AMD has been prolific lately and the next in its line to fall under our spotlight is the dual-core Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition.

As a result of its labours, AMD certainly has a lot of flavours of processor on the market these days, but as a gamer on a budget do you really need anything with more than two cores yet? There’s still a dearth of multithreaded titles out there really taking advantage of the hex-core marvels AMD has recently launched, so you could be forgiven for sacrificing cores for cash.

The lads and lasses at AMD obviously understand that too, since the company’s bolstering its dual-core lineup with another Black Edition CPU, now hitting the 3.3GHz mark. We’ve already seen the Phenom II X2 550 and 555 chips, which managed 3.1GHz and 3.2GHz respectively.

Quite why we need another CPU with such a small incremental increase is rather beyond us. Sure it’s a Black Edition, with all the unlocked multiplier joy that entails, but then so was the 3.1GHz 550. Why push it further?

There’s practically zero difference in performance terms between the two low-end Black Edition Phenom IIs. That’s not surprising, since there’s also little difference between the two architectures. The extra megahertz don’t really give you anything but a small increase in the video encoding score – a score that’s easily bettered by the quad-core Athlon II X4 620.

Video encoding performance
X264 v3 – FPS: higher is better
Phenom II 560BE – 10.9
Phenom II 550BE – 10.4

CPU rendering performance
Cinebench R11.5 – Index: bigger is better
Phenom II 560BE – 1.89
Phenom II 550BE – 1.89

DX10 gaming performance
Just Cause 2 – FPS: higher is better
Phenom II 560BE – 45
Phenom II 550BE – 45

The budget end of the AMD processor spectrum is a tricky one to negotiate – there are a host of CPUs on offer for incredibly low prices.

The Athlon II X4 620 is one of the cheapest quad-core processors you’ll ever see and it’s definitely no slouch at 2.9GHz. For some decent multithreaded application performance, or video tweakery, then the quad is always going to prove a boon over the more remedial dualies.

That said, the lack of decent cache levels means it’s not going to give you any joy in games, which is where the dual-core Phenom IIs really take over. They also give you rather stellar overclocking performance too.

Then there’s the looming spectre of AMD’s core unlocking feature, although that increasingly is looking redundant in the latest chip samples we’ve had a play with. One of our 550s went all the way and unlocked two extra cores giving us a bargainous quad-core, but the other stubbornly refused to. The same happened here with our 560 sample – it just wouldn’t boot with any extra cores unlocked.

So what do you really get for your extra cash if you pick up the 560 over the Phenom II X2 550? Honestly, very little. Despite the new stepping, there’s no change in the power rating of 80W and we could garner no extra overclocking performance out of it either. Both CPUs would happily hit 4GHz on air, but try as we might we couldn’t get a stable clock any higher than that.

At £65, then, the 550 Black Edition looks like a far better bet for those after a budget gaming setup, and that’s easily achievable when twinned with a bargain AMD motherboard. You can also drop more on the motherboard with a view to upgrading your CPU if and when you can afford it thanks to AMD’s single-socket platform.

Which leaves the Phenom II X2 560 a rather unnecessary addition to AMD’s CPU lineup, lacking the multithreaded performance of chips with more cores or any extra overclocking headroom.

We liked
The Phenom II X2 560 is still able to hit 4GHz on air-cooling alone, as long as you’ve got a decent cooler, and the gaming performance isn’t bad for a cheap chip either.

We disliked
The fact that there’s little tangible difference between this newer chip revision and the cheaper dual-core 550 Black Edition makes this processor practically irrelevant.

Verdict
An unnecessary addition to the low-end Phenom II range.

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He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown – Own it on DVD!

Though the Peanuts special likely on everyone’s mind in the month of October is that cartoon mainstay It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Warner Bros Home Video has chosen to favor us with another release this autumn. On September 21st, He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown was re-released as a remastered deluxe edition DVD and bundled with a number of fun extras.

He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown, the fifth prime-time Peanuts special, was the first to shift the focus from Charlie to his lovable, headstrong dog Snoopy. The plot centers on the beagle’s bad behavior and Charlie Brown’s eventual decision to send Snoopy back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for obedience training. Of course since this is Snoopy we’re talking about things don’t exactly go as planned. After an extended and incredibly entertaining stay not at Daisy Hill but at the home of Peppermint Patty (the duration of which Snoopy spends in the fantasy world of his alter ego the WWI Flying Ace), the pup eventually sees the error of his ways. Except where Linus and Lucy are concerned.

