Crave

Dear PC Industry:

During the past two weeks we've tested three desktops with ambitiously overclocked Intel Core i7 920 chips. Two of those have failed Prime95, a publicly available benchmark designed to test CPU stability. One desktop last week blue-screened within two minutes of a Prime95 run. This afternoon, a PC that came overclocked to 3.73GHz throttled down to 2.4GHz (below the 2.66GHz stock speed for the 920 chip) after about 10 minutes.

Please overclock with care.

(Credit: Intel)

We've seen the Core i7 920 chip overclocked successfully. A chip bumped up to 3.88GHz in a system from AVADirect passed an overnight Prime95 run last week with no throttling, and at reasonable temperatures. That it's possible to squeeze $700 worth of performance from a $250 CPU is exciting for you and for your customers. However, as should be obvious, overclocking a CPU shouldn't come at the expense of system stability.

Call us foolish optimists, but we won't name names of the systems that failed because both of you had plausible explanations. The blue-screened desktop had been shipped multiple times to multiple review outlets. Neither shipping nor reviewing is a particularly gentle process.

The PC that throttled down came with what you told us was an outdated BIOS. You're not selling this PC yet, so we're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. We look forward to trying out the new BIOS you said you'd e-mail us.

So, PC Industry, consider yourself on notice. We weren't too concerned about your previous overclocking attempts that went 10 or 20 percent above stock. Now that you're aspiring to 50 percent performance gains, we're going to require two things:

• You must acknowledge on your Web site that you offer CPU overclocking, and that the speeds you can achieve will vary from chip to chip. Most of you already do this.
• Your overclocked PC must be stable enough to survive a 24-hour run of Prime95 in our lab.

If you fail to declare that you overclock and the limits thereof on your Web site, we will decline to review your PC above its stock component settings. If you send it to us anyway, we can send it back or clock it down, your call. We'll take failure to complete Prime95 on a case-by-case basis. Repeated failure will very likely result in a public reprimand.

We're happy to answer any questions you might have, and we know you can sell overclocked PCs responsibly.

Good luck,
CNET

Getting chippy: Some bloggers think that the iPod Shuffle's accessory situation is a nightmare scenario for iPod fans.

(Credit: CNET)

In not-so-shocking news, iLounge is reporting that third-party headphones and headphone adapters for the new buttonless iPod Shuffle will require an Apple-licensed authentication chip.

This doesn't come as any great surprise to us because exacting licensing revenue from iPod accessory makers has become a brilliant way for Apple to add to the company's bottom line. But that "Apple tax," so to speak, does get passed on to consumers, and iLounge and others are now assuming that Apple headphone adapters will cost a minimum of $19 and possibly as much as $29. The handful of VoiceOver-compatible headphones that have been announced carry a starting price of $49.99.

The question, of course, is whether Apple has gone too far in requiring you to use only its headphones--or some sort of Apple-approved adapter or headphones for the device. (You can plug third-party headphones into the new Shuffle, and it will play music, but you can't control the volume or navigate songs).

iLounge is calling it a "nightmare scenario" for longtime iPod fans. "Are we entering a world in which Apple controls and taxes literally every piece of the iPod purchase, from headphones to chargers, jacking up their prices, forcing customers to repurchase things they already own, while making only marginal improvements in their functionality?" iLounge Editor in Chief Jeremy Horwitz asks in his review of the new iPod Shuffle. "It's a shame, and one that consumers should feel empowered to fight."

Meanwhile, over at Engadget, Nilay Patel is calling Apple's attempts to "lock down headphones" a sad new low that "makes the lack of physical controls on the Shuffle seem even more ridiculous."

What do you guys think? If the report is correct, is Apple going too far, or is this just a smart business move?

(Source: iLounge via Engadget)

Update: Gizmodo's posted a story going back and forth on whether the chip is an "authentication" chip or a "control" chip that's required for approval as part of Apple's "made for iPod program." It appears "control" is the correct description, but that hasn't been confirmed by Apple.

Updated at 9:15 a.m. PST with official comment from Intel.

Bit-tech.net tipped us off Wednesday morning that Intel has sued Nvidia over the latter's right to create and sell motherboard chipsets that support Intel's Nehalem (aka Core i7) class of desktop processors.

We haven't heard much about this fight since May 2008, although since that time Nehalem has come to market and Intel remains the only manufacturer with a supporting chipset.

We spoke to Derek Perez, Nvidia's head of public relations, Wednesday morning, and he provided some clarity on the nature of the court filing, as well as Nvidia's take on the filing, which he says is actually a request for an injunction to prevent Nvidia from manufacturing a Nehalem chipset.

"We have a cross-licensing agreement with Intel, entered into about four and a half years ago. Intel is now basically saying the cross-license agreement doesn't apply to future bus interfaces, specifically DMI, (the direct media interface Intel uses to link the Nehalem CPU to a system's memory, a new feature for Nehalem chipsets). Intel has now filed an injunction against us, basically trying to stop us from innovating on DMI.

Netbooks using ARM's next-generation processor architecture will be announced soon, according to a senior executive at the company.

