Compro Introduces Dual DVB-T & Analog TV Card

Compro Technology, a leading manufacturer of PC multimedia products, announcing her VideoMate T750, a dual DVB-T and analog TV/FM PCI tuner card, which brings high quality digital terrestrial TV and universal analog TV/FM broadcasts to your desktop PC, and turns your computer into a home entertainment center by bringing digital/analog TV viewing, video/audio capturing, and personal digital video recording (PVR) capabilities.

VideoMate T750 comes with Compro’s exclusive ComproDTV 3 software, let you watch digital and analog TV shows at the same time, set flexible scheduled recording, play recorded files, timeshift live TV, channel surf, capture still frames and Straight-to-Disc record for analog and digital TV; support Transport Stream recording and playing back in digital TV; customize channel order and set my favorite channel list for more easy-to-use; Video Desktop to setup the live TV screen in wallpaper mode can let you use other applications simultaneously; customize brightness, hue, saturation, contrast, sharpness, TV formats and language selection in each analog TV channel; support the all-new Picture in/out Picture (PIP/POP) function not only allow you to watch live TV and playback video files, but also let you open up to 1 main channel window, 3 sub channel windows and 1 play back file window (total 5 windows viewing) at once.

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Google launched Gmail voice and video chat

Google today launched Gmail voice and video chat, making it simple for people around the world to chat in high-quality video for free right within Gmail. All you need is a webcam and a small web browser plugin, and you can start video chatting with your friends, family, and coworkers on Gmail and Google Apps. Gmail voice and video chat lets you start a video chat without switching to another application or signing up for another account. And if you don't have a webcam, you can simply chat by voice. We've made it easy enough that your mom -- or your employees -- will actually use it.


We've tried to make this an easy-to-use, seamless experience, with high-quality audio and video -- all for free. All you have to do is download and install the voice and video plugin and we take care of the rest. And in the spirit of open communications, we designed this feature using Internet standards such as XMPP, RTP, and H.264, which means that third-party applications and networks can choose to interoperate with Gmail voice and video chat.

The launch comes as video communication grows in popularity; many of the latest lines of laptops, for example, come with built-in webcams. Businesses stretched across continents and timezones want more face-to-face collaboration among their employees, but in this economic climate, they're looking for ways to cut travel and IT expenses. Having a meeting with a colleague over video allows communications to continue in person without the expense of traveling there. Whether it's a coworker demoing a new product, or a first-time grandmother saying hello to her new grandson, sometimes there's no substitute for speaking to and seeing someone. Google is offering browser-based voice and video chat as a natural extension to webmail and instant messaging, allowing people to choose how they want to communicate at each moment -- by email, instant message, voice, or video.

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Sony Announces PSP 3000, Third Incarnation

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has announced its third incarnation of PlayStation Portable handheld video game console. The novelty will be priced at the same level as predecessors, but will sport a number of improvements, which are important, but are hardly crucial.

The PlayStation Portable model PSP-3000 is similar to the PSP-2000 released last year in terms of sizes and weight, however, it features substantially improved screen with increased colour range, higher contrast ratio, reduced pixel response time as well as trans-reflective coating. In addition, the PSP-3000 comes with built-in microphone to enable voice communications using Skype network as well as some other improvements. Other specifications remained unchanged.

Although the new screen consumes slightly more energy, which means that gamers will have to buy batteries with boosted capacities, it is highly likely that overall user experience will be tangibly different from the previous models. In addition, integrated microphone will make the PSP a true mobile communication device.

The improved PSP will be available in Japan, Europe, the U.S. and other countries later this year in various bundles. With no extras included, the PSP-3000 will cost ¥19 800 ($182) in Japan, $199 in the USA, €199 ($287) in Europe, £149 ($264) in the UK and AU$299 ($249) in Australia.

Sony PlayStation Portable competes against Nintendo DS handheld video game system. So far the device from Nintendo has been considerably more successful on the marke

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NEC Express5800 Server meets significant

NEC Corporation has announced that its recently released Intel Xeon-based “NEC Express5800 Scalable HA Server” achieved the fastest performance on the TPC-E benchmark.