He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown isn’t without its problems. The classic sensibility of the Schulz original may fall a tad flat with modern audiences. While it’s nice to have another Peanuts DVD release featuring the delightfully dry delivery of the original voice cast, the fact that most of the dialog involves the kids whining about Snoopy’s behavior seems like a bit of a waste. Speaking of, Snoopy’s not the only ill-behaved character in this outing. Sure, he pulls a lot of pranks and gets into more than a couple of scuffles, but Charlie Brown and company likewise engage in some distasteful behavior, including a bit of animal abuse. Adult viewers will easy see that the kids are only concerned about Snoopy’s well-being because of his skills as a shortstop, but thankfully children enthralled by the antics of these classic characters will likely miss these surly details.

The same can be said for the second-half of this veritable Snoopy double feature – 1980’s Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown. This one sees Snoopy once again abandoning his master, this time to join the circus. The animations style in noticeably more complex than the older features, and it boasts a number of locales, animals and primary players not typically seen in other Peanuts specials. The tale is again tempered with tragedy as Snoopy falls in love with a fellow circus dog, briefly changes his name to “Hugo the Great” as his fame grows and eventually, inevitably gets his poor little puppy heart broken. Alas, we’re treated to some more dog-on-human violence, but more importantly this piece works well with He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown to paint a proper picture of the complex but still absorbing absurdity of the Peanuts universe in general and the Charlie-Snoopy dynamic specifically.

This deluxe edition does a good job of brightening up the video and polishing the audio of both installments with only a few minor shortfalls. The colors are warm and bright throughout, but, while the titular piece easily overcomes the crude recording practices of yesteryear, Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown seems to have intermittent problems with volume leveling. Though still presented in the original aspect ratio, this collection ably cleans up the then-broadcast-standard material for the now more discerning audience.

Sadly, while both Snoopy-centric films still prove quite enjoyable, the selected bonus materials are scant and uninspired. Trailers for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and the LEGO Harry Potter game fail to qualify as “special” by any stretch of the imagination, and the inclusion of multi-language support for both spoken dialog and subtitles is all but expected. The singular standout is the mini documentary Snoopy’s Home on Ice: The Story of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena.

This widescreen presentation tells the story of Charles Schulz’s “second home,” the popular California indoor ice rink that his family opened in 1969. It combines archival footage and photographs with recent interviews with the Schulz family and employees of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, and, though only 20 minutes in length, it reflects Charles’s great love of sports and his dedication to the community of Santa Rosa, California. It certainly proves a fascinating diversion for Peanuts fans and documentary aficionados alike.

The He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown remastered deluxe edition DVD is a bit of a mixed bag. Though a bit rough-and -tumble by today’s standards, the original TV specials presented herein still proved quite enjoyable both to me, an old fan, and to my children, who are only now beginning to grasp the importance of Snoopy and Charlie Brown as characters. Despite some disappointments with regard to the overall supplementary material, Snoopy’s Home on Ice also helps to provide added value to the purchase.

If you’re a diehard Peanuts fan looking to pad your DVD collection or are just hoping to expose your own geeklings to the classic Americana of Schulz (and you don’t mind the occasional pet-punching), He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown is a fairly safe bet. Although, if you fall into the latter category, you might also want to pair it with feature-length film Snoopy Come Home, which includes thematic bleed-over with both the presented specials and also shares a single, if pivotal, scene with Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown.

WIRED: all the classics Peanuts goodness you’d expect, features newly remastered versions of two great primetime specials, bonus mini-doc Snoopy’s Home on Ice: The Story of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena

TIRED: occasional audio issues, showcases a fair measure of violence and an abundance of selfishness on the part of the major Peanuts players

Review materials provided by: Warner Bros Home Video Inc.

Get the inside scoop on WB movie & DVD releases! www.wbreelnews.com

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In the GTX 460 FTW Edition EVGA has managed to create the fastest out-of-the-box GeForce GTX 460 on sale.

We’ve seen many other versions of this fabulous graphics chip, from all the big guns like Asus, MSI and Zotac, and it has been an absolute performance hero across the board. EVGA itself has got several iterations even of just the 768MB version.

Based on the reworked Fermi architecture, the GF 104 GPU powering the GTX 460 is a streamlined version of the chip powering NVIDIA’s top graphics card of today, the GTX 480.

Now the GTX 460 has firmly established itself in the pantheon of graphics greats, the overclocked versions are taking centre stage. These tweaked versions of the card allow the different manufacturers to put there own spin on the design.

Some go for advanced cooling, some change some of the extraneous components, while some even go for completely redesigning the PCB the chips sit on.

Here though EVGA has done none of that. Instead it has tested and retested it’s stock to find the fastest, most stable versions of the chip and overclocked them to within an inch of their lives.

While they may be seriously overclocked the chips themselves remain very stable even with the stock cooler they labour under. The results are very impressive though, posting the fastest out-of-the-box results of all the factory overclocked versions of the GTX 460 we’ve found.

