A world of change

The Core i5 iMacs are fast, but early benchmarks of the Core i7 model suggest a 35 percent performance boost, even though the upgrade only costs $200 extra. Timon-Royer's telling graph uses results from the Geekbench Website. [Timon-Royer via MacRumors]

Electronista has benchmarked the new Quad Core i5 chips in the new iMac, and comparing his scores to mine, its pretty clear we've got almost 2x some scores in some CPU/memory tests.

Specifically, using his charts and mine, it wasn't hard to recognize the jump in the multithreaded, 64 bit results from geek bench in the categories of integer, floating point and memory streaming tests, as well as the threaded tests. (Memory tests were slightly faster, the others were drastically so.) Interesting, as the Core i5 chip is clocked at 2.66GHz and the Core2Duo iMac I tested runs at 3.06GHz.

(The turbo boost function, which overclocks the Core i5 chip to up to 3.2GHz when running non-multithreaded apps, should be kicking in performance here, too.)

Interesting, but two things to remember: Core i7 chips are coming out for the iMac shortly and will run at 2.8GHz and have hyperthreading so the 4 cores emulate 8. And there are still not many (if any at all) major OS X apps that can take advantage of Snow Leopard's multicore support. [Electronista's tests, Gizmodo's iMac Review]

The average translation system uses a billion words to model a language. Google's uses a few hundred billion English words. Apparently, the way to do translation—crunching millions of passages and human translations—is up Google's alley. Who knew? [NYT]

Seen back in January at CES, the 17.5mm thick LG X300 netbook's formally been announced as going on sale this month to our South American, Asian and Middle Eastern friends. It's worth considering if you're wanting a Windows 7 netbook.

Cast your mind back a few months, and you'll recall it caused quite a storm due to its slinky size. Its 11.6-inch LCD screen doesn't have much of a bezel to speak of, and the chiclet tiled keyboard is close to full-size. Check the press release below for the full story on the Dell Adamo-like netbook. (I say Dell Adamo rather than the MacBook Air, due to how square and tray-like it is). [LG]

LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, today announced the launch of the LG X300, the ultra-thin premium mobile PC. Its sleek and stylish look wowed the visitors at CES 2010 in Las Vegas.

"Given how demanding and discerning consumers are nowadays, we were delighted to receive such acclaim from the public and media at the CES for our new mobile PC," said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "It's a vindication of LG's efforts to maintain the very highest standards in design without any sacrifices in high-tech or functionality, and ensure our consumers' experiences with LG PCs just keep getting better."

The LG X300, LG's new flagship mobile computing device for 2010, tips the scales at a mere 970g and is only 17.5mm thick for the ultimate in portability.

What's more, the LG X300 boasts an array of enticing design features. The sleek but wide 11.6-inch LCD screen maximizes the viewing area by eschewing a bezel. Also, its unique reflective keyboard and borderless touchpad add further elegance to this premium mobile PC. To offer the complete package for the most style-conscious users, the LG X300 comes in two colors, shiny white and light brown.

Fitted with a 2.0 GHz Intel Menlow platform with up to 2GB memory and 128GB SSD, the LG X300 runs Windows 7 Home Premium OS and ships with a spare 2-cell battery to provide up to seven hours of use. Thanks to its fan-less, silent operation, the portable PC is also extremely quiet to run, while the LG Smart Pack – LG's smartest software suite for PC users – ensures the LG X300 is easy to use, even for novices.

The LG X300 packs multimedia features including a 1.3-megapixel webcam with a You-Cam viewer, and SRS TruSurround HD sound. And thanks to an embedded 3G modem chipset, users can easily get online via GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, or HSDPA networks.

The LG X300 will be available in Asia starting in March, followed by the Middle East and South America. Prices will vary country-to-country and will be announced separately in each market.

Whoa, a Microsoft employee just published details on Windows 8 on their blog, claiming it will be "completly different from what folks usually expect of Windows," [sic] and that internally, they're calling it "Windows.next."

Shown above is a leaked Windows server roadmap from last year, that marks 2012 as being the year of a "major release," with "codename - Windows 8" mentioned. The employee spoke on the blog about the codename:

"So how am I referring to the next version of Windows without saying that many words – well simple – Windows.next:) This is definitely not the official version but a version that is becoming common along my circle"

On what to expect:

"The minimum that folks can take for granted is that the next version will be something completly [sic] different from what folks usually expect of Windows – I am simply impressed with the process that Steven has setup to listen to our customers needs and wants and get a team together than can make it happen. To actually bring together dozens and dozens of teams across Microsoft to come up with a vision for Windows.next is a process that is surreal! The themes that have been floated truly reflect what people have been looking for years and it will change the way people think about PCs and the way they use them. It is the future of PCs… "

We already knew Microsoft would be shifting its attention to Windows 8 this July, so while this latest slip-up doesn't elucidate much, at least we can mull over what the employee means by a "completly different" Windows. Does he mean it won't have a built-in spellchecker? [ MSDN via Microsoft Kitchen via SlashGear]

Continue reading Physicists calculate the end of Moore's Law, clearly don't believe in Moore's Law

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Science

Physicists calculate the end of Moore's Law, clearly don't believe in Moore's Law originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nevermind the war against viruses—they'll kill each other before we even update AVG. A Russian Trojan horse program, known as Spy Eye, has stolen data from its competitor Zeus, and replaced PC infections with its own botnet-badness.

It's still a lose-lose situation for anyone with an infected computer, with one botnet being replaced with another, but it's pretty unheard of for one to take on another like this. Spy Eye's campaign against the bigger, badder Zeus is called "Kill Zeus," and while it doesn't feature Uma Thurman in a slinky yellow jumpsuit, it will be sold to online crims who access your online bank details and any money it can find in your accounts, with Spy Eye going for around $500 to each person. [ComputerWorld]

Image Credit: Joffley

An Intel Atom D510 1.6GHz processor and NM10 Express chipset are combined with an Nvidia GT218 graphics card, and connections-wise there's five USB ports, VGA out, a LAN port, memory card reader and of course the HDMI-output. Inside, there's a 2.5-inch HDD—though at what capacity it hasn't been said yet—and an optical drive. Shuttle will put it up for grabs sometime in the next couple of months, though for how much it's your guess. [Shuttle via SlashGear]