SLSing - techies on the prowl

Is anyone freaked out yet? For S$60 a light bulb you would probably need to buy 3~4 of these from Panasonic for each lighting location. Unless you live like Jeanne Calment then your probably need 2 more change of this brilliant buggers :D 

Panasonic’s new EVERLED light bulbs to light up your life for 19 years

Long-lasting light bulb technology is nothing new — people have been trying to up the lifespan these bad boys for some time. Long-lived light bulbs are generally uber-expensive, too, but we like to keep our eyes on such things. Panasonic’s just unveiled the EVERLED, a line of bulbs set to be launched in Japan at the end of October. Lighter and more efficient than other LEDs on the market, these babies use 85 lumens per watt for a 40W bulb. Though the bulbs are not going to be cheap — about $40 — the company claims they’ll have a lifespan of 19 years, bringing the overall costs down considerably. Still, we’d have to see them last that long to believe it.

via engadget.com

I was just checking my fav thumbdrive maker, since they usually have the best bang for buck high speed and high capacity thumbdrive around :D. And it seems I am a bit of a WOLS. Patriot will be or already selling their USB media with the game Street Fighter IV

Patriot Kicks into Action with Capcom’s Street Fighter™ IV

Patriot and Capcom® team up to bundle Street Fighter IV with Patriot Extreme products. Fremont, California, USA, August 25, 2009 - Patriot Memory®, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Capcom®, granting rights to manufacture and market ‘Capcom Action Packs,’ Patriot products bundled with the PC software title Street Fighter™ IV.

Patriot has set up an innovative campaign that packages Patriot products with a downloadable version of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV for the PC. The Street Fighter™ series burst onto the scene in the late 80s and gained worldwide attention with the arcade game Street Fighter™ II. Patriot has packaged Street Fighter IV with several of their top products: 32GB Xporter Boost, their complete Torqx SSD series, and three of their top gaming modules for both DDR2 and DDR3.

“We are truly inspired to partner with an industry leader like Capcom and bundle their amazing PC game, Street Fighter IV, with select Patriot products,” says Eric Ackerson, Patriot’s Director of Marketing. “I’m a huge fan of the series, going back to playing in arcades and more recently on console and PC. The game play is incredible on the PC and scales well to the hardware of each system. Patriot’s partnership with industry leaders such as Capcom, help consumers get a little more out of their purchase. People want value for their purchase and the biggest value that we can offer are packages that offer ‘value ad’ across multiple items.”

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer Street Fighter IV PC free with Patriot’s high performance memory products,” says Christian Svensson, Capcom’s Corporate Officer/Vice-President - Strategic Planning & Business Development. “Patriot has been an outstanding partner for Capcom and we look forward to finding more ways for us to work together in the future.”

Press Release

Finally, the Intel i5 is out. well they are not suppose to sell it yet and stocks are really limited. But trust me… THEY CAN be BOUGHT NOW~! so go get’em tiger~! I am rather surprised with Intel’s P55 chipset mainboard/motherboard to be so affordable The entry lvel Intel Original mATX P55 Mainboard is retailing @ S$189 (ask for a bundle price and the total cost will be even better :D) And if you see the last pic…. Gigabyte, MSI and Asus have all stocked up their retailers. The issue here is, the CPU is pretty limited.

A few things to note, this new series have i7 series cpu as well but they are 800series i7s (LGA1156) with TOTALLY different from the 1st Gen i7 (LGA1366). So do be careful if once the Processors are out of the box.

The new socket also bares a new retaining bracket and they finally place a backing plate to suppor the socket are. This will definitely reduce warp and integrity of the mainboard when placed under stree from big HeatSinks.

If SSD is getting cheaper, be sure your storage hard drive will be getting bigger~! Boosting a 16mb cache, this drive will put a simle in all laptop users.