The stock cooler is capable of keeping the card running at this speed, but that doesn’t mean that it runs cool…

DirectX 11 Tessellation Performance

DirectX 11 Gaming Performance

DirectX 10 Gaming Performance

A quick look at the performance benchmarks on the previous page tells you almost everything you need to know about EVGA’s GTX 460 FTW Edition. It is simply the fastest GTX 460 you can buy.

The Zotac card comes in with a clockspeed of 810MHz and the MSI with a not inconsiderable 780MHz. The EVGA card’s core speed of 850MHz drags though it past the competition. It’s not a massive speed boost, only a couple of frames per second at most, but it’s enough to give it the ‘fastest’ accolade.

That’s not to say though that it is the fastest GTX 460 full stop.

When you factor in overclocking it’s not a bad card thanks to the specifically picked GPU, but because it’s still lumbered with the more basic reference cooler it can’t be pushed that far.

The winner in the overclocking stakes is still the MSI GTX 460 Hawk.

Thanks to it’s excellent Frozr II twin-fan, cooling technology the Hawk is able to go much farther than EVGA’s FTW, and stay cooler doing it.

The EVGA card was hitting a rather concerning 80degreesC under full load, while even when hitting a lightening-fast 925MHz core speed the MSI card was only hitting 54degreesC at most.

That brings up the question of whether the FTW card can really last running that hot, but EVGA is committed to its products with a 2 year limited warranty covering this factory overclocked chip.

At the top levels of the GF 104′s capabilities though the margins are slight. The Hawk may be faster than the FTW when it’s overclocked fully, but again we are only talking by a few frames per second.

But as I said before, that’s still enough to make that the fastest.

There is also the fact that despite how incredibly easy, and how relatively safe, it is to overclock your GPU, there are still very few of us that will actually make the effort to delve into the card’s innards and tweak.

Far more of us will spend the extra little bit of cash on a pre-overclocked card to take the hassle out of it for us. And if you’ve got a well ventilated case then the EVGA FTW Edition will do the business for you and no mistake.

If you’re running a machine in a smaller case though, with more limited airflow then you might want to reconsider. And if you’ve got more than a passing interest in getting your hands dirty overclocking then the GTX 460 Hawk from MSI is still my recommendation for these factory-overclocked cards.

We liked

The FTW Edition, despite the rather ridiculous, MMO-inspired ‘For The Win’ acronym, is still the fastest out-of-the-box GTX 460 card around. It churns through the benchmarks beautifully, and in SLI trim the performance will be incredible.

We disliked

Unfortunately the heat created by the cooked chip is not inconsiderable either.

The stock cooler just doesn’t have the same sort of heat-dissipation capabilities as the superior third-party cooler on the MSI Hawk.

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I was recently loaned an Asus Eee PC 1008P-Karim Rashid edition for one year to use and love and try out in many different ways. I have owned a Dell Mini 9 for a while, but its battery recently died. Not being able to use it wherever I want certainly affects its usefulness, and at this point I can’t afford a replacement battery. So I was thrilled to put off that purchase and to be able to use the Asus, a slightly larger (10 inch diagonal) netbook with a better keyboard. Just having the ‘ ” key in the correct place makes all the difference when I type.

[Read the rest of this post at our companion site GeekMom]

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The emergence of the App Store has undeniably created a renaissance of exciting and inventive new games. This much is not news to anyone. What gamers may not realize is that the iPhone has become the stage for older PC games to get a second life, and even the chance to come back into fashion. Such is the case for Monkey Island 2: Special Edition: Le Chuck’s Revenge, the app by LucasArts.

Monkey Island 2: Special Edition is a classic “adventure game,” which is a genre of gaming that younger players probably haven’t even heard of. The basics of play are simple: the player must control a cartoon character, and navigate this character through a two-dimensional world, solve puzzles, and perform heroic deeds. Adventure games are typically cinematic, story intensive, and linear. Monkey Island 2: Special Edition: Le Chuck’s Revenge is no exception. (…)
Read the rest of Monkey Island 2: Special Edition: Le Chuck’s Revenge

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Monkey Island 2: Special Edition: Le Chuck’s Revenge | Best iPad Apps | Best Free Apps

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Looks like Star Wars nerds who need another excuse to give George Lucas money have their wish as the Droid 2 R2-D2 dummy handheld will be hitting Verizon, and possibly sooner than Sept 30th 2010 as once anticipated. Yes, that does include me!

I’ll admit, I’ve been holding out for a Blu-ray 6 episode collector set, but this would definitely fill a void. After hitting Verizon’s launch site for the Droid 2 R2-D2, it looks pretty cool. So if you want to be the envy at your next Old republic LARP get together, whip one of these out!

