From X-bit Labs: Nvidia Corp. is reportedly working on a PCI Express-based graphics processing unit that also integrates input/output functionality typically found in core-logic set. The chips will allow the company to partly return to the market of core-logic devices. But the success of the move may be undermined by technical details.

Intel Corp.'s upcoming client platforms based on the Sandy Bridge, Tunnel Creek and other microprocessors will come with PCI Express controllers that will allow connecting additional controllers directly to the central processing units (CPUs). Technically, this allows Nvidia to plug-in one of its graphics chips with I/O functionality and substitute Intel's own core-logic that connects to processors using DMI bus, a technology that Nvidia does not have a license to use. In fact, theoretically, Nvidia will also be able to hook up its rumoured chip to Advanced Micro Devices' code-named Llano processor with integrated graphics engine via PCIe bus as well.

Intel officially claims that Tunnel Creek and Queens Bay embedded platform will rely on third-party PCI Express controllers for additional functionality. Nonetheless, when it comes to Sandy Bridge processors the company plans to sell its own Intel 6-series (Cougar Point) chipset. Moreover, Intel 6-series core-logic sets come with integrated base clock-speed generator and it is highly likely that it will be technically impossible to start up an SNB chip without an Intel core-logic.

It is not completely clear whether Intel's next-generation Sandy Bridge platform actually needs low-end graphics processors considering the fact that Intel's next-gen integrated graphics promises tangible performance improvements compared to current Intel Graphics and Media Accelerators. The same can be said about AMD Llano, which is projected to offer graphics performance comparable to ATI Radeon HD 5500/5600-series graphics processors.

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From PC World: The iPad, which could dominate the tablet market until 2012, has been appearing in boardrooms and cubicles around the country. Previously it could be blamed on a manager showing off a new gadget or ordering one for the office in hopes of figuring out what to do with it later. But with Apple's 4.2 iOS upgrade available in November, the iPad will soon have wireless printing, the ability to share files and multitask (the final two were available on the iPhone but not the iPad) -- basically all things an office device should be able to do.

The new 4.2 essentially upgrades the iPad with apps previously available on the iPhone, including fixing various bugs, and provides streaming video and music with AirPlay.

The problem with the newest upgrade is that it's not available to users until November. Until then, employees will have to use the 4.1 upgrade available next week for the iPhone or the iPod Touch - but may not be able to use the print center application. If Apple intends for the iPad and iPhone to infiltrate the enterprise market, it would have been better if Apple had combined the upgrades into one megagrade that would have been available and applicable to all its handheld devices.

The new upgrade seems as if Apple is promoting the iPad as a lightweight and functional business alternative, especially well-suited to companies that let customers or sales staff use touchscreen technology to view inventory or availability. Already the iPad has been harnessed for use in schools, fitted with AutoCad design software and is being used in half of the Fortune 100 companies, mainly because of its long battery life and secure iOS. The new upgrade will also make IT management simpler for companies sharing Apple's iOS on both iPads and iPhones.

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From CNET News.com: When Samsung debuted its Galaxy Tab Wednesday, it made a bold claim: it's at least as good as today's dominant tablet, Apple's iPad.

"Honestly, I don't see anything that is weaker than the iPad," said W.P. Wong, head of Samsung Mobile's product planning team, at a press conference here at the IFA electronics show.

And in several ways, he said, it's stronger: It permits both picture-taking and video chat with front and back-mounted cameras. Its weight of 380 grams (0.8 pounds) is much less than the iPad, which weighs 680 grams (1.5 pounds) without 3G and 730g (1.6 pounds) with it.

"In terms of the weight, you may not think it's a significant factor, but we think through consumer research that weight is very critical to enjoy the user experience," Hong said.

The product itself will begin shipping to customers in late September or early October in European markets, but already Samsung is trying to raise expectations about as high as they'll go.

"The Galaxy Tab will change our lives," said Samsung Mobile President J.K. Shin. "It is a true paradigm-shifter."

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From CNET News.com: By the end of the year, Twitter expects to be recording and analyzing every link users click on when using its Web site or any of the thousands of third-party microblogging apps.

An e-mail announcement Wednesday night said "all users" will soon be switched over to Twitter's t.co link-shortening service and, once that happens, "all links shared on Twitter.com or third-party apps" will use it. In addition, the company said, when anyone clicks "on these links from Twitter.com or a Twitter application, Twitter will log that click."

Wednesday's news was soon met with a smattering of privacy concerns, with some Twitter users dubbing it a "disgusting data landgrab" and others wondering if there will be an "opt-out policy" for those who prefer not to have their clicks recorded. Another concern: a centralized link-redirector means a centralized point of failure in a service known for being frequently overloaded.

