The latest pre-release version of Firefox 3.0 has hit the Internet, adding among other things the addition of bookmarks to the much touted "Places" feature.
Places is a collapsable side panel in the browser that gives users easy access to RSS feeds, bookmarks, and history in the same box. Once talked about for Firefox 2, Places was quickly set aside for the last major browser overhaul and will make its debut in version 3.0.
The fifth alpha release of Firefox 3 brings the first time bookmarks have been added to the all-in-one browser tool for developers.
According to Mozilla's Wiki page, Places will also be used to manage URL AutoComplete settings and will offer a drag-and-drop option for website bookmarking. Places uses an open-source SQLite database, a different standard than it used for bookmarks in Firefox 2, but users will be able to perform a one-time migration from bookmarks on old browser to the new one.
In addition, the latest alpha release has a new crash reporting system, "Breakpad", which Mozilla says makes it easier to report crashes as well as read reports from other users. It also adds a Java-powered password manager, previously powered by C++. Finally, Alpha 5 also adds support for native controls and Growl notifications on Mac OS X systems.
Source from TG Daily
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Mozilla puts green light on Firefox 3 Alpha 5
WD Now Shipping 750 GB Caviar Desktop Hard Drives
750 GB for all your little files, or just a few of your really big ones
Western Digital said that is now shipping in volume the 750 GB SATA WD Caviar SE16 desktop-class hard drives. The drives feature a 3 Gb/s transfer rate, 16 MB cache, Native Command Queuing and a host of other WD technologies.
Don Bennett, WD vice president and general manager of desktop storage, speaks on some the new Caviar’s bullet points: "WD knows that there is nothing more important than our customers' data. Uniquely, our new desktop hard drive brings together SecurePark for better shock characteristics, StableTrac for better vibration performance, and IntelliSeek to reduce power consumption. These proven features will further WD's lead as the most reliable desktop products."
The WD Caviar SE16 achieves its size with the help of Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) technology, where the magnetization of each data bit is aligned vertically to the spinning disk, rather than longitudinally. PMR enables more data on a given disk than is possible with conventional longitudinal recording, and provides a platform for future expansion of hard drive densities.
WD Caviar SE16 750 GB (model WD7500AAKS) is now available at an MSRP of $249.
Source from dailytech
Partners Showcase AMD RD790 Motherboards
ASUS, DFI and Gigabyte prepare RD790, RD780 and RX780 motherboards
AMD motherboard partners displayed RD790-based motherboards at Computex 2007. ASUS, DFI and Gigabyte have RD790 motherboards on display. Gigabyte is the only partner to have a live demonstration of RD790, from what we have seen. The Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 features four PCIe 2.0 x16 slots capable of dual x16 or quad x8 configurations.
The live demo of the Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 did not have two ATI Radeon GPUs operating in CrossFire. Instead, Gigabyte equipped the RD790 demo system with a single ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT.
The Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 does not have any PCIe x1 slots. However, the GA-M790-DQ6 features two standard PCI slots. Gigabyte also equips the GA-M790-DQ6 with a Realtek ALC889 high-definition audio codec capable of 106dB signal-to-noise ratios.
ASUS had the M3A32-MVP Deluxe on display. The upcoming ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe supports Socket AM2+ processors with HyperTransport 3.0, or HT3. The board features dual PCIe 2.0 x16, three PCI and one PCIe x1 slots. The ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe will also support DDR2-1066 memory.
ASUS equips the M3A32-MVP Deluxe with an elaborate heat-pipe cooling setup. The heat-pipe cools the RD790, SB600 and accompanying system memory.
DFI had the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R on display. The LANPartyUT RD790-M2R features four PCIe 2.0 x16, two PCI and one PCIe x1 slots. DFI only claims HyperTransport 1.0 support with the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R. Nevertheless, the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R features a six-phase Vcore and one-phase digital PWM. Additionally, the DFI LANPartyUT features dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with teaming technology and DFI Bernstein eight-channel audio.
ASUS had additional AMD 7-series motherboards on display – the M3A-MVP and M3A. The ASUS M3A-MVP features the mainstream RD780 chipset with a cut-down PCIe lane configuration. ASUS equips the M3A-MVP with two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots. The PCIe 2.0 x16 slots default to dual eight-lane configurations when both slots are occupied.
The ASUS M3A-MVP also features three PCIe x1 and two PCI slots for expansion. The vanilla M3A-MVP does not receive the elaborate heat-pipe setup as its deluxe brethren.
Lastly is the value-level ASUS M3A. The ASUS M3A features the AMD RX780 chipset paired with the SB600. The AMD RX780 does not support CrossFire. The ASUS M3A features one PCIe 2.0 x16, three PCIe x1 and three PCI slots.