You must make him real! Sir, if any of my circuits or gears from my Android will help, I’ll gladly donate them!

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

Simply releasing a Motorola Droid 2 with internals capable of global roaming probably wouldn’t have done much to differentiate the world device from the D2 currently on Verizon’s shelves, so good thing Big Red decided to give the phone a cosmetic makeover (at least in the color department). This is our first look at what will be the Droid 2 World Edition (or Droid 2 Global or Droid Pro or whatever it may end up being called) with its white casing and silver screen bezel as opposed to the blue and gunmetal of the first Droid 2. Rumor has it this one might replace the first iteration of the Droid 2 outright in VZW’s lineup.

Other than the new colors and roaming capabilities, looks like we will be getting the same exact phone. We more or less expected that, though some were holding out hope for some tweaks in the hardware here and there.

This will be the first world-roaming member of the Droid family and I must say the new look makes this a pretty tempting handset. Hit up the via link below for a couple more images.

[via DroidLife]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Word on the street is that Verizon is planning to phase out the less than a month old Motorola Droid 2 over the coming weeks only to replace it outright with the Motorola Droid 2 World Edition. As of right now this report originating at BGR is only a rumor, but it makes a good deal of sense for the company. Why stock two versions of more or less the same phone when you could sell the World Edition alone? Sell it for $199.99 and you are sure to tick off a few early adopters, but there is no reason Big Red shouldn’t push it out for that price.

It seems those with the original Droid 2 might be holding on to a rare breed, and how does that make you feel?

[via BGR]

Welcome back AMD, we’ve missed you. With the launch of the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition a few months ago, AMD signalled a revival of its CPU business. The 1090T is based on Thuban, a new six-core chip and easily the best processor design from AMD in years.

Admittedly, it’s not an all-new CPU. It’s mostly a six-core rehash of AMD’s existing 45nm quad-core architecture, known as Deneb. Of course, Deneb was essentially a 45nm respin of AMD’s 65nm Barcelona chip. Rinse and repeat right back to the original Hammer core from 2003.

Still, you only have to look at the Phenom II X6 1090T BE’s power rating to appreciate what AMD has achieved. This six-core, 45nm, 3.2GHz chip is rated at 125 Watts. The quad-core, 45nm, 3.4GHz Phenom II X4 965 Black Editionweighs in at 140 Watts. Clearly, AMD has at last got to grips with the 45nm production node.

With six cores humming a 3.2GHz tune, you’d expect the Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition to sport decent multi-threading chops. You’d be right. If there’s a cheaper chip that offers better performance in video encoding and other highly parallelised applications, we haven’t seen it.

Less impressive, of course, is the 1090T’s per-core performance. That explains why it’s not so competitive in games and file decompression. OK, by those metrics it’s no slouch. But even Intel’s lowliest Core i5 quad-core model, the 750, has it well beaten.

One area where we had expected the 1090T to stumble is overclocking. It’ only fairly recently that AMD has been able to hit decent clocks with its quad-core processors. Odds are a six-core chip based on the same production process isn’t going to be a screamer.

Well, never mind the odds, because this chip will crack 4GHz with air cooling. What’s more, it will do it at sane voltage settings. It’s extremely impressive and lifts the 1090T from being a very useful tool for video encoding buffs to an all-round winner.

That’s especially true when you consider how much cheaper the overall platform cost is when you go with AMD. This high end six-core chip drops into the same AM3 socket as any current AMD processor. Compatible motherboards are therefore cheap and plentiful.

The only slight snag is the existence of the Phenom II X6 1055T. It’s quite a bit cheaper but only slightly slower. But either way, with six-core AMD you are well on the way to arguably the most cost effective computing solution currently available.

We liked:

Compared to Intel’s silly-money six-core processors, the Phenom II X6 1090T BE looks preposterously cheap. But the chip itself is only part of the reason why AMD-based PCs are such great value. Thanks to AMD’s single-socket strategy on the desktop, you can drop the 1090T into a £50 board and do some serious coding on the cheap.

We disliked:

As fantastic as the 1090T Black edition is, there’s one chip that’s even better value: the Phenom II X6 1055T. It’s essentially the same chip running slightly slower for a lot less money. What both models share is a slight weediness in games.

Verdict:

At last, an AMD Black Edition chip worthy of the name. But slightly overpriced.

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Feeling lucky today, punk? We reckon that’s the question you need to ask yourself before taking a punt on the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition.

Based on AMD’s flagship Deneb processor die, the 720 has the full 6MB compliment of L3 cache. It also runs at a reasonable 2.8GHz frequency. As a Black Edition chip, it even has an unlocked CPU multiplier for easy overclocking. Not bad for a chip priced well under £100.

