twist and bend to enter data

After touch screens and

voice input, Microsoft’s

researchers have demonstrated

a new input system for portable

devices. Users can push, pull,

twist, swing or bend the devices

to go document pages, minimize

a window or play a game. Rather

than rubber gadgets with new

displays and components, flexible

parts of the housing of future

devices could use pressure

sensors. Microsoft considers it a

complement to multi-touch and

motion input systems.

Graphics War

The latest volleys have been fired in a

war that could be seen as a positive

for consumers. Both Nvida and AMD have

released their latest graphics processing

unit (GPU) architectures in the same week,

and the timings were far from coincidental.

Nvidia launched its GT200 series GPUs

on June 16, once again staking claim to the

title of the world’s fastest graphics card.

However, this comes just months after the

launch of its previous flagship series, the

9800GTX and its dual-chip 9800GX2 variant.

Customers who would have paid Rs 40,000

and above for cards based on these GPUs

will no doubt be furious.

Only a few days later, AMD announced

the RV770 series, with a midrange card, the

Radeon HD 4850. Even though this is not

the top-end model, initial benchmarks have

shown it defeating Nvidia’s previous flagship,

the 9800GTX, fairly consistently while

generally drawing less power and requiring

less cooling. That too for a price of $200 (less

than Rs 10,000)!

Not to be outdone, Nvidia has dropped

the price of the 9800GTX to match AMD,

and announced a 9800GTX+ which will use a

shrunken die and run at higher clock speeds

to compete with the AMD card. The new

9800GTX+ looks like it will perform slightly

better for slightly more money.

But the war isn’t over yet—enthusiasts

still have the high-end Radeon HD 4870 and

a rumored dual-GPU 4870X2, to look forward

to. Stay tuned to CHIP for the latest reviews

as soon as cards with these new GPUs

launch in India.

Major waves of spam

Researchers at Secure Computing have released

a report on six major waves of spam that hit inboxes around the

world last month:

Phishing Attacks - Asking users to type personal details

into a website that is fraudulently designed to look like a bank or

other service provider. 

Fashion Spam - Attempting to sell knockoff luxury goods

including designer clothing, watches and perfumes from

brands including Bally, Boss, Burberry, and Chloe.

Loan Spam - Luring people with promises of financial

freedom, often using the fear of a looming economic slowdown.

Penny Stocks with Nearly Legitimate Acronyms - Trying to influence the stock markets by

creating false hype, also known as "pump and dump" scams.

Stock will be purchased by the spammers prior to an email

campaign. When talking about a 3 cent stock, even 4 or 5 cents

could be a significant increase in capital. The stock is then

dumped at its higher price.

Win a BlackBerry - Promising a free BlackBerry. Spammers are

notorious for driving their victims to a hacked site by exploiting

natural greed.

False Headlines - Employing shock value to lure someone

to click a link which only offers up a Trojan. These headlines

include rumors of abuse in Iraq, corruption and sex scandals in

local governments and colleges.

Windows 7

The successor to Vista which is being

developed under the codename “Vienna” is

expected to come out in January 2010. It will

most probably have a completely overhauled

installation routine, which will complete

the process in 10 minutes and use a more

graphical interface. A modular Windows

kernel (MinWin) is being developed, and

should allow for more stability. The new

WinFS file system should be a part of Vienna

as well. A multi-touch interface has already

been demonstrated, and will almost definitely

be a part of the final release.

On the applications front, Vienna will

include Internet Explorer 9, Media Player 12,

and much greater integration with Windows

Live online services.

Digital sports helper

Nike has launched the Nike+ SportBand,

a new way for runners to join the Nike+

community of athletes who already instant

performance information and real-time

feedback during a run using the Nike+ iPod

Sport Kit. The Nike+ SportBand monitors

your steps while running, and you can

check your time, pace, distance and

calories burned at a glance. Having this

information at arm’s length allows runners

to gauge their current performance

and push themselves to higher levels.

The Nike+ SportBand is designed to

maximize the display screen’s visibility.

Run information is stored and displayed

in a detachable USB link that receives

data from a sensor located in the runner’s

Nike+ enabled footwear. After the run, log

in to www.nikeplus.com to upload run

data and track progress as part of the

dynamic Nike+ community, whose

members have already run over

40,000,000 miles, logged over

12,000,000 and issued

over 300,000 challenges.

Back to the future with hybrid LCD and CRT technology

Sony has been trying to combine the

technology of old-school tube TVs

with the advantages of current-day LCDs

for almost ten years—and its efforts have

finally paid off. Field Emission Displays

(FEDs) externally resemble slim LCD display

panels, but work much like cathode-ray tube

devices with electron beams that meet on a

fluorescent screen.

The advantages? Pictures have brilliant

color clarity, blacks are deeper than ever, and

refresh rates are no problem anymore. The

contrast and brightness are far better than

what can be achieved with today's LCD or

plasma screens. And if those aren’t enough

reasons to be encouraged, FED devices

promise to consume less power.

According to the Japanese media, a

company called Field Emission Technologies

Inc, which is affiliated to Sony, will introduce

the first 29-inch FED TV as a high-end

offering for TV studios and other media

production facilities by the end of 2009.

Large TVs for home theatres will follow

shortly thereafter, hopefully at reasonably

affordable prices.

Flash websites to be searchable

Google, Yahoo and other

search engines will

soon be able to index the

dynamic contents of Flash

websites and display their

contents in their lists of

results. Search engines have so far only been

able to track static text and links in container

pages behind the rich, interactive SWF files,

making information contained within them

difficult to find. Now, Adobe has announced

a tie-up with search engine companies to

develop methods of searching through Flash

files. The company will provide Google and

Yahoo with optimized Flash players that can

reveal and index text and web links from each

frame of a Flash animation. The move should

increase the number of websites which use

Flash and other rich content, as designers

become less apprehensive about their content

not being searchable.

Nvidia chips failing

Nvidia has announced that high temperatures could result in the failure

of certain graphics cards which use specific GPUs, particularly the laptop versions of

its G84 and G86 silicone. The problem has been traced to inferior material in the GPU

housing, which could develop cracks under

certain conditions. Nvidia is already expecting claim

settlements to amount to $200 million, although the failures might become apparent only in the future. Rumors following the official announcement have suggested that the problem affects many

more desktop and mobile GPUs, although Nvidia has not acknowledged this. BIOS and

driver updates for cards with the chips that have been declared defective could help heat

management by increasing fan sppeds, thus prolonging the cards' lifespans.

The notebook which has set a new trend in mobile computing

The latest from the Lenovo stable the Lenovo S10 notebooks is the talk of the town . This Notebook or nettbook comes loaded with features at an unbelievable price tag. This laptop comes with intel's atom processors which are smaller in size and consume less power, the minus point is that it is a bit slower than the core 2duo processors from Intel. This laptop weighs under 1 kg which makes it easier to carry. It comes bundled with a reversible pouch which is trendy but can only hold the laptop. This one comes bundled with 1.3 megapixel camera which is a first of its kind in a netbook, 3 cell battery which can keep your work going on for upto 3 hours. This lenovo laptop just looks too good ,its slim lines and solid finish makes it look like a costlier laptop.

The final verdict is that if you already have a laptop and you are a frequent traveller who is looking for a real notebook , then your choice should be this laptop.