Hasta La Gadget!

We’ll hit the pause button on all the power-sipping tablet talk for a moment to show you NVIDIA’s maddest and baddest beast yet. This is a dual GeForce GTX 470 card, meaning that two Fermi dies reside on the same board, along with the necessary circuitry and an apparently beefed up apportionment of GDDR5 RAM as well. Measuring in at 12 inches long, this prototype is being shown off at Computex by add-in board partner Galaxy — probably just to prove that the mammoth undertaking is even possible. You’ll be forgiven for mistaking it for one of 3dfx’s final ill-fated productions, and with a requirement for two 8-pin power connectors and a doubling of the standard 470’s 215W TDP, this dualie card sure looks set for a similar future of pretty pictures and no retail viability. All the same, if you happen to have a nuclear reactor and a wind farm in your backyard, this could be just the GPU for you.

NVIDIA brings a dual GTX 470 prototype to Computex, causes power shortages in Taipei originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Hot Hardware  | Email this | Comments

USC researchers have upgraded Boston Dynamics’ LittleDog robot with better walking chops. Think of it as Aibo’s hunter-killer cousin.

That’s right, readers: Apple’s main man Steve Jobs is going to be on stage