There is, however, something missing. AMD has disabled one of Deneb’s four cores. The Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition is a tripler, as indicated by the ‘X3′ moniker. It’s here that your luck will be tested because it’s possible to unlock the hidden core in the BIOS of most AM3-socket motherboards.

When it comes to core unlocking, there are no guarantees. But with just one hidden core, your odds are at least better than the AMD Phenom II X3 550 BE, which has two hidden cores and double the chance of one being broken.

We were hoping to make this review a tale of two halves. The first was to be a story of the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition in standard triple-core trim, the second was to include revelations of a fourth core freed from its digital shackles.

But like the other two AMD chips with hidden cores (that’s the Athlon II X3 435 and Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition), the triple-core 720 disappointed. The fourth and final core in our review sample is a dud. At least it proves AMD doesn’t try to influence the press by handing out carefully vetted samples.

Anyway, the result is thatthePhenom II X3 720 BE must make a case for itself purely as a triple-core chip. Unfortunately, that’s a tough ask. As an all-rounder, the 720 is reasonable. It’s notably faster than the dual-core Phenom II X2 550 BE in multi-threaded software such as video encoding. Similarly, it has the edge over AMD’s bargain-priced quad, the Athlon II X4 620, in games.

The 720 also overclocks fairly well, hitting 3.8GHz on air cooling and a tweak of the CPU voltage settings. Problem is, while the 720 isn’t awful at anything, it also falls well short of excellence across the board. In a word, it’s mediocre. If you are a hardcore gamer, the high-clocking Phenom II X2 550 BE is probably a better bet. For everyone else, the quad-core Athlon II X4 620 makes more sense and costs less.

We liked:

With Intel sticking to even core counts, it was almost inevitable that AMD would step in with some triple-core chips. The Phenom II X3 720 BE certainly makes for an interesting triple-core option and is worth a look if you’re looking for a true all rounder with a very low price tag.

We disliked:

If you know what you want from your PC, odds are you won’t like the triple-core 720. Adequate at all things, it’s not great at anything. Whether it’s gaming or encoding, there are better chips for the money. And remember, there are no guarantees when it comes to unlocking that hidden fourth core.

Verdict:

AMD’s triples look good on paper, but somehow don’t add up to the sum of their parts.

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You can now buy PC processors with as many as six cores and support for up to 12 software threads in parallel. With that in mind, why would anyone want the dual-core AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition?

Actually, the theory behind this chip makes reasonable sense. Certain types of software benefit more from high clockspeeds and a big dollop of cache memory than lots of processor cores. Games are one good example. The 550 runs at a healthy 3.1GHz lick and packs 6MB of L3 cache memory. It’s also a Black Edition processor and that usually means easy access to even higher clocks. Why pay more for multi-core?

At under £80 the AMD Phenom II X4 550 is certainly affordable. All it needs to do is deliver the goods according to its narrow remit compared to the likes of AMD’s Athlon II X4 620, Athlon II X3 435 and perhaps the Phenom II X3 720.

First the good news. The AMD Phenom II X2 550 beats the opposition where it matters most. In our World of Conflict game benchmark it keeps its eyes on the prize and edges the Athlon II X4 620, Athlon II X3 435 and the Phenom II X3 720.

In fact, it’s usefully faster than the two Athlon chips clocking up 33 frames per second compared to 35 and 37 frames per second, respectively. The triple-core Phenom II X3 720 gets a little closer at 42 frame per second. But part one of the Phenom II X2 550 BE’s job is done. Its advantage in gaming gets even bigger when you take overclocking into account. 4GHz on air cooling is clearly quicker than its closest competition and allows the 550 pulls further ahead.

That said, if you’re willing to spend a more on an Intel chip, you’ll get way more gaming performance. The Intel Core i5 750, for instance, delivers 59 frames per second despite its modest 2.66GHz clockspeed. Make no mistake, running at its maximum 4.2GHz overclock, the Intel chip absolutely annihilates the Phenom II X2 550 BE in games.

As for all round system performance, the dual-core 550 is inevitably rather weak. It simply cannot keep up with processors with double the number of cores, such as the Athlon II X4 620. We’re also disappointed to find that our 550 sample fails to function when you enable the two hidden cores. So much for the idea of getting a quad-core chip on the cheap.

We liked:

If building a gaming rig on a very tight budget is your bag, the dual-core AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition just about adds up. It’s definitely a more effective gaming chip than other low-cost AMD processors. It also overclocks pretty well.

We disliked:

The 550 might be faster than other cheapo chips. But it’s still a lot slower in games than a decent Intel processor. Likewise, it struggles with any software that thrives on multi-core processor architectures. It would also be unwise to assume that the 550′s two hidden cores are likely to work when unlocked.

