evening with the promise that they’ll start shipping this Thursday, the 17th; that lines up with a whole lot of noise we’ve heard recently, so we can’t really argue with it at this point. They’re also confirming a couple rumors that have been floating around since the phone’s January debut: first, they’re saying “no Skype,” which we’re taking to mean that the promised Skype video calling app won’t be installed out of the box. We’re also assuming (or at least hoping) that you’ll be able to install the standard voice-only version. Secondly, they’re saying that the phone definitely does simultaneous voice and data over 3G, a feature that was just recently made possible on Verizon’s CDMA network through software upgrades — and the Thunderbolt, it seems, will be the first retail device to have the pleasure of taking it for a spin.

HP TouchPad coming June, webOS for PC beta by year's end

We may have to wait until summer to purchase a webOS slate, but it won’t be summer’s end — PreCentral reports that the company has confirmed a June release date for the HP TouchPad. At the enterprise-oriented HP Summit in San Francisco, CEO Leo Apotheker finally offered the month of release, and also reportedly said that the company’s full-force webOS on PC initiative will begin in a humble way — the beta will run in a web browser, and we’ll see it by the end of the year.

Microsoft reportedly kills off Zune hardware, will focus on software instead

Details are still emerging on this one, but it looks like Microsoft has finally killed off the Zune — or the hardware side of things, anyway. According to Bloomberg, a “person familiar with the decision” has confirmed that Microsoft won’t be producing any new Zune media players, and that the company will instead focus solely on the Zune software that already has a foothold on the Xbox 360 and Windows Phone devices (it’s not clear if the name will stick around). Microsoft will apparently continue to sell its existing Zunes as long as it has stock of them. More as we get it.

 

 

Kyocera Echo hits Sprint on April 17th for $200

Hey, that’s just $100 per screen, right? Sprint has just announced that Kyocera’s unusual dual-display Echo clamshell will be launching on April 17th for $199.99 on contract, though you’ll be able to notch your interest early — March 26th, to be exact — via pre-order. As a refresher, the phone offers a 5 megapixel cam with 720p video capture, 1GB of onboard storage augmented with an in-box 8GB microSD card (expandable to 32GB), Android 2.2, and — of course — a pair of 3.5-inch WVGA displays that should set it apart from the crowd. We’d have liked a dual-core processor to go along with the trend here, but you can’t have it all, can you? Follow the break for the full press release.

 

Apple's iPhone / iPod touch daylight saving time woes continue

If a broken clock is right twice a day, Apple’s is off twice a year these days — once each time Daylight Savings Time needs to be calculated in territories that depend on it. iPhone and iPod touch users are reporting on Twitter and the official Apple forums that the Clock app is been demonstrating all kinds of erratic behavior — regardless of phone model or AT&T / Verizon pedigree — with some alarms going off early, others late, and plenty of others working perfectly. Amusingly, still others report that DST adjustments occurred in places that don’t recognize DST at all: “My iPhone 4 had the wrong time this morning – in Phoenix,” reports user M Gnu, “We don’t do DST, but iPhone apparently thinks otherwise.”

Since DST went into effect on Sunday in the US, many didn’t notice issues until this morning, but even eagle-eyed iPhone owners could have a nasty surprise as one Engadget reader reports: “My iPhone 3GS changed time correctly yesterday, but for some reason over night it reverted back an hour, thus leaving me an hour late for work.” There doesn’t seem to be a single easy fix, but affected users report a variety of ideas might work — restarting the device, changing the Time and Date setting away from Automatic, calling the iPhone with another phone, or turning on and off Airplane Mode.

 

Berkeley Lab scientists create nanocrystal hydrogen storage matrix, could make for H2 batteries

If you could run your celly on hydrogen you’d have power for days and days — but, you’d also need to lug around a high-pressure tank to store the stuff. That’s no fun, and that’s why we’re still using Li-ion batteries and the like. But, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory look to have found a way to possibly ditch the tank, creating a gas-barrier polymer matrix out of polymethyl methacrylate, allowing the H2 gas in but keeping oxygen and everything else out. That matrix contains magnesium nanocrystals that react with the hydrogen to form MgH2, enabling safe, (relatively) low-pressure storage. The H2 can then be released again and the magnesium nanocrystals are freed to bond with another batch of H2 when refilled. It sounds a little like the Cella Energy hydrogen storage solution, but a bit more promising if we’re honest. Now for the long, painful wait for this to come to production.