Expect AMD RD790, RD780 and RX780 motherboards later this year.
Source from dailytech
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Gigabyte Passive Single-Slot HD 2600 XT
New Silent-Pipe II cooler only takes up one slot
Gigabyte is displaying the latest passively cooled ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card. The upcoming GV-RX26T256H pairs the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with a Silent-Pipe II cooler for silent computing. Gigabyte has opted for a single-slot cooler design, unlike the Sapphire HD 2600 XT Ultimate.
The new GV-RX26T256H features 120 stream processors and 256MB of GDDR3 memory attached via a 128-bit memory interface. Gigabyte equips the GV-RX26T256H with dual dual-link DVI and component video outputs. The card also supports HDMI and 5.1 channel audio with an adapter. HDCP is also supported for high-definition video playback of formats such as Blu-ray and HD DVD.
Expect Gigabyte to launch the single-slot passive ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT next month with the official GPU release.
Source from dailytech
2 New HD 2600s from Sapphire
Sapphire Technology has two new ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT models on display at Computex 2007. The two new ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT models include an AGP model and a new lower cost PCI Express model. The new Sapphire HD 2600 XT features identical specifications as the PCIe counterparts with 120 stream processors and a 128-bit memory interface. Sapphire equips the AGP model with 256MB of GDDR3 memory.
The Sapphire HD 2600 XT AGP also features DVI, VGA and TV-outputs. Although the card is AGP, it still requires additional power via a PCIe power connector. Nevertheless, the Sapphire HD 2600 XT AGP brings high-definition HD DVD and Blu-ray video playback with AMD’s Universal Video Decoder, or UVD, and DirectX 10 support to AGP users.
Sapphire is also preparing a lower costing ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT-based PCIe offering. Sapphire manages to reduce costs by trimming the PCB down to four layers instead of the typical eight layers. Due to the PCB reduction, the internal CrossFire connectors are absent, so the card will not be hardware CrossFire compatible.
However, Sapphire claims the CrossFire connector-less ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT-based card will support software CrossFire once AMD releases drivers capable of the feat. Additionally, the trimmed down card features dual DVI and TV-outputs. The card does not require any extra power.
Expect Sapphire to officially unveil the HD 2600 XT AGP and the slimmed ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT-based card when AMD officially releases the GPUs next month.
Source from dailytech
Hitachi 250GB Notebook Drives
Hitachi may be a little late to the game, but it is finally joining the 250GB 2.5" notebook hard drive ranks. The company today announced its new Travelstar 5K250 drive and said that it has the best power-efficiency of any drive in its class.
"The Travelstar 5K250 was built from the ground up for notebook PC users who demand high capacity, ruggedness, speed and power efficiency," said Shinjiro Iwata, chief marketing officer for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "With all of the improvements we’ve integrated into the 5K250, we are confident Hitachi will continue to maintain its leadership position in the 2.5-inch hard disk drive space."
The Travelstar 5K250 spins at 5400RPM and uses a Serial ATA interface. The company will also sell its E5K250 alongside the new 5K250. The E5K250 features Hitachi's Bulk Data Encryption 3 hard-drive level data security mechanism.
The new 250GB drives are shipping now; however, pricing has not yet been announced.
Source dailytech
SanDisk Announces 64GB SSDs
SanDisk has had its share of the solid-state disk (SSD) limelight for the first half of 2007. In January, the company announced a 1.8" 32GB SSD for notebooks computers. In March, the company introduced another 32GB offering -- this time in a 2.5" form-factor. The next month, Dell offered the 1.8" SanDisk UATA 5000 in its Latitude D420 and Latitude D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks.
Today, SanDisk is grabbing headlines again with its 64GB 1.8" UATA 5000 SSD and 64GB 2.5" SATA 5000 SSD. The SSDs offer a MTBF of 2 million hours, average access speeds of 0.11 milliseconds and average read speeds of 67MB/sec. Both SSDs consume just 0.4 watts while at idle and 1.0 watt when in active operation.
"Laptop manufacturers have requested more memory capacity for systems that use the Microsoft Vista platform, which can require a number of preloaded accessories and security suites," said SanDisk director of SSD product marketing Doreet Oren. "Also, there is interest in developing laptops for gaming, and the SSD is well-suited for the performance and memory requirements of those users. Thus, by offering greater capacities on our SSD products, we are making our products more appealing to a wider customer base."
SanDisk will ship engineering samples of its 64GB 1.8" UATA 5000 SSD and 64GB 2.5" SATA 5000 SSD during the third quarter while regular production is due to begin by the end of the year.
Source dailytech