Verdict:

Just about makes sense for gamers on a tight budget. Not a great all rounder.

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Elgato has released Turbo.264 HD Software Edition which is a software-only version of its hardware accelerated video encoder in response to customer demand.

Designed to convert video for use on an iPod, iPhone, Apple TV or other device, this Software Edition is identical to the app bundled with the hardware dongle. It’s easy to use. Just browse to or drag-and-drop a video file and select an output format.

It can handle most popular video formats, converts VIDEO_TS, the format used by DVD video discs, but won’t rip an encrypted DVD. It’s not as configurable as Handbrake (a free app), but settings can be customised.

Testing results

In our tests, on a 3.2GHz Core-i3 iMac, Handbrake converted our five minute test video to iPod format in 86 seconds. Turbo.264 HD Software Edition took 57 seconds, with the hardware version a second quicker.

On a 2GHz Core 2 Duo iMac, Handbrake took 173 seconds with Software Edition converting in 115 seconds, and the hardware-assisted version in 81 seconds – the less powerful your Mac, the greater benefits of Turbo.264 HD.

With no upgrade path for Software Edition users, you might prefer to dive straight in and buy the hardware version, which is available for £90 on Amazon. As well as being quicker, it takes the load off your processor if you’re using your Mac.

For the lighter user, the Software Edition offers advantages over free alternatives.

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Subscirbers to The New Yorker have been able to read their issues—as well as archived magazines going back to 1925—online in a Web browser for a while. Now iPad users can enjoy the same functionality.

View full post on Macworld

Do you have a Symbian S60 5th Edition device and longingly look at your iPhone and Android brethren thinking you could have a backup, sync, and cloud sharing service like Dropbox, Zumodrive, or SugarSync on your beloved device? Well, I have some excellent news for you then as SugarSync just announced their Symbian client that is available now for free and includes 2GB of cloud data capacity. We do have the Ovi Files client and it is decent, but services like SugarSync offer even more functionality that is cross platform and provides better access support.

With SugarSync for Symbian you can edit documents (with supported Symbian apps) and have the files synced back to the cloud. Documents, photos, music, video, and other file types can be shared, managed, and accessed with SugarSync. I have been looking at several different cloud storage and sharing solutions and now that SugarSync has a Symbian client I have decided they are the service I will be going with for all of my devices moving forward.

Simply point your S60 5th Edition web browser to www.sugarsync.com/symbian and download the free client. You can also purchase higher capacity on the servers with 30GB plans starting at just $4.99/month, but you do get 2GB for free to try out too. They also have a referral program that lets you increase your capacity between 500MB to 10GB of storage when a friend is referred by you.

You can access your SugarSync storage drive via a web browser or iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile device too.

View full post on Nokia Experts

Earlier in the week we reported the leaked Verizon Road Map for 2010-2012 and today, we have come across newly released screen shots from Verizon , obtained by BGR.

The Motorola DROID Pro is said to have a 4” display, 1.3 GHz under the hood, and global roaming capabilities. According to BGR, the screen shots show that the DROID Pro gets the model number A957 and is set to launch in November. Motorola is also working on getting a world edition of the DROID 2 for a global roaming feature. With no date shown and with the model number A956, it is said to believe that the release date of the Droid 2 World Edition is set to be soon. Don’t like your phone in black? Well guess what, it appears that the DROID 2 World Edition will come in either black or white.

Onto the Motorola ‘Slab’ device, it’s model number is MZ600. BGR isn’t able to confirm whether or not this is the Motorola tablet or just a slab form of the device that was previously reported but if it’s the slab form of the device, it will most likely launch with Android 2.2 and also be a World Edition handset.

Check out the photos after the break.

Read More…

Motorola DROID Pro, World Edition, and Tablet all found at Verizon

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The Desktop Mac Edition of Iomega’s eGo can be laid flat or used in a vertical position, using the supplied stand. Its casing is plastic, but clearly styled to match the brushed aluminium finish of the iMac or the Mac Pro.

A grilled front makes it an especially good match for Apple’s high-end desktop. As you’d expect, its 1TB drive is preformatted for use with Mac OS.

Connectivity is through FireWire or USB. There are two FireWire ports so you can daisy-chain another FW device, and although both are FW800 ports, there’s a FW800-to-400 cable in the box.

You can also connect through USB 2.0, but unlike the Iomega MiniMax, the eGo Desktop doesn’t give you an integrated USB hub.

The power button is set into the casing, and must be prodded pretty hard to switch on and off. This could be problematic if the drive is located somewhere awkward to reach.

