NVIDIA Interview, Shader Model 3.0 Info & Other Goodness

Good afternoon HotHardware fans!  How are you all doing today?  I take it your weekends were good!  We've been getting some nagging rain for the past few days here in New York, but other than that things are going well for the HH crew (at least those of us based in the northeast!).  Rob is back from his Honeymoon, Jeff is just about ready to jump in the Ryder truck and move to North Carolina, and Dave, Tom, Jay and I are all cranking along with some new hardware.  Expect some new articles from us real soon.  For now though, let's see what's been going on around the web...

 TR interviews NVIDIA's Tony Tamasi:

"AS NVIDIA'S VICE PRESIDENT OF Technical Marketing, Tony Tamasi is more than just a marketing guy. He listens to customer feedback, helps define product specs, and then once the products are ready to roll, he acts as NVIDIA's liaison and chief technical evangelist to the rest of the world. As you might imagine, he's had his hands full with the launch of the GeForce 6 series of GPUs, but he was kind enough to take time and answer some of our questions about NVIDIA's impressive new graphics processors. Among the subjects discussed are pricing and availability for the GeForce 6800 family, the uses of Shader Model 3.0 for real-time apps and games, the NV40 architecture, and some intriguing clarifications about those Far Cry screen shots that recently hit the web."

 Shader Model 3.0 Explored @ [H]ard|OCP:

"NVIDIA recently released screen shots to the media using the FarCry engine that exclaim to show the advantages of using Shader Model 3.0 in a game. For those of you that don't know, the FarCry game engine looks like it will be one of the first 3D retail game engines to support Shader Model 3.0, aka "SM3.0" Why is this important to you and why would NVIDIA be pointing this out when there are no games that utilize SM3.0?

The same answer to both questions is a simple one; marketing. NVIDIA's new NV40 technology, used in their GeForce Series 6 GPUs, will have support for SM3.0 and it is heavily rumored that ATI's next-gen technology will not support SM3.0. As any good marketing department does, they help sell their product based on features that the competition does not have. Will this truly mean anything to the gamer though?"

 Samsung ML-1750 Monochrome Laser Printer @ Bytesector.com:

"I think Samsung has thrown out more products into production than any other manufacturer recently. Why do I say that? Look around, I see Samsung everywhere! I find more Samsung products in stores compared to any other brand. It seems Samsung is working towards dominating the computer industry, and why not? They have great products. One that we will be looking at today is the Samsung ML-1750 monochrome laser printer. Unlike previous models we have reviewed, this is not a multi-purpose device. It is meant to print at 17ppm and is relatively small."

 Full Frame MPEG2 USB2.0 Hardware Capture Device @ HTPCNews:

"Adding PVR abilities to your PC has never been easier than this. The Hauppauge WinTV PVR USB2 offers the recording quality of the PVR-250 lineup in an easy USB 2.0 plug and play device. This unit features the same Hardware encoding abilities used in the PVR-250 which allow for near zero CPU usage while recording full frame MPEG2 files. This unit also combines the features of the PVR-250 and the PVR-250MCE into one simple box for those of you who want both the FM radio and the IR Remote control."

 Designtechnica Reviews the APC Biometric Password Manager:

"Nicknamed the Biopod, APC?s Biometric Password Manager is a small USB-powered fingerprint scanner that allows you to control access to your computer and other password protected systems, applications, and Web sites, without having to type in a password.

AuthenTec, Inc., a leading manufacturer of biometric fingerprint sensors, provides the TruePrint fingerprint scanner and the software used is OmniPass by Softex Inc. Compatible with all versions of Microsoft Windows since Windows 98, the Biopod also supports the Fast User Switching capability of Windows XP."

 Soltek Qbic EQ3401 P4 SFF System review @ hardCOREware.net:

"Let's face it; Shuttle OWNS the SFF market segment. They were the first ones to make a decent SFF system, then the first to make one that is actually capable of performing up to par with desktops.

The rest of the motherboard manufacturers aren't going to just sit back and watch Shuttle succeed! They want to get in on the action! The latest member of the SFF party is Soltek. Today we're looking at their Pentium 4 solution; the Qbic EQ3401. What kind of improvements did Soltek make to set themselves apart from the rest?"

 Review of the Insight Solutions Mini-ITX P4-ITX Motherboard @ WhiningDog:

"The P4-ITX is a good first generation motherboard that delivers on the promise of bringing the Pentium 4 processor to the Mini-ITX form factor. If you've been thinking about using the Mini-ITX form factor ? the P4-ITX is a great alternative to the VIA EPIA line of motherboards."

 Samsung SyncMaster 213T (21.3in LCD) @ Bjorn3D:

"In the market for a huge LCD screen that looks great and performs well? Then you might want to consider Samsung's enormous SyncMaster 213T, 21.3 inches of LCD beauty that performs quite admirably even while gaming."

 Lian Li PC-V1000 @ AMD Review:

"This case was originally spotted on The Inquirer, and it was noted in our news section during the CeBit show. Remember folks, the case is an ATX, Advanced Technology Extended, form factor case that has a future look of the new format, BTX, Balanced Technology Extended. Today, we will look at the PC-V1000, the smaller version seen in the CeBit show."

 Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 SATA HDD Review @ myWORLD Hardware:

"The Hitachi Desktar 7K250 SATA drive has impressed us with its impressive performance. From the benchmarks, the 7K250 was able to pose some real competition to the reigning Seagate Barracuda 7200.7. Although the Deskstar had changed owners, its lead in performance remains unchanged."

 Bytecc ME-740 Aluminum External Enclosure Review @ 3DX:

"In this business there are some accessories that folks just need. This is one of them. The Bytecc ME-740 can support up to a 300 GB IDE Hard Drive. Imagine 300 GB of mobile storage for connecting to a PC, Laptop or customer?s PC at any time. Techies doing home repair would love a toy like this."

That's all I've got for now brothers and sisters, but something tells me that'll be enough to keep you busy for a while!  If anything exciting happens later, I'll definitely be back.  Be cool...