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AMD Launches Fusion at CES

05 January 2011 Bob Snyder CPUs and Coolers

Calling it "a new class of accelerated processor that combines more compute capabilities than any processor in the history of computing," AMD launches its Fusion family of Accelerated Processing Units.

AMD Fusion These APUs incorporate – in a single die design – multi-core CPU (x86) technology, a discrete-level graphics and parallel processing engine for DirectX 11, a dedicated high-def video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus (speeds data across the differing types of processor cores within the design).

No word in the press release mentions this as the ultimate "fusion" from AMD's acquisition of ATI in 2006 (the brand was subsumed into AMD last year).

“We believe that AMD Fusion processors are, quite simply, the greatest advancement in processing since the introduction of the x86 architecture more than forty years ago,” says Rick Bergman, senior VP/GM, AMD Products Group. “In one major step, we enable users to experience HD everywhere as well as personal supercomputing capabilities in notebooks that can deliver all-day battery life. It’s a new category, a new approach, and opens up exciting new experiences for consumers.”

Three characteristics to note with AMD Fusion: more video resources, faster processing (AMD labels this "personal supercomputing"), and longer battery life.

More video resources: The AMD Fusion products are the first to integrate powerful DirectX 11 graphics directly onto the processor (DirectX 11 is a key feature of Windows 7 and allows better performing games and faster computing.) The VISION Engine from AMD brings a set of capabilities to all AMD Fusion APU-powered PCs, like DirectX 11-capable graphics. A PC equipped with the VISION Engine and software from AMD partners is supposed to make internet browsing faster (an application-like experience), vivid 1080p HD video playback (even standard definition video looks high-definition), 2D content able to be converted into stereoscopic 3D, even the most graphics-intensive websites load quickly; manipulating HD content is fast and easy; and 3D gaming at HD resolutions is fast and life-like.

AMD Fusion Art "Personal Supercomputing:" Fusion unleashes software developers previously held back by the independent processing by separate CPUs and GPUs. AMD Fusion APUs allow developers to take full advantage of the parallel processing power of a GPU (more than 500 GFLOPs for the upcoming A-Series “Llano” APU) so apps can run simultaneously and faster than previous designs in the same class.

AllDay™ Power: AMD claims Fusion technology enables all-day battery life-- 10 hours or more. The 2011 low power platform (codenamed “Brazos”) enhances everyday computing experience and is available now in two APU variations: E-Series and C-Series. These APUs feature the new x86 CPU core codenamed “Bobcat”. “Bobcat” is AMD’s first new x86 core since 2003 and was designed from the ground up to deliver mobile performance.

Go AMD Fusion

Automatic Backups, Wire Free

04 January 2011 Marco Attard Personal Storage

Clickfree launches a wireless version of its backup devices, Clickfree Wireless.

Clickfree Wireless Users plug the device into each of their computers for a single time (to perform an initial backup). The device performs the following backups automatically through 802.11n wireless, without it being connected to any computer.

Clickfree's Backuplink technology handles all backup procedures.

It also allows users to easily upload, email or burn to CD/DVD their photo files, and can archive iPod/iPhone music and playlists.

The Clickfree Wireless is currently available in a 500GB model, with larger capacities to be out in Q1 2011.

Go Clickfree Wireless

Intel Goes for Hollywood

04 January 2011 Marco Attard Vendor News

Intel's Sandy Bridge gets approval from an unexpected source-- Hollywood, Reuters reports.

Warner Bros. and other studios will offer HD content to Sandy Bridge users (at the same time as the DVDs are released) as the chips include built-in content protection.

As well as protecting IP, Sandy Bridge should improve multimedia processing, as it unites central and graphics processing on the same silicon-- resulting in faster, more energy efficient and probably more profitable hardware.

Intel says Sandy Bridge chips are even good enough for casual computer gamers, and should make low-end graphics cards obsolete.

Sandy Bridge chips will showcase at-- where else?-- Las Vegas' CES this week.

Go Intel Woos Hollywood Studios with New Microchip

Office Genuine Advantage Program Retires

04 January 2011 Marco Attard Software

MS Office Microsoft shuts down its Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) program, with hardly any sound of announcement.

In fact, the only mention of the program's retirement comes in an error explanation-- whenever a user tries to validate their copy of Office with OGA they get an "Error Code:0x8018111" message.

Clicking the Validate Office button now simply leads to the Windows home page.

However Office still equires online activation through the traditional 25-character product key.

OGA was part of Microsoft's anti-piracy machine, alongside Windows validation, which is still alive and kicking at time of writing.

Go Office Genuine Advantage Program Has Been Retired