In tests, the eGo recorded random read/write speeds of 12.0/15.5MB/s under USB, and 17.4/23.5MB/s via FireWire. So there’s little to choose between it and the MiniMax, but overall, we prefer the latter.

There’s nothing wrong with the eGo, but the MiniMax’s extra USB ports give it the edge, unless you prefer a vertically oriented drive – in which case, you may regard Iomega’s UltraMax range as kinder on the eyes.

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Earlier we got our first look at the R2-D2 deco’d Motorola Droid 2, but we still we unsure of when it would be hitting stores. Thanks to a display at Star Wars Celebration V we now have our answer. The R2-D2-Droid 2 will be hitting Verizon on September 30th. Is the uber-geeky exterior and some Star Wars shwag stored on board worth the extra wait? No word on pricing as of now. A few more images at the Android Central link below.

[Android Central via Engadget]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

Going for the award of most leaked smartphone in history, we would be remiss if we didn’t post up our own gallery of the Motorola Droid 2 pre-launch. Well, OK, we aren’t quite giving you shots of the phone proper, but feast your eyes on this dummy unit that is one of many showing up at Verizon corporate stores in preparation for next week’s Droid 2 launch. See it in all of your favorite poses, including some Droid 1/Droid 2 comparison shots to give you an idea how the two stack up.

[Thanks to Trident of AndroidForums for sending this in!]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

There’s something reassuringly business-like about ReadyNAS NVX Pioneer Edition. It has an aesthetic that shouts ‘I’m small/home office and proud,’ and it’s weighty, too.

With clean lines and impressive spec, it’s a tempting plug-n-play solution for those that want both a competent media server and bullet-proof data storage with back. Our review model is actually part of a five-strong line-up of lookalike models from the brand with capacities which range from 2TB to 8TB.

The version tested is the RNDX4250, which ships with two 500GB drives and space for two more (four hot-swappable bays in all). Typical price is around £500.

The unit itself is reasonably quiet, if not whisper silent. In a living room environment it could be deemed rather intrusive. If you, like me, use a boot room to house your NAS, this is less of an issue.

The good news is it stays cool. Even running constantly over a couple of months, power management seems excellent.

Easy setup

This ReadyNAS requires little real effort to install on a network. Control is via a straightforward web interface and a setup wizard holds your hand during the installation process. As a media centre the NVX is accomplished.

Out of the box, ReadyDNLA ensures playback of videos, music and snaps from DLNA/UPnP AV network media players and devices, and the unit was recognized by all devices when I placed it on my review network. Naturally Netgear would like you to use it with its own EVA-branded media streamers, but it seems to work with everything.

Play-out of 720p MKV files was smooth and stutter free; standard-def AVIs likewise. Streamed music retained all the integrity of the ripped files. As an AV system it’s difficult to fault.

Functionality is good. There’s a built-in Apple iTunes server, as well as support for other popular music distribution systems, such as the Logitech Squeezebox, Sonos and Roku SoundBridge. There’s also an integrated Bittorent client, meaning you can download straight to the NAS without needing to keep PCs powered during the process.

Connectivity

Connectivity includes a trio of USBs (one front-mounted). This means USB print server sharing (turn any USB printer into a network printer) and provision for extra capacity expansion via external drives.

There are two Gigabit Ethernet ports and a handy front-mounted LCD display which reveals its IP address and capacity usage.

The unit was run in Netgear’s proprietary X-RAID2 mode, which means files are written to two drives as backup against a drive failure. There’s also an integrated backup manager that enables one-button backup to an external USB drive.

Overall, I can’t fault this NVX NAS. Aside from its dour demeanour and relatively high ticket price, it’s fast, reliable and easy to use. And significantly, I never felt my sound and vision was in unreliable hands.

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So the rumors up to this point have pointed pretty strongly towards the Motorola Droid 2 launching on August 23rd, but new information is coming in that the phone we just saw leaked running Android 2.2 could hit Verizon stores as early as August 12th. This would be a soft roll-out getting little promotion up until the larger marketing push kicks in on the 23rd date we have been hearing.

And while that bit of information is pretty exciting on it’s own, this new info on the Droid 2’s release date also came with a leak of special edition of the Droid 2 that will embrace its Star Wars namesake. An R2-D2 edition of the phone will be launched featuring everyone’s favorite astromech droid on the back cover of the handset. Nerdgasm. Back with the original Droid, Verizon sent out remote-control R2D2 toys to press and media to promote the new phones launch, but little has been done with the Droid/Star Wars connection since Verizon licensed the brand from Lucasfilms. Given the choice would you want the special edition or just the plain jane Droid 2? What if the R2-D2 version required a slightly longer wait?

