MODDING: blogs

Sony has recently announced their new BRX-A320 Digital Video Recorder which features a built-in 320GB hard disk with HDMI connection to record your favorite HD-quality shows on TV. …

In All About Symbian Insight 56 (AAS Podcast 109) Steve, Ewan and Rafe discuss the news of the two N79 variants (Eco and Active), touch on the LGPL license option for Qt before discussing hands-on experience of the Nokia E63. In the second half of the show we talk about the issues around music DRM and consider the perfect mobile user experience.

Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W Review @ OCC and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

“The Thermaltake Toughpower 1000W meets the requirements of the claimed 80 Plus certification on 110VAC and 230VAC (PF>0.9 & Efficiency>80%). Actual measurements once again show the PF to be best at 110VAC and efficiency at 230VAC. Maximum efficiency of 85% is an excellent result and puts this power supply up with the best.”

According to a report on mobiletoday.co.uk, Sony has refused to let Sony Ericsson use the PlayStation brand on its phones. Sony Ericsson (a separate company jointly owned by Sony and Ericsson) apparently asked Sony for permission to use the “PlayStation” name as a sub-brand on their devices, in much the same way they have already used Sony’s “Walkman”, “Cybershot” and “Bravia”. Sony said no, allegedly. (via Eurogamer.net)

On Sunday, Intel instituted broad price cuts on processors, spanning the Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium dual-core, Celeron, and Xeon product lines.

Cuts were concentrated on quad-core chips like the Q9650 (3.00GHz), reduced 40 percent, to $316 from $530. But Celeron processors received some of the largest reductions. The mobile Celeron 570 (2.00GHz), was slashed 48 percent, to $70 from $134, for example. Some Xeon processors also received hefty cuts. The price on the X3370 (3.00GHz), for instance, was cut 40 percent to $316 from $530.

Advanced Micro Devices plans to cut 1,100 jobs, 9 percent of its global staff, and slash the remaining employees' pay as the chip maker hopes its third round of layoffs in a year can help it get through a brutal market for computer sales. The Sunnyvale company said Friday that 900 workers will have their positions cut. The rest of the reductions are coming from attrition and the previously announced sale of a business unit.

The company has 15,000 workers, but it is spinning off its manufacturing operations, which have 3,000 employees who are not affected by Friday's announcement. So AMD's cut of 1,100 jobs amounts to 9 percent of the remaining 12,000 workers. The dismissals represent AMD's third round of major layoffs in the last year. AMD cut 600 workers just last month, and earlier in 2008 jettisoned 1,600.

Intel plans to push a new consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) platform into the market for ultra-portable notebooks priced between US$699-899 in the second quarter of 2009. The move is believed to be targeting AMD's new Yukon platform, according to sources at notebook makers. The top-three notebook vendors are already preparing to launch products based on the new platform and are expected to help CULV-based notebook shipments reach 10 million units this year, noted the sources.

For 2009, Intel plans to divide the notebook market into four segments: 12.1-inch and above traditional notebooks, Atom or Pineview-based netbooks, Menlow-based mobile Internet devices (MIDs), and ultra-portable notebooks with a display size between 11.x- to 13.3-inch. In additional news, Hewlett-Packard (HP) was originally reported to be planning an Atom Zxx (Menlow)-based 13.3-inch notebook for its Mini-note line in June this year, but has recently decided to use the new CULV platform for the 13.3-inch notebook under the insistence of Intel, added the sources.

Nokia and Securitas today announced a collaboration that will bring mobile services for personal security and safety to Nokia’s S60 platform. The service bundle, Securitas Safe-2-Go, consists of four components: Assist (security alert), Find (locate person), Zone (SMS boundary alerts) and Friends (general friend locator). Safe-2-Go will launch in Sweden in the first half of 2009, with other European markets following later in the year. Read on for more.

I can’t resist linking to this. Just about my favourite version of Tetris, all programmed in Python for S60 (amazingly) and working on almost all modern S60 devices (no need for graphics acceleration here). It seems that Jomtris really is paving the way for other heavyweight games and apps all written in Python (a modern day object-oriented equivalent to Psion’s old OPL, if readers remember this).

Our smartphones have a lot of features in them, yet this is causing a divide. When we as power users look at a new device, we’re expecting our favourite features to be there, yet this depth of power can be daunting to new users. A survey from Mformation (see here on the BBC), linked to earlier by Tzer2, reports high numbers of users having problems with setting up a new phone and accessing the available services. Read on for my take on the issue…