Monday December 01, 2008

- Will IBM Cell Really End Up in our Computers? - Lionel - 13:25:44

Information about the forthcoming IBM Cell-based accelerating cards starts to be available on the internet. As a reminder, such cards will be powered by an under-clocked Cell CPU (1.5 GHz, vs. 3.2 GHz in the PS3) to speed up HD video and dedicated computing tasks (see our previous news).

It seems that those cards will be more expensive than initially expected, and the price should rather be around 200-250 USD instead of the originally announced 100 USD. Of course, this is not extremely expensive, however, one should not forget that NVidia will offer graphic cards supporting CUDA, so being able to boost some heavy processing tasks while managing 2D/3D display and rendering, a function not available from the Cell-based cards. At the end, the Cell-based cards might join the museum of good ideas which never translated into real products; let’s hope we are wrong.

[translation by Linathael]

- Apple Will Update its Non-serviceable Hardware List on December 9th - Lionel - 11:07:54

Apple Will Update its Non-serviceable Hardware List on December 9th
Apple will update on December 9th its list of computers and hardware for which the company can not provide any service or repair anymore (at least for Europe). The affected models are described below

- iMac LCD 2003
- PowerBook G4 12" 867 MHz
- PowerBook G4 17" 1.0 GHz
- iBook (14.1" LCD 900 MHz, 32 MB VRAM)
- iBook (800 MHz, 32 MB VRAM and 900 MHz, 32 MB VRAM)
- iBook Dual USB
- Airport Extreme base station (early 2003)

[translation by Linathael]

- Apple Store: free delivery today [updated] - Lionel - 07:46:47

For today (and only today) the Apple Store offers free delivery on all its products without a minimum of price. This advertisement will interest those which wish to buy a iPod Shuffle or a small accessory.

Shortest way to the Apple Store

Thanks to grizzlybear, one of your forum members for the following details:

Or, more accurately, *some* Apple Stores are offering free delivery.
Applestore FR, UK, NL, SG, HK: Free delivery on all products
Applestore US: Free delivery on products over $50
Applestore CA: Free delivery on products over $75
Applestore AU: Free delivery on products over $90
Applestore NZ: Free delivery on products over $99

[translation by crispin]

- End-of-year drop in price for the PS3 - Lionel - 07:41:03

Source : ZDNet

Even if officially Sony does not see lowering the price of its PS3 as justified, the manufacturer proposes from November 28 and until January 17 a refund of 50€ on the purchase of whatever model or bundle that has the base-version of console priced at 349€ (tax included).
To take advantage of this, it is necessary to buy the PS3 and to return the sales slip and the bar code from the box together with a form and a bank account number.
The reversal of position of Sony is certainly related on the economic crisis and the lack of interest of the general public for Blu-ray. If you wish nevertheless to acquire a Blu-ray reader, the PS3 is without question the most attractive and evolutionary product compatible with DB Profiles 2.0. However one can find readers compatible with DB Profiles 1.0 for less 200€. Those who want an entry level model at the lowest possible price will make certainly this choice, and change in a few year's time when the price of the more advanced readers drops.

[translation by crispin]