Barthos Computers Blog

TDK is expanding its family of solid state disk (SSD) drives with a microSATA version that will be available with 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB of capacity. Don’t expect a lot of performance or a low price, but these drives promise enough reliability for 10 years of read/write cycles and are small enough to fit into compact handheld devices such as MP3 players and MIDs.

The SSD HS1 series is TDK’s first product that comes out of a joint-venture with PQI, one of the first companies that have presented consumer-targeted solid state disk drives about three years ago. What makes this new series special is its size and the fact that it is based on the 1.8? microSATA specification, which defines the currently smallest SSD devices with a SATA interface.

The first company to announce a microSATA SSD was PNY, which said last year that it would be offering such drives with capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB by the third quarter of last year. We don?t know whether those drives actually became available, but as of today we are not aware of any U.S. retailer carrying these drives.

TDK?s drives use a SATA Gen1 1.5 Gb/s interface, which limits the performance of the drive at a lower level by default. According to the manufacturer, the HS1 series achieves a 100 MB/s burst read and 50 MB/s burst write performance. Samsung recently announced SSDs that offer more than twice the speed.

However, TDK claims that its drives are extremely reliable, integrating a 128-bit AES internal security system encrypts data for storage in the flash memory without reducing data transmission speeds within the SSD controller as well as the capability to detect errors up to seven bits in 512 bytes. According to TDK the drive supports 10 years of rewrites.

At least sample prices of these drives remain in a stratospheric range. TDK is selling the 64 GB version for $2000, the 32 GB model for $1500 and the 16 GB unit for $900.

Source TGDaily.com

The company announced the new drive earlier today at the Samsung Mobile Solution Forum in Taipei and told attendees that it will be charging ahead with its SSD drive technology and put this new 256 GB model in 1.8″ and 2.5″ version into mass production by year-end.

The drive is based on the company’s multi-level cell (MLC) and will be equipped with a SATA II interface. Samsung promises that the 2.5″ version, which is just 9.5 mm thick, will hit data read rates of 200 MB/s and sequential read rates of 160 MB/s. WD?s 300 GB Velociraptor 3.5″ hard drive, considered the fastest traditional hard drive on the market today, was benchmarked by major hardware review sites and achieved data read and write rates of just over 100 MB/s.

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Redmond (WA) - Microsoft announced that it will extend the file format range supported by its Office 2007 package. ODF 1.1, PDF 1.5 and XPS will be added with the next service pack, but the integration of Microsoft?s own and recently standardized Office Open XML will be delayed until Office 14.

Microsoft appears to be following through with its “interoperability principles” and today announced that it will be adding support for XML Paper Specification format (XPS), Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.5, PDF/A and Open Document Format (ODF) v1.1 to Office 2007. The added functionality is scheduled to arrive in 2009 as part of the Office 2007 SP2 update.

Surprisingly, Microsoft’s Office Open XML (OOXML) format, recently approved as Standard ISO/IEC 29500, will not make it into the SP2. While the format is already “substantially” supported in Office 2007, there are differences over IS29500 - and these changes will not be implemented until the release of Office 2014. This completely new Office package is expected to be released in tandem with Windows 7, which is rumored to be released in late 2009 or early 2010.

ODF support has been available to Office users via a format bridge, which Microsoft provided through its Open XML-ODF translator project on SourceForge.net. The company said it will continue this effort to provide ODF support for users of earlier versions of Office XP and Office 2003.

As part of its decision to integrate ODF support into its software, Microsoft will join the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) technical committee, which is working on the next version of ODF. The company said it will also take part in the ISO/IEC working group being formed to work on ODF maintenance.

Source: tgdaily.com

Adobe’s Flash Player 10 is nearing its official release date as a public beta is now available for download from Adobe Labs for Windows, OS X and Linux. Some of the noted additions to Flash Player 10 is the support for 3D rendering effects, Adobe Pixel Blender Filters, new drawing APIs and a new text rendering engine.

