Intel has designed an experimental microprocessor chip which is really micro if we take a look at its overall size. The new superchip by Intel could provide personal computers the processing ability which is as of now, available to only a selected breed of computers such as those that are used in scientific researches or in handling high-end large servers. However it is not known whether the new micro processor chip by Intel is developed to serve the personal computers.

Intel’s new microprocessor is said to have taken a new approach in design in order to boost performance while simultaneously limiting the chip size within the centimeter range. The micro processor chip is said to be containing 80 mini microprocessing cores that solve bits of the same problem simultaneously. Hence the same task is divided into 80 small sub tasks, providing you the power of parallel processing on your personal computers.

However the name & other details of the new microchip is still not available. You can check out the latest news over Intel.

The HP EliteBook 2530p is the new smallest and lightest laptop by HP that consists an optical drive. It only weighs about 3 lb., this laptop is made of HP DuraCase which is a brushed, anodized aluminum combined with a magnesium alloy.

They do not have really the lowest weight but they do have a lot of interesting featurs, especially the integrated optical drives, which other portables don’t have.

The case is designed to pass military-standard durability tests for extreme temperatures, dust and humidity. As you can imagine making it light and durable make them perfect laptops for people who travel a lot, so you do not have to worry about the wear and tear due to the travel.

The HP EliteBook 2730p is basically ultra thin and convertible machine that can be your laptop and also a pen-based tablet that is 1.11 in. thick  only.

It also supports integrated touchpad, tablet buttons and a jog dial. An optional ultraslim battery accessory offers up to 12 combined hours of battery life. Which is simply great!!
These new EliteBooks by HP, are slated to be available in early September and will be powered by Intel Core 2 Duo ultra-low-voltage or low-voltage processors.

They will also have an optional integrated 2-megapixel webcam with business card reader software, and an integrated HP NightLight that shines on the keyboard to improve visibility in low light, which ensure extreme power at your hand, that too while you are on move!

Tape drive storage capacity is now at par with with the rotating disk drives, both come in 1TB size. The higher capacity is relevant to tape, as that it is used so often for long-term archiving.

SUN and IBM have claimed to have developed the “first one terabyte storage tape drive,” but it is likely that Sun will get its drive on the market a little bit sooner than IBM.

Sun have launched this last monday, the new StorageTek T10000B Fibre Channel tape drive, which is twice the Sun’s previous top capacity of 500GB tape drive. It will be available this month and will be starting at $37,000.

Where as, IBM on Tuesday followed up by claiming to release the “world’s first” 1TB tape drive with the System Storage TS1130, which previously had a top capacity of 700GB.

These are likely to be available by Sept, and would start at $39,050.

These new drives will be compatible with previous generations, allowing read and write operations between the old and new drives.

BUT the question is who did it first? both are claiming to have the “First one terabyte storage tape drive”

One can not judge this, by the announcement date, as they differ by just one day. Performance is one way to compare the two products. Also as Sun is going to make its product available before so they can get “being first” title.

According to IBM, their new tape drive delivers data at a rate of 160 megabytes per second, allowing backups to be completed 54% faster than its previous product. However Sun’s T10000B drive delivers speeds of 120Mbps.

IBM also said it developed a Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) tape design that produces fewer data read errors than competing technology.
According to Sun, their 1TB tape drives will help customers use best floor space and lower power costs.

Read More about Sun StorageTek T10000B Fibre Channel tape drive here.

Nvidia has launched its double-decker GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card which is heavily priced at US$650. This has two graphics processing units on the same silicon base. The 9800 GTX is the official series and is costing about half the price.

The major features of the new 9800 GTX are similar to the GeForce 9800 GX2. It’s loaded with DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 support, 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range lighting, physics processing, HDCP capable.

Beyond generating top-flight graphics, the 9800 GX2 also delivers 2560-by-1600-pixel video with support for High-Definition Content Protection (HDCP) over both the card’s DVI and HDMI outputs.

The card bears the brunt of video decoding for H.264, VC-1, WMV, and MPEG-2 high-definition (and standard-definition) movies also it can handle the all-important 3:2 and 2:2 pull-down corrections for videophiles that crave accurate video reproduction generally referred to as motion judder, the pull-down is a ratio correction for frame rates when you transfer film to video. It introduces a slight image lag.

Who should be buying this?
As it is expensive, and only if you can afford it, besides being a top notch gamer or technocrat. The game has just begun, other competitors will come out with advanced versions soon, Nvidia will also come up with an upgrade just in few months time..so decide accordingly!

Following up the Motorola and Kodak’s collaboration in January 2006. Kodak is bringing a 5MP CMOS camera sensor to Motorola handsets by the end of the year.

