iPhone OS-based devices are now representing more than 50% of internet-browsing smartphones according to a recent analysis.
Second is RIM OS for Blackberry series (19%) and Windows Mobile-based devices (14%). Fourth is Palm OS (8%) prior is future revision with the release of "Pre".
With such figures, it becomes obvious that flash-based websites will have to develop some iPhone versions of their portal, or that Apple and Adobe find some agreement to allow the entry of the flash format into the iPhone OS.
If multiplying the number of cores per CPU allows performance gains at a rather low cost, it has one disadvantage during their production. If one core is defect, the entire CPU is discarded and trashed, making the price of multiple core CPU rather expensive as multiple core engraving is experiencing higher failure rate than single or dual core CPU.
Such problem might increase in the near future with the release by the end of the year of Octo Core Xeon, so Intel designed a way to inactivate specifically some cores while still selling the CPU with defective cores.
Instead of trashing such CPU, Intel will just inactivate definitely defective cores and sell the CPU as a 6 core unit or an Octo Core CPU with less cache. According to Intel this process will not impact performance or power consumption of the CPU.
AMD is already using such technology for Phenom CPU (usually quad core), available as three core unit when one core is inactivated.
Thanks to all our French readers who sent us messages regarding news released by the French online news network channel, LCI, yesterday evening: Apple will soon offer TV units in its catalog. For us it is unclear if the news channel got access to better sources than ours, or they misunderstood some information about partnership between Apple and LG as we
announced it last month for manufacturing LCD panels. If the information turns true, Apple is entering into a new market, saturated as the mobile phone market was/is when it released the iPhone. We personally do not imagine Apple entering the TV market without adding some big value or specific features that could be linked with an integrated Apple TV like device, which could be control via an iPhone or a touchscreen remote.
Some customers having purchased a MacBook Pro 17" have received a message from Apple indicating that the price will be 90 € cheaper. This will only apply to customers having chosen the SSD option. So, do not be surprised if you did not receive similar message from Apple while you are waiting for your MBP 17" for weeks now. Apple will be 3 weeks late on its schedule for delivering units so some customers might have expected a financial compensation. First MBP 17" are now shipping.
The new Apex SSD from OCZ is attracting many computer website.
This is the first SSD in its class to use two controller in a RAID 0 setup in order to boost performance. In addition, its entry level price around 300 € for 120 GB while making it a niche product is still very aggressive.
The last tests released by
Driverheaven and
Fudzilla demonstrate the excellent price/performance ratio of this drive, with some results even better than SLC-based SSD.
However, one should not forget that JMIcron controller-based SSD will have a performance issue due to the lack of cache memory as soon as the system sends multiple and repeated request to the SSD controllers. It translates into a dramatic decrease of data transfer speed.
But if one accepts such limitation, this product is really excellent and should become quite popular, while waiting for the adoption of faster controller. This could come rather quickly as OCZ might use in a near future controllers from
Indilinx in its SSD series Vertex. According to specification sheet, those components should be much faster than JMicron units currently used.