Press Relese via Hitachi Global Storage Japan

Not many pple uses these CompactFlash as more and more devices uses more of SD / SDHC cards. The only reason for using CF is probably if you are using DSLR that would make full use of the capacity and speed. Or probably you need to get a new Digital Camera. Green House Japan just launched their X433 CF cards. I am not sure if any DSLR will make full use of its speed, but if they keep launching DSLR with HD video capture it might be just possible for these lightning fast CF cards….Maybe it is for the newly launched Canon….

A few months back while I was in Computex 2009 I managed to find the Elecom Scope Node wired version in Guang Hwa (Taipei) and I was mighty happy with it (Pics via SLSing Forums - We Save, We hoot, We show (we no steal things) - Tech Products ). But I soon found out that there was a WIRLESS Version. So the next person I knew going to Taipei had a mission. And that was to get me the Wireless version~! and here it IS~! ~~~~!!!

The feel is the same as the wired version, except it is slightly heavier since now there is a AAA battery in it. There is only 1 thing to be careful of this wireless version. The reciever is very plasticy…feel a bit filmsy otherwise… I LOVE IT~!

Elecom Scope Node Wired/Wireless Product URL

This is a Limited Eidition Card. And for a very good reason, since each card commands a hefty US$2000+~!!!!! And I know No. 6 and No. 13 is in Singapore Will try to take the actual pics for this product if I am sober enough this evening

Pic via Watch Impress

I was wondering why WD came up with this product. Since being a new product usually means better features. The WD TV™ MINI MEDIA PLAYER do not come with HDMI (Support up to 1080i ONLY) output so LCD/Plasma TV users will probably give this a miss, but the mass of users who are still on their Projector TV and a lot of other non HD TVs will love this. Think about it, your collection of media probably will make use of this better :D….. and it also says a lot that the RMVB format makes this a winner~!

Product URL

Singapore – 27 August 2009 –WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today introduced a new version of its popular WD TV media player. The new WD TV Mini Media Player now enables playback of RealNetworks®, Inc.’s RealVideo™ content and provides a more affordable way for consumers to play their stored digital content in up to 1080i HD resolution directly on their HD television.

“The popularity of the RealVideo format and its compatibility with the WD TV Mini Media Player makes it an excellent solution for consumers who wish to enjoy their RealVideo content on their TVs,” said Scott Nelson, director of business development for RealNetworks.

“For those who desire an easy, affordable and portable solution to enjoy their digital media on their TVs and who have content in RealVideo format, the new WD TV Mini Media Player fits the bill,” said Craig Davis, Director, Sales & Marketing, Branded Product Group, Western Digital Asia Pacific Region. “The new WD TV Mini Media Player unlocks the content from their PCs and storage devices and makes it simple for people to enjoy their media on their home theater systems, without the need to spend time configuring a complicated device or transcoding files to make them compatible.”

Features of the WD TV Mini Media Player include:
- Play video, music and photos on your TV in up to 1080i HD resolution;
- Supports widest variety of file formats including RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB);
- Rich HD 1080i advanced navigation and user interface;
- DVD-like navigation with chapter support, trick modes and subtitles;
- Expandable: buy more storage, delete fewer movies;
- Photo slideshow with unique transitions and music on your HD TV;
- Thumbnail support including photo thumbnails and music album art;
- Ability to preview your video during navigation (480 and 720 mode only);
- Video, music and photo auto-play for users digital signage solution;
- Subtitle support including multi-language subtitle support for video playback;
- Picture Transfer Protocol to view or backup content from your digital image device;
- Compatible with USB Camcorders and USB mass storage devices;
- Component and composite video output;
- Digital optical audio output via SPDIF;
- Ultra-compact design making it perfectly portable for travel; and,
- 1-year limited warranty.

Pricing and Availability
The WD TV Mini Media Player is available now at selected retailers and is distributed by AMC Pacific Pte Ltd in Singapore. The MSRP for the WD TV Mini Media Player is S$129.