They have claimed that their CMOS sensors have been well advancing for many years.
And now they will have the ability to embed the sensor in the phone with all the richness
we have with our imaging software.

It will allow them to make the sensor a very useful part of the camera, which will automatically handle the light, color, etc.

Eastman Kodak also plans to release its own CMOS sensor in a new Kodak camera, and to abandon the low-end camera business due to slim profit margins.

Nokia is the world’s largest camera manufacturer, Kodak’s move in this direction will bring about some interesting product releases in late 2007 and 2008.

Believe it or not Toshiba is going to ship below $800 dual-core, DVD-R notebook.  The Satellite® A135 Series is economically priced with technology you’ll value. Systems feature the latest in Intel® processors* for optimal performance. There’s big memory* for all your mp3s, work, picture and video files.

All systems feature an 15.4″ diagonal WXGA TruBrite® display* adding the WOW factor to games and movies!

Toshiba’s DVD SuperMulti optical drive* (select models) reads and writes up to 11 formats, including DVD-RAM which acts like an optical HDD! (DVD-RAM media required). High speed wireless LAN* (802.11b/g) lets you work cable free. No more searching for phone jacks, network cables, or plugging in special cards. Connect easily to networks in your home, office, and in wireless LAN hotspots at airports, hotels and coffee shops.

The S4527 is destined for retail stores and doesn’t have a firm price as with many of the company’s online-only systems.

However, expect the system to arrive in larger retailers this week at under $800.

Cisco this has improved their Catalyst switch line with a gear that boosts Power-over-Ethernet support, backup power and failover issues and 10G Ethernet connectivity at the LAN edge. According to the news on Cisco Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E switches from Cisco target dense PoE deployments, where a majority of ports on a switch require in-line power for attached devices, such as IP phones or wireless LAN access points.

These Cisco switches have twice the PoE support as previous models and include expanded 10G Ethernet uplink options. Also Cisco has increased the power supplies on its Catalyst 6500 series chassis to power as many as 420 ports in a chassis with PoE.

The Catalyst 3750-E comes in 24- and 48-port versions. Each has 10/100/1000Mbps autosensing ports and modular port slots, which can accept dual-port Gigabit Ethernet or single-port 10G Ethernet uplinks.

The switch stacks with as many as eight other 3750-E switches or older versions of the Catalyst 3750, with Cisco’s StackWise interconnection technology. This lets switches be linked by a common 64Gbps interconnected backplane while being managed and configured as a single logical network device.

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has agreed a new USB standard for small electronics devices. The new Micro-USB that is standardised, miniaturised, and optimised for mobile use helps us in that important task. The Micro-USB offers innovative design and a flexible platform that our technical teams can easily take on board while working with new product designs.

The new design is in response to a growing number of phones and media players that are shrinking in size but still need connection technology. It is expected to replace the current Mini-USB standard.

Handset giant Nokia welcomed the news. “Nokia always strives for great user experience,” said Jouko Junkkari, a director within Nokia Technology Platforms.

The new design also differs from standard USB in that the connector is much more robust. It will be made with a stainless steel shell designed to withstand more than 10,000 insertions.

“As phones, PDAs and cameras get smaller and more compact, manufacturers need a new USB connector specification to suit the design of these new products,” said Jeff Ravencraft, chairman and president of the USB-IF.

Micro-USB will also support the USB On-The-Go standard, which allows devices to link via USB without involving a PC.

OCZ the gaming-oriented memory producer has announced the release of its first video card. Dubbed simply the OCZ 8800 GTX, the board will use NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTX chipset at its standard 575MHz core and 1.8GHz memory speeds.

Each unit will be hand-picked for its ability to overclock: only the most easily enhanced chips will be chosen from each batch, OCZ claims.

The 8800 GTX from the company will be tied to a lifetime warranty, though the company has not revealed whether or not overclocking will affect support. Cards will begin shipping almost immediately after the launch and are expected to list near the official $649 price NVIDIA has set for its chipset.

The copy protection seems to be ruined on the latest Blu-Ray and HD DVD technology has been broken, according to a code writer’s post at the Doom9 video enthusiast forums.

Someone on this forum has claimed to have written software, named BackupHDDVD, that bypasses the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) protection found on the new storage formats and allows users to copy data from the otherwise restricted discs to a PC.

Maybe this news is still in its rough form and maybe it is just limited to a handful of HD DVD titles, the program appears to confirm early fears that AACS is too similar to CSS, the encryption scheme used by standard DVDs and famously bypassed by Jon Lech Johansen in 2002.

If validated, this could force a radical revision of copy protection on future discs.