Rob Coombs, director of mobile solutions at the U.K. processor design company, told ZDNet UK on Wednesday that Cortex-A8- and Cortex-A9-based application processors would find their way not only into smartphones--as with most ARM architecture--but also into small, low-cost subnotebooks.

"In the future, we're going to be in Netbooks," Coombs said. "Expect announcements in the next few months."

(Credit: Omnivision)

A couple of weeks back, we reported on Omnivision's new CMOS camera sensor, which promised improved sensitivity in low-light shots. By rearranging the layers in the sensor, engineers were able to shift the light-sensitive diodes to the surface. This not only boosted sensitivity, but also slimmed down the device.

Now Sony has announced its development of a similar chip that works on the same basis as Omnivision's technology. The company also mentioned that the development was in-house and that there was no involvement with the Californian company.

Much to our surprise, Omnivision's take on this was quite nonchalant. It said a lot of companies have been trying to work on this technology for the past decade, and it was no surprise that Sony had managed to conceive its own backside-illuminated sensor.

According to Gizmodo, Sony is planning to implement the new sensor in its latest cameras soon. We wonder if the much-rumored full-frame Alpha 900 will be one of them, though we'll find out soon enough during Photokina in September.

(Source: Crave Asia)

Chip designer Via Technologies unveiled its OpenBook Mini-Note reference design on Monday, in a move that throws some open source into its core business of developing chips for mobile devices.

The OpenBook design aims to aid PC makers in creating ultra-small notebooks based on Via's Ultra Mobility Platform. Last year, the company trotted out its Via NanoBook reference design, a prototype designed to compete against rivals in the small-computer market but at a lower cost.

"By making the CAD files of the external panels for the OpenBook available for download, Via has simplified design customization. You can now download these open-source files from the (Via) Web site and individualize the look and feel of your OpenBook devices," Via states.

Via, in providing the source files for download, aims to deliver local Wi-Fi, long-range WiMax, and speedy data delivery via 3G mobile connectivity.

With its Via OpenBook design, the Taiwanese company is hoping to ride potential growth in the mini-notebook market, which currently ranks in the small niche category. But as 3G becomes more pervasive and users become more adept using smaller devices to carryout computing and communications functions, demand for mini-notebooks may rise.

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET Networks)

(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET Networks)

Nvidia is hosting a weekend-long party to celebrate the release of Electronic Arts' Crysis, and gamers from around the San Francisco Bay Area are spending all hours competing for prizes and respect in a desolate warehouse at the former Alameda Naval Air Station.

Several hundred gamers are expected to attend and compete in tournaments playing Crysis, Team Fortress 2, and Madden NFL '08. Nvidia also unveiled a new processor for notebooks during the event at the Area 51 Events Center, which included a look at the state of the PC gaming industry.

For gamers who run out of steam, the graphics chipmaker graciously provided comfy air mattresses in a drafty section of the warehouse. Gamers don't sleep much at these events, according to several attendees, and small wonder: The food table served up every imaginable type of caffeinated beverage, as well as unlimited Snickers, Milky Ways, and Hershey bars. For more photos, click here.

The Commodore Gravel MP3 player.

(Credit: Broken Flicker)

Could Commodore's rise out of vintage computer obscurity also mean that we should expect a line of portable media players? I certainly hope so. Apparently Commodore is developing a Wi-Fi equipped PVP called the Gravel In Pocket and a more basic MP3 player called the Gravel C200. The photos are a bit blurry, however, and the Web site doesn't create much trust--but the concept alone holds enough retro '80s gadget magic that I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Guttenberg and Johnny 5 walked up behind me and plopped one on my desk. Let's hope there's native support for C64 chiptunes!

(via Broken Flickr)

(Credit: JVC)

Earlier this year, JVC released the Everio GZ-HD7, an ambitious high-definition hard drive camcorder. Apparently it wasn't quite enough, because JVC just announced a smaller, less expensive follow-up to the HD7, the Everio GZ-HD3.

Strikingly similar to the HD7, the HD3 uses the same 3-chip sensor configuration and the same 60GB hard drive as its bigger brother. Unlike the HD7's 10x Fujinon lens, though, the HD3 uses a new 10x Konica Minolta-branded lens. The HD3 crams all of these neat features into a smaller, lighter body, measuring over an inch shorter and weighing a fifth of a pound less than the HD7. Despite all these benefits, the HD3 does omit two of the HD7's features. It doesn't support the HD7's 1920 x 1080 "FHD," or "full high-definition" mode. While the FHD mode could conceivably produce slightly better video quality than the HD3's various shooting modes, CNET's own Lori Grunin said in her review of the HD7 that, "the FHD and 1440 CBR video looked quite similar to each other." She also noted that the dearth of supporting software for FHD makes it even more difficult to work with than most high-def footage. The HD3 also lacks the HD7's optical image stabilization, instead using an electronic image stabilization system.

The JVC Everio GZ-HD3 ships in September with an estimated retail price of $1300, a full $300 less than the HD7.