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Montreal (Canada) - This should come as no surprise to TG Daily readers: Ubisoft has released the v1.02 patch for its Assassin’s Creed tile. The patch removes support for DirectX 10.1.

In an article posted by our colleagues at Tech Report, Ubisoft tech lead Charles states that support for DirectX 10.1 was removed to increase the performance of the game. According to Beauchemin, there is no impact on visual quality. This somewhat contradicts previous statements, but, of course, you can draw your own conclusion.

Here is a list of fixes that is included with the 1.02 patch:

- Fixed a rare crash while riding the horse in Kingdom
- Fixed a corruption of Altair’s robe on certain graphics hardware
- Cursor is now centered when accessing the Map
- Fixed a few problems with Alt-Tab
- Fixed a graphical bug in the final fight
- Fixed a few graphical problems with dead bodies
- Fixed pixellation with post-FX enabled on certain graphics hardware
- Fixed a small bug in the DNA Menu that would cause the image to disappear if the arrow was clicked rapidly
- Fixed some graphical corruption in Present Room with low Level Of Detail
- Character input is now cancelled if the controller is unplugged while moving
- Added support for x64 versions of Windows
- Fixed broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards

The removal of support for the DirectX 10.1 API is described as “fixed broken post-effects on DirectX 10.1 enabled cards.” The patch also comes with a carrot that I personally have to take, as I am not running 32-bit Vista, only 64-bit versions.

Following our most recent article on this topic, some readers have voiced concerns of a possible bias against Nvidia, which actually prompts me to reveal that I am running both platforms and this game

on Core 2 machines with Nvidia hardware under 64-bit Vista. I do have to note that I have mixed feelings about the fact that I paid 50 Euro (about $75) for a game that is now removing a feature highlighted on the box and there is no specific date given when this feature will return.

In addition to its GPU production, AMD is planning to also outsource CPU production to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) in the second half of this year, according to industry sources. Although Hector Ruiz, CEO of AMD did not mention any plans to outsource production during the company’s recent investors conference, the industry sources revealed that TSMC has already started testing procedures for a SOI manufacturing process in order to land manufacturing orders for AMD’s Fusion CPUs.

More here at Digitimes …

Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification issued: May 8, 2008
Microsoft Security Bulletins to be issued: May 13, 2008

This is an advance notification of security bulletins that Microsoft is intending to release on May 13, 2008.

This bulletin advance notification will be replaced with the May bulletin summary on May 13, 2008. For more information about the bulletin advance notification service, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification.

To receive automatic notifications whenever Microsoft Security Bulletins are issued, subscribe to Microsoft Technical Security Notifications.

Microsoft will host a webcast to address customer questions on these bulletins on May 14, 2008, at 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada). Register now for the May Security Bulletin Webcast. After this date, this webcast is available on-demand. For more information, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Summaries and Webcasts.

Microsoft also provides information to help customers prioritize monthly security updates with any non-security, high-priority updates that are being released on the same day as the monthly security updates. Please see the section, Other Information.

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Taipei (Taiwan) - The vision of upgradeable graphic cards goes back to the late 1990s, when Micron Technology was experimenting with removable sockets. In 2006, both MSI and Gigabyte showcased upgradeable graphic cards, but their concepts, which were based on GeForce Go MXM boards, never took off. Earlier this year, Asus introduced a single board with three MXM slots for ATI Mobility Radeon 3850 or 3870 cards (upgradeable with future parts), and has now unveiled its single-MXM product.

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Windows PowerShell V2 CTP2 introduces several significant features to Windows PowerShell 1.0 and Windows PowerShell V2 CTP that extends its use, improves its usability, and allows you to control and manage the Windows environment more easily and comprehensively.

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The data speaks for itself. At the top of the list is Windows Vista 64-bit, while at the bottom is XP SP2. In the middle we have XP RTM, XP SP3, Vista 32-bit RTM and Vista 32-bit SP1 fighting it out. However, benchmarks scores such as Passmark don’t translate well into real world performance indicators. Later on today I’ll publish my gaming benchmark results which will pick up on a post I made in February. Stay tuned!

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