| AMD, NVIDIA duel in mobile graphics; 3D iPhone still distant
We're barely into this year's Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, and already the dueling press releases are flying. Fresh off the wire are two long-awaited and closely matched mobile graphics products from NVIDIA and AMD, both of which will bring some measure of desktop-caliber graphics to handheld devices. First up is STMicro's announcement of the first fruits of its alliance with AMD (announced at last year's MWC): the 65nm Nomadik STn8820 mobile application processor. STMicro's new chip combines the same mobile graphics core used in AMD's Imageon line with an ARM11 CPU core, and it tacks on a ton of other functionality, some of which I'll mention in a moment. Nomadik's graphics core is based on the same unified shader architecture (USA) that powers the Xbox 360, so Nomadik supports OpenGL ES 2.0, D3D, and the same tools and APIs that work with Imageon.
Beyonce Knowles plans country album
The singer is shedding her R'n'B roots to experiment with a new sound following the success of her live reworked performance of Irreplaceable with country band Sugarland in Los Angeles last weekend. A source said: "Beyonce wants to try something completely different. "She is a big fan of country music and thought that would be an interesting and exciting way to go. "She tested the waters at the American Music Awards last weekend and she is up for it." Beyonce is keen to team up with award-winning singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost on the new tracks. The pair have already enjoyed chart success together. Amanda wrote Beautiful Liar, which was recorded by Beyonce and Shakira earlier this year. She also penned James Blunt's hit single You're Beautiful.
Technology and Sports: Blurring the Line Between Virtual and Reality
Already, there are glimpses of 3-D technology in sports and entertainment, notes James Oliver of Iowa State University. More movies are being shown in 3-D, including this month's release of U2 3D featuring concert footage from the rock group U2. The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in London features cinematic techniques designed to give the sensation of seeing championship tennis in 3-D. Whats Linux with a Lineage?Verio Linux VPS delivers root access, advanced FairShare technology for better performance, and support that's actually supportive. It's all from Verio, the Virtual Private Server technology pioneer with over 500,000 customers. Test-drive Linux VPS here. .
Photosmart A626 photo printer
The HP Photosmart A626 is a compact photo printer that features a special 4.8-inch touch-screen display and stylus to make printing photos easier than ever. Equipped with a small carrying handle, the attractive, boom box-shaped A626 is designed for you to carry along on trips or special occasions. The A626's interface is intuitive and innovative, but like the larger, more expensive version of this printer—the Photosmart A826 ( )—the A626's print quality suffers from dull-looking dark prints. The A626 uses a tri-color ink system, which includes cyan, magenta, and yellow; this means that blacks are processed, or a combination of those three colors, as opposed to a true black ink. As a result, test prints with the A626 lacked depth and shadow detail; the quality of black-and-white photos was especially inferior.
SOHO Organizer 5.5.2
It features a datebook-style appointment and task manager that links with iCal, but doesn't fully replace it. SOHO Notes is a group-sharing successor to Chronos's highly regarded StickyBrain application ( ), a unique tool that lets you corral project-related information—contacts, appointments, to-dos, documents, reminder notes, images, even SMS (Short Message Service) text messages—into folders. SOHO Organizer lets you browse and edit contacts in list and single-entry views, and it supports a greater number of fields than Address Book. It lets you link project files, keywords, calendar appointments, and other contacts to each entry and lets you establish relationship links between members of a club, employees of a particular company, or any other connection you choose.
HP Photosmart C7180 multifunction printer
The HP Photosmart C7180 is a six-ink, all-in-one photo inkjet printer with built-in scanner, copier, and fax machine. With just about every imaginable connection option and feature, the C7180 isn't designed for bargain hunters, but it is a good choice for users who want a plethora of features in one box. Setup The C7180's streamlined design makes this unit very user-friendly right out of the box. Memory card readers supporting most types of digital camera cards are conveniently located on the unit's right-hand corner near the paper tray. Copying, scanning, faxing, and photo-printing functions are within arm's reach on the C7180's sleekly designed control panel, and menus are easy to navigate and read thanks to the large 3.6-inch LCD. When setting up the printer, one of the first decisions you'll face is choosing from the myriad connection options.
Elegant albums, DIY
Unless you're still snapping photos on that disc camera you got back in '86, you're probably aware of how digital technology has changed personal photography. It's now possible to shoot, edit and - most important - share your images online with family, friends (and MySpace stalkers) quickly and easily. But 20 years from now, do you really see yourself cuddling up with the kids on the couch to page through your wedding album - on your laptop? Technology is nice and all, but it doesn't look particularly lovely sitting on the bookshelf. Fortunately, online photo Web sites have moved far beyond just offering two-for-one prints. It's now possible, even easy, to turn out an artfully designed, beautifully bound photo book - or just about any other kind of book - yourself. Last year, as her daughter Isabel's first birthday approached, Susan Lubking Kling found herself staring down the digitized mountain of snapshots she'd taken of her baby.
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