[via Engadget]

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I read over on All About Symbian this morning that Silverlight had arrived for S60 5th Edition devices so I jumped on the N97 mini and picked it up from the Ovi Store. My first thought was to try to login to my Zune Pass and try to stream music via the Zune.net site since it is a Silverlight-based site. Every time I logged in I saw the browser crash and kick me out so I wouldn’t worry about trying that out right now.

Except for the Zune.net site I honestly do not visit sites with Silverlight powering them and have no real need for this support. It looks like this is provided as part of the Nokia Microsoft partnership. Do you have any recommended Silverlight sites that would make having this browser plug-in/utility installed a useful endeavor?

View full post on Nokia Experts

AMD’s best performing single chip GPU, the Radeon HD 5870, isn’t quite a match for NVIDIA’s bellwether, the GeForce GTX 480.

If you want comparable performance from a high end AMD-based card, you have two options. Either stick two chips on one board for instant Crossfire mode, like the Radeon HD 5970, or overclock the hell out of a hand-picked HD 5870.

Gigabyte’s Super Overclock HD 5870 is, as the name suggests, an example of the latter method. With a clear 100MHz, or 11.7%, added onto the core speed of a stock Radeon HD 5870, this is an ambitious card with ideas way above its station.

An elegant set of heatpipes helps to keep it cool at these extreme speeds, and if you want to push it further, there’s a set of volt reading contact points on the PCB for the compulsive tweaker.

It had better deliver on its promise, though, since it costs the same price as the GTX 480 it hopes to unseat.

At their factory speeds, the ASUS RoG Matrix HD 5870 is 50MHz slower than the Gigabyte bad boy, and accordingly this is the fastest HD 5870 we’ve yet tested.

It’s right on the limit of what it can do, though, and still not a match for a GTX 480.

DirectX 10 performance

Anti-aliasing performance (4xAA)

DirectX 11 performance

Benchmarks run at 2560×1600 on the highest settings

The fairest comparison for the Gigabyte Super Overclock HD 5870 isn’t really a GTX 480, but rather Asus’ Republic of Gamers Matrix HD 5870.

It shows up both the Gigabyte’s strengths and weaknesses well.

For example, out of the box, the Gigabyte card is quicker, uses less power and only requires two six pin molex connectors, rather than eight pin ones.

There’s better overclocking software on the Asus card, but Gigabyte’s OC Guru application has some neat tricks when it comes to enhanced power saving modes that might suit the ecologically minded.

Where Asus’ Matrix HD 5870 card succeeds, though, is those expanded power connectors and the fine tuning of memory its software allows gives it much more stability under higher overclocks than even the Gigabyte card ships with.

Plus, there’s an extra gigabyte of RAM on the ASUS card for handling large, multi-monitor resolutions.

The Super Overclock HD 5870, on the other hand, doesn’t have much to give before it locks up randomly. And the heatsink fan is noisier too.

The problem is that neither card, as they stand, are good value for money. The performance increase over a stock HD5870 isn’t really worth it, and Zotac’s GeForce GTX 470 AMP! is their equal in framerate tests but considerably cheaper at the store.

And if we really can’t stop you spending over £400 on a graphics card, then the GeForce GTX480 really does come into play. You’d have be committed to the AMD cause to choose this over one of them.

We liked:

The copper heatsink which rises out of the the Super Overclock Edition HD5870 gives the card an art deco air of polished metal and piping.

It looks great and provides enough cooling for Gigabyte to make the card the fastest HD5870 out of the factory.

We disliked:

The truth is, though, that the extra clockspeed doesn’t provide that much of a boost compared to a ‘normal’ card with boring coolers and default speed steppings.

It’s a likeable card, but there’s no compelling reason to choose this over an equally priced GTX480 or a much cheaper stock HD5870.

Final word:

Absolutely not a card for everyone, but if you want to tweak it, there’s none better.

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Here are a few bite-sized stories that didn’t make our news coverage for the day. From a touching short film shot on the iPhone 4 to an accusation that Apple is discriminating against a minority group, there should be something here for you to click.

View full post on Macworld

If you mastered the routine in Nickel Buddy’s original Anywhere Abs fitness application for BlackBerry, you’ll want to check out their newly-released next installment, Anywhere Abs 2: Core Edition. This edition features six now exercises focused on building up your core, which are broken out step by step. At any time you can pull up a detail explanation of each exercise and the app features a countdown time and three different levels of difficulty.

As I said in my post to the original Anywhere Abs, just having it installed on your device is a good thing… never mind actually it, but just seeing the icon on the homescreen everytime you check your email forces you to sit or stand a little straighter and flex those abs. It sells for $2.99 and you can grab it at the link below.

• Learn More / Download Anywhere Abs 2: Core Edition >>

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Get ready for the beach with Anywhere Abs 2: Core Edition

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