Of course, Twitter is not alone--and this point deserves to be stressed--in recording what links visitors click.

Yahoo tracks searches through the rds.yahoo.com hostname. Microsoft's Bing and Facebook appear to use Javascript to record clicks through the "OnMouseDown" function. And Google sometimes, but not always, seems to use redirects to track links clicked on from its home page (here's how to do this yourself).

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From DailyTech: Many are expecting big things out of Windows Phone 7, and Microsoft is doing its best to make sure that the launch of its next generation smartphone operating system goes smoothly. Today, Terry Myerson announced on the Windows Team Blog that Windows Phone 7 has been released to manufacturing (RTM).

This means that all of Microsoft's hardware launch partners will have production-ready software to test on their upcoming smartphones. Windows Phone 7's official U.S. retail launch expected to happen this November.

Myerson had this to say about this milestone for Windows Phone 7:

"Windows Phone 7 is the most thoroughly tested mobile platform Microsoft has ever released. We had nearly ten thousand devices running automated tests daily, over a half million hours of active self-hosting use, over three and a half million hours of stress test passes, and eight and a half million hours of fully automated test passes. We’ve had thousands of independent software vendors and early adopters testing our software and giving us great feedback. We are ready."

Microsoft has an uphill battle after Windows Mobile 6.x got smacked around by RIM, Apple, and Google. While Microsoft was once a dominant force in the smartphone market, Windows Mobile 6.x become an also-ran while Google has risen to the top of the ranks in the U.S. smartphone market.

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From DailyTech: Many were sad to see Microsoft ditch the Windows 7 Family Pack right in the middle of the 2009 holiday shopping season. Well, Windows fans can rejoice because Microsoft has brought back Family Pack to celebrate Windows 7's one-year anniversary.

As many of you already know, Windows 7 Family Pack gives you three licensed upgrades of Windows 7 Home Premium for just $149.99 instead of $119.99 for each license. According to Microsoft's Ashely Brown, Family Pack will be available from the Microsoft Store and authorized retailers beginning on October 3 in the United States.

Those outside of the U.S. (Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia) will have to wait until October 22 to get the Family Pack.

Unfortunately, just like before, the availability of the Windows 7 Family Pack won't be a long-term offering -- Microsoft says that the offer is "while supplies last".

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From InfoWorld: 3Par, which is already the subject of a bidding war between Hewlett-Packard and Dell, is now among a group of companies being sued by Crossroads Systems for patent infringement.

Crossroads' products include storage routers and storage bridges, a database security appliance, virtual tape appliances, tape encryption and file migration software.

In a suit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the company alleges that 3Par, D-Link, Rorke Data, Chelsio Communications, DataCore Software, iStor Networks and American Megatrends infringe on its patent for a storage router that provides virtual local storage on remote storage devices.

The lawsuit names seven models of 3Par's InServe Storage Servers and the 3Par Inform Operating System as infringing on the patent. Crossroads says it has notified all the defendants that it believes infringe its patent but that they continue to sell the products at issue. Crossroads names an additional patent covering a similar technology that it says 3Par and DataCore also infringe.

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From X-bit Labs: Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday displayed a die-shot of the forthcoming central processing unit (CPU) code-named Orochi, which is based on the Bulldozer micro-architecture and will be made using 32nm silicon-on-insulator process technology.

AMD Orochi is projected to be the company's next-generation high-end desktop microprocessors. The chip will feature eight processing engines, but since it is based on Bulldozer micro-architecture, those cores will be packed into four modules. Every module which will have two independent integer cores (that will share fetch, decode and L2 functionality) with dedicated schedulers, one floating point unit with two 128-bit FMAC pipes with one FP scheduler. The chip will have shared L3 cache, dual-channel DDR3 memory controller and will use HyperTransport 3.1 bus. The Orochi chips will use new AM3+ form-factor and will require brand new platforms.

The image clearly depicts four separate dual-core Bulldozer modules with unified level-two caches, various interfaces (memory, HyperTransport, etc.), rather strangely aligned level-three cache and so on. Based on the physical size of L2 caches, it can be expected that each module will have 2MB of L2, which should ensure higher single-thread performance compared to existing processors in many situations. It is unclear why the modules on the upper side of the picture are larger than the modules on the lower side of the image. Potentially, this may indicate that either certain modules will include certain additional logic or the image has been specifically altered.

Bulldozer instruction set architecture supports SSE 4.1; SSE 4.2; AVX with AMD 4-operand FMAC subset, 256-bit YMM registers and AES; XSAVE state space management and XOP instructions. Bulldozer will also support light weight profiling (LWP) technology. As indicated earlier, there are no word on 3DNow! extensions or SSE5 instruction set.

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