The sign of price dip in SLC SSD  - (Price listing) just indicates that pple saw this Monsterous OCZ Product coming~! You know what? I sense a LOT of Laptop makers on the scramble now~! … or rather I believe Laptop users WILL be scrambling now shouting… “WTB~! WTB~! WTB~!” Com’on Tomasz ~! when you gonna sent us a piece

PRESS RELEASE

San Jose, CA—August 26, 2009—OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, power supplies, and solid state drives, today unveiled the OCZ Agility EX Series which makes SLC (single-level cell) NAND-based storage truly affordable in a solid state drive for the first time. The Agility EX provides the best of both worlds —the performance and advantages of SLC NAND technology at an incredible value. Based on the quality Indilinx controller, the Agility EX Series delivers an enhanced computing experience with faster application loading, snappier data access, shorter boot-ups, and longer battery life.

“Though SLC has traditionally been more expensive than MLC flash there are both performance and lifespan advantages to SLC based solid state drives, it is for consumers that require the extended reliability of single level cell flash that we are now introducing the Agility EX series of SSDs,” commented Eugene Chang, VP of Product Management at the OCZ technology Group. “The Agility EX offers consumers the most cost effective SLC solid state storage solution on the market, and when customers take all the benefits of SLC into consideration the total cost of ownership of these drives truly shines through.”

With superior performance over both conventional hard drives and MLC (multi-level cell) SSDs, the SLC-based Agility EX features incredible sequential and random write speeds for an unparalleled computing experience across the complete spectrum of applications. In addition to exceptional performance the Agility EX series provides an improved total cost of ownership (TCO) with its superior write/erase cycle endurance. Agility EX SSDs feature industry-dominating speeds, up to 255MB/s read and 195MB/s write speeds, 64MB of onboard cache, and unique performance optimization to keep the drives at peak performance. OCZ will initially release the Agility EX in a 60(64)GB solution with an MSRP of $399 and a leading 3-year warranty and award-winning technical support, ensuring unparalleled peace of mind.

IT has been a long while since the OC scene has been lighten and it seems that Gigabyte is determined to spearhead the OC Scene this year. Interesting to find sponsors like MaxCube, Enermax and FSP on this list….This should be interesting. Did I mention that the cpu used will be AMD’s PhenomII?

Futuremark and GIGABYTE Announce Worldwide Overclocking Competition

Futuremark® Corporation today announced a new competition for PC overclockers everywhere. Utilizing AMD and GIGABYTE hardware, contestants worldwide will compete in two segments for the overall “Gigabyte Dragon” title within multiple prize award categories. Contest page: http://www.futuremark.com/community/competitions/gigabytedragon Twitter: http://twitter.com/yougamergirl The contest entry period will run from Aug 17th to Sep 13th. Prizes will be awarded to first to third place finishers for the following segments, top 3DMark score and top CPU overclocking. Grand prizes include GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard, FSP Everest 800 Watt power supply, Maxcube Amoris 6010 Architectural Designed Gaming Case, GlacialTech X-Wing Notebook Cooling Pad, Gskill F3 Triple Channel DDR3 6GB memory module, and Enermax Apollo series 12cm Fan. Additional prizes awarded to second and third place runner-ups as well as two weekly lucky draw prizes for GIGABYTE motherboards given away just for entering. “This is the largest overclocking event of its type we’ve ever seen. We’re delighted to be partnering with Futuremark to support GIGABYTE overclockers everywhere with this community building competition,” said Tony Liao, GIGABYTE Marketing Director. Contestants will be competing to see who can achieve the highest score with 3DMark06, a benchmark program from Futuremark that measures the 3D gaming performance capabilities of PCs. 3DMark software has been downloaded more than 45 million times. The 3DMark06 edition is currently the world’s most popular benchmark and can be downloaded for free from the Futuremark website. http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/ For further details of the “GIGABYTE Dragon” competition visit http://www.futuremark.com/community/competitions/gigabytedragon