SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- May 14, 2007 -- Delivering a four-core foreshadowing of innovations to come for PC enthusiasts worldwide, AMD (NYSE: AMD) today unveiled the upcoming AMD Phenom™ processor family name and publicly demonstrated the first all-AMD enthusiast platform, codenamed “FASN8.” The industry’s only true quad-core client processors are expected to deliver the ultimate visual experience, especially when paired with AMD’s new DirectX 10 ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 series, which began shipping today (see related press release: “AMD Introduces the ATI Radeon™ HD 2000 Series, Delivering The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for Desktop and Mobile Platforms”). AMD expects true quad-core and dual-core AMD Phenom-based desktop systems will ship in the second half of 2007.

Weighing in at an amazing 15.5 pounds and sporting a desktop-sized 20-inch LCD, the HP Pavilion HDX is truly a laptop in name only. This semi-portable home theater system has a Media Center remote that docks right next to the full-size keyboard, an HDMI output, and an optional HD DVD drive. We first got a glimpse of the massive HP Pavilion HDX system back at CES 2007, and have been eagerly waiting for a review unit ever since. Some system highlights include:

• 20.1" WSXGA+ Ultra BrightView widescreen display
• Four Altec Lansing speakers plus built-in HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
• Digital/Analog Hybrid TV Tuner
• HD DVD drive and HDMI port
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT
• An eSATA port for hooking up external backup drives

Sony Ericsson today released three new cell phones that aim to capitalize on the still-hot thin handset craze. Two of the new models should make it to North American shores, while one model features two dazzling colors rarely seen in the mobile world.

The Sony Ericsson S500 features a 2-megapixel camera with a 4x zoom, a media player (though not a Walkman-branded one), a speakerphone, a memory card slot, and stereo Bluetooth. The S500 features a slider design that is 0.55 inch thick and is available in the very unique hues of mysterious green and spring yellow.

The specs of the iPhone list a pixel count of 480x320. In and of itself, that doesn't prove anything: some displays utilize rectangular pixels, which allows them to deliver a true 16:9 picture. (Older Hitachi plasma panels, for example, have a 1,024x1,024 pixel count, but their rectangular shape delivers a wide-screen image, rather than a perfect square one might infer from the resolution). But examining the photos of the iPhone on Apple's site reveals a nearly perfect 1.5:1 aspect ratio on the device's 3.5-inch screen when it's viewed in landscape mode. (The images below were snagged from Apple's site, and they compare the iPhone to Apple TV, which offers a true wide-screen image of 1.78:1.)

Firefighters arrived at the residential hotel late Saturday night to find Picaso lying on the bathroom floor after the cell phone in Picaso's pants pocket set fire to his nylon and polyester clothes, department spokesman Bill Tweedy said.

"It was either a malfunction or some type of glitch in his phone," Tweedy said, adding that investigators found no other possible ignition source, such as matches or open flame, nearby.

The watch has three modes for telling the time, two of them somewhat impenetrable and one of them straight forward. As its name suggests, the principal way it announces the time is by beeping out the hours and minutes in Morse Code through an in-built speaker. In the very likely event that you didn't quite catch all the dit dit dah dahing in your panic to decipher them, you'll be relieved to know that you can see the time displayed in red LEDs on the watch face. This of course is also in Morse Code, and as it's quite probable that your code breaking skills are a tad on the rusty side, you'll still have absolutely no idea of what the time is. In long meetings and during boring conversations this is quite useful, because knowing how long you've had to put up with the tedium is always rather depressing.

“Our channel checks yesterday of 52 retail stores, from boutiques to big-box retailers, showed that 28 of the 52 stores had PS3 consoles in stock, while none had Wii consoles in stock,” American Technology Research analyst Paul-Jon McNealy said in the research note, Reuters news-agency has reported. [...]

Given that Sony’s PlayStation 3 costs $499 or even $599 depending on the version, there is no surprise that Nintendo Wii – which is also discussed and advertised widely – that costs $249 faces much higher demand, yet, amid much higher supply as well. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that the game console from the developer, which previous-generation gaming machine faced lukewarm welcome just several years ago, is so popular on the market that is heavily under attack by Microsoft and Sony.

Firefox, always a popular browser with techies, was pulling in 10.7% U.S. marketshare as recently as December 19.

IE7 and Firefox still don’t quite have the muster to take down the perennial browser leader: Internet Explorer 6. IE6, which was first released on August 27, 2001 is still the leading browser on the market with around 62% marketshare.

Carmack then said that he’s quite satisfied with Windows XP, going as far to say that Microsoft is ‘artificially’ forcing gamers to move to Windows Vista for DX10. “Nothing is going to help a new game by going to a new operating system. There were some clear wins going from Windows 95 to Windows XP for games, but there really aren’t any for Vista. They’re artificially doing that by tying DX10 so close it, which is really nothing about the OS ... They’re really grasping at straws for reasons to upgrade the operating system. I suspect I could run XP for a great many more years without having a problem with it,” he said.

If I hadn't tried these on myself, I wouldn't have guessed how little these SportFones weigh -- a mere 2.2 ounces. A 2007 CES Innovations winner, the mp3 player is built directly into the headphones along with a set of simple controls and a rechargeable battery that reportedly will last for 8 hours. I don't know how long you plan on going to the gym, but I hope that will cover you. With a 512MB (figure 150 songs), they use mp3 and WMA music file formats. I liked the "sweat-repelling" ear pads that are washable, and the convenient storage case.

The format war is still anyone's guess in my opinion. One side could crush the other this year or dual-format players could eventually become the norm. All I know is that with an ever increasing amount of discs and players in the market from both camps, home theater enthusiast shouldn’t be overly concerned with waiting for a winner or the longevity of the respective formats. Find a deal on a player and start enjoying some of this terrific HD content. If you happen to go the HD DVD route, I can easily recommend either the HD-A2 or HD-A20 (I’m under the assumption it’s basically a HD-A2 with 1080p output) without reservation. And as always, happy viewing.

The Axiotron ModBook features Wacom® Penabled® hardware, the same high quality technology that makes the Wacom pen tablets and interactive pen displays the preferred choice for professional artists, designers, photographers, and consumers. Requiring no batteries or magnets, the pen always feels light and nimble and due to the radio-based digitizer technology, users can even write with their hand resting on the screen. This technology allows the cursor to be controlled while the pen is hovering over the screen, providing for an intuitive, mouse-like interface with zero learning curve.

"Wacom is pleased to have its patented pen input technology incorporated in the Axiotron ModBook tablet solution for the Mac enthusiast," said Joe Deal, President of Wacom Technology Corp. "ModBook users will appreciate the pen's intuitive interface, comfort, and the mobility it adds to the overall computing experience."

I had several conversations with Synaptics back in late July and early August, when they first announced a brand-new interface technology they had spent a few years developing. The major innovation was a clear, capacitive sensing technology, called ClearPad. In a nutshell, this is the physical hardware behind the iPhone--Apple just put a nice graphical interface on it. But don't take my word for it. Here's a direct quote from Synaptics description of the ClearPad technology:

"ClearPad is based on Synaptics' proprietary sensing technology, and will offer unique capabilities such as two finger input, proximity sensing, text entry and high resolution finger input that can dramatically improve and enhance the user experience with a touch screen."