Intel lifts lid on High Definition Audio specs

The IT world is full of codenames for new technologies, and Intel is no exception. Well, one name is now off the list, as the chip giant officially titles the next-gen audio specification previously known as 'Azalia'. Intel boasts that 'Intel High Definition Audio' will bring consumer electronics-quality audio to the computer, and declares that the name High Definition Audio is meant to reflect the 'marriage of advanced audio capabilities in PCs and consumer electronics'. ...more

Acer and Microsoft target Europe and China for Tablet PC push

Acer and Microsoft will focus their co-marketing efforts this year to push Tablet PCs into the mainstream of the Greater China and German markets, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported Saturday. This strategy was finalized during a meeting of top executives from the two companies held in Taipei last week, the report said. Acer had originally hoped to boost its sales of Tablet PCs to around 20 per cent of its notebook shipments in the six selected markets of Australia, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan and the US in 2004. ...more

Samsung pushes the PRAM out

Korean giant Samsung Electronics has unveiled a new type of flash memory chip that it claims is up to 30 times faster than today's devices. According to the company, the prototype 512Mbit Phase-change Random Access Memory (PRAM) chip shown in Seoul is set to become the main memory device to replace high density NOR flash within the next 10 years. PRAM's turn of speed is attributable to its ability to rewrite data without having to first erase data already stored, making it effectively 30-times faster than conventional flash memory. ...more

Wi-Fi races towards 802.11n and past 100Mbps

Two of the companies that are making the chips that will power the next-generation Wi-Fi standard have announced that they have achieved interoperability at speeds in excess of 100Mbps. Using the Draft 1.0 specification for the 802. ...more

New 1000MHz DDR memory unleashed

US memory manufacturer, Patriot Memory has announced the release of its new Extreme Performance and Dual Channel Ease Latency DDR2 1000MHz (pictured). They are aimed at overclockers and gamers. Patriot says that its R2 1000 MHz (PC2-8000) module has been approved by Intel for use with its 955X chipset. ...more