The world record performance, 1,400 tpsE (transactions-per-second in TPC-E), achieved by the NEC Express5800/A1160, outperforms the previous record by 12 percent and also has a 9 percent improvement in price performance at $1,190.24 USD/tpsE.

The NEC Express5800/A1160 features NEC server technology with an up-to-4-box-capable building block structure powered by the Intel Xeon X7460 processor and high speed interconnect “HSI technology.”

This industry-leading benchmark was achieved with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 running on the server hardware, which served as the database server, and NEC’s innovative Enterprise Modular Storage D3-10 functioning as the database storage system.

The Performance Results for the server are drawn below:

Throughput : 1,400.00 tpsE
Price/Performance : $1,190.24/tpsE
Availability Date : December 31, 2008

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Rabbit Redefines Easy Embedded Networking

New MiniCore Series Includes Pin Compatible and Interchangeable Wired and
Wireless Modules

Rabbit, a Digi International brand, today released the MiniCore series of easy to use ultra compact, low profile, low-cost networking modules. Available in pin-compatible wired and Wi-Fi versions, the MiniCore series is optimized for real-time control, communications and networking applications such as energy management and intelligent building automation. Smaller than a packet of sugar, it offers users extreme flexibility to easily place wired or wireless network connectivity anywhere on a mother board. It also features 32 GPIO and a Rabbit 5000 microprocessor. This makes it the most cost effective network connectivity solution available for both networking and control in such a small form factor.

"The MiniCore series is ideal for basic control and connectivity," said Larry Kraft, senior vice president of global sales and marketing, Digi International. "It is small, low cost and optimized for high-volume applications such as energy management, building automation, industrial, point of sale and instrumentation applications. Users can also rely on the ease-of-use and dependability of the Rabbit brand to decrease development risk."

With a miniscule footprint of only 31 mm x 51 mm (1.2" x 2"), and at 3 mm
(0.1") in height, the MiniCore family provides a rich embedded feature set on an ultra-compact mini PCI Express form factor. The family includes the pin compatible and interchangeable wired RCM5700 and Wi-Fi RCM5600W. Pin-compatible versions that support ZigBee and USB are also in development. Systems developers can easily interchange MiniCore family products to tailor
connectivity for any given application.

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Seagate and Mcafee Drive advances

To combat growing threats to mobile information, Seagate is now shipping its groundbreaking, self-encrypting notebook PC hard drives, now with up to 320GB of capacity, to the worldwide distribution channel, with 500GB models coming soon. Additionally, Dell is now shipping a notebook with a 160GB self-encrypting hard drive. McAfee is set to provide software for the enterprise-wide management of notebooks with Seagate Secure hard drives.


Powerful, easy-to-use notebook data security is increasingly important as the global adoption of mobile PCs continues to soar and more notebooks are used to store sensitive personal and business information. Lost or stolen notebooks can cost companies millions of dollars in compromised proprietary information and threaten consumers with the high cost of identity theft, yet many computers remain unprotected. According to the United States FBI, a notebook computer is stolen every 53 seconds and 97% are never recovered.


The new Momentus FDE (full-disk encryption) notebook hard drives, 5400- and 7200-rpm models with capacities of up to a half-terabyte, deliver powerful protection to help guard against unauthorized access to information on lost or stolen notebook computers. Part of the Seagate Secure family of self-encrypting drives, the Momentus FDE drives feature government-grade encryption that delivers powerful security for confidential customer or corporate information on executive notebook computers, critical customer data on field sales and customer support notebook PCs, and sensitive information on personal notebooks.

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AMD debuts 45nm 4-core Shanghai Opteron

AMD has taken the wraps off it's 45nm quad-core 'Shanghai' Opteron processor line", promising improved performance and energy savings. The company says "Shanghai" will be widely available -- unlike its predecessor "Barcelona" which was delayed for months due to production glitches. Designed for the server and workstation market, Shanghai reportedly delivers up to 35 percent better performance while using 35 percent less power at idle -- all at a lower price than competing products from Intel. As it continues to duke it out with Intel, AMD appears to be aiming at the bottom line, hoping to lure recession-weary customers looking for value.

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