Shawn Oliver
Opinions and content posted by HotHardware contributors are their own.
Recent posts
Although Nokia isn't the hippest brand in America -- in large part due to its reliance on unlocked sales rather than subsidized sales like with the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm -- it does have one differentiator that sets it apart from the competition: "Comes With Music." Said service launched in the UK just months ago, and generally speaking,...
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Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Just months after sat radio powerhouses Sirius and XM merged, the singular entity is teetering on collapse. The company (and formerly, companies) have always been pretty strapped for cash, but it appears that its leverage has almost expired. According to a recent report from the Associated Press, it's expected...
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It's like a boy taking the training wheels off for the first time. Or a young lady going on her first date. Or a senior heading off to college. So far as we can tell, this is Twitter's coming of age party. Yep -- after receiving a very generous $250 million valuation late last month, the microblogging phenomenon has locked down even more capital.In...
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It's a sad day, friends. Or, a happy day, if you're a devout supporter of AMIMON's WHDI technology. For those who have been following the ultra-wideband protocol -- which was sparsely used in a variety of wireless HD and wireless peripheral-related products -- you'd know that TZero was pretty much the only company still keeping it alive. Late...
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If you're into SSD advancement, International Solid State Circuits Conference 2009 is the place to be. Shortly after hearing of a new power system designed to save energy and cut production costs comes this, a discovery involving wireless communications and a solid state drive composed of 64 (yes, sixty-four) three-dimensionally layered NAND...
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QNAP just revealed its Atom-powered TS-439 Pro Turbo NAS to us last week, and already the company's hitting back with yet another new one in the TS Series. The TS-809 Pro comes stocked with a potent Core 2 Duo processor and eight bays to hold upwards of 16TB of storage. Hailed as an enterprise-grade device, this high performance and high volume...
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Just a week after CyberPower introduced its own line of Dragon-based gaming PCs comes this clip from IBuyPower. The custom gaming machine maker has just announced two new Dragon-based systems, both of which include AMD's latest Phenom II processors, the 790GX Crossfire chipset and ATI's Radeon 4000 series graphics cards. The new machines go...
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We're beginning to wonder who isn't innovating on the flash memory front this month. First was SanDisk, then Micron, and now Samsung. If not for Spansion Japan filing for bankruptcy, it too would likely have something to share. Announced today, Samsung has begun mass producing GDDR5 graphics memory using 50-nanometer class process technology....
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We sure have seen a lot of advancements in the NAND Flash realm announced of late, and we suspect much of that has to do with the 2009 edition of the International Solid State Circuits Conference. The University of Tokyo and its partners unveiled a new power supply system for SSDs at that very conference, which promises to not only lower power...
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Intel seemed pretty jovial when it locked itself into a WiMAX-based future with a smattering of partners last year, and despite everything that has happened in the industry (and the economy) since, the company is still pretty elated about the whole deal. Publicly, at least. After talking up its 32 nanometer processing technology this week,...
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With Mobile World Congress just around the corner, not to mention rival SanDisk pumping out a few self-flattering press releases regarding NAND memory earlier this week, Micron has dropped a bomb of new information in the mobile memory space.For starters, Micron is introducing a suite of NAND software solutions for mobile handset designers...
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CyberPower's on a serious roll of late, as just days after its Dragon series was introduced, the company is serving up its Gamer Infinity 9515 for those intent on finding a good deal. As the economy forces gamers to take a more serious look at their budget, CyberPower is hoping that this Intel-based desktop will hit the sweet spot between...
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We know -- huge shock, right? As with the GPU market right now, the CPU market is also struggling, and a recent report from research firm IDC suggests that it'll continue to do so throughout the first half of 2009. With both Intel and AMD reeling from tough Q4s, it wouldn't take a full blown report for the layperson to assume that chip demand...
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Consumers generally don't have to setup or tweak router settings but once or twice a year, if that. But for those who find themselves locked into WLAN GUIs for work or pleasure with any semblance of regularity, you'll understand just how wonderful it is to see someone working on a better way. ASUS has recently introduced its EZ UI, which it's...
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We heard this compatibility was coming way back at NVISION 08, and at long last, it has finally happened. Today, Intel Corporation has licensed NVIDIA SLI technology for inclusion on the DX58SO motherboard for the Core i7 processor, which means that consumers waiting to pull the trigger on an Intel X58-based motherboard, Core i7 CPU and four...
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This deal has been spinning on the back burner for years now, but unfortunately for AMD, the whole thing is going to be drawn out just a wee bit longer. If you'll recall, AMD had struck a number of deals that would essentially enable it to spinoff its manufacturing plants. Agreements had been made that would see Advanced Technology Investment,...
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Earlier this month, ASUS became the first PC maker to ship a laptop with Intel's latest Atom (N280) within. Now, the company is becoming the first to introduce a notebook with NVIDIA's GeForce GT 120M graphics processor. The 14-inch N81Vg is equipped with a LED-backlit display and is available with an array of Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs.Further...
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Considering just how sluggish GPU sales have been and are expected to be throughout the first half of 2009, it makes sense to see ZOTAC aiming low. NVIDIA's GeForce 9400GT is far from being the most powerful card on the block, but it's close to being the cheapest acceptable one on the market today. To that end, ZOTAC is introducing today its...
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You may have never heard of Spansion, but we'd be willing to wager that you've heard of Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices. As it turns out, Spansion was jointly set up by AMD and Fujitsu, who own 8.7 percent and 11.4 percent of the company, respectively. Also of note, Spansion is the world's largest maker of NOR-type flash memory with a market...
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We've always heard that the best way out of recession is to innovate through it, and it looks like Intel has heard that very same message. Amidst economic turmoil that led to sharply decreased sales (down 23 percent) and net income (down 90 percent) during Q4 2008, Intel is determined to continue its tradition of innovation in order to be...
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Generally speaking, all solid state drives are pretty rugged. Or, at least they're designed to withstand more severe shock and vibration than rivaling hard disk drives. But even in the SSD space, there's a need for drives that can operate under extreme conditions, and that's exactly where Trident Space & Defense comes in.Said outfit will...
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Apple has its iMac, Dell has its XPS One and MSI has its Wind NetOn AP1900. You heard right -- MSI is jumping feet first into the all-in-one PC game, strategically adding the "Wind" moniker that has served it so well in the netbook arena. And we must say, the design here isn't all that bad considering that it's MSI's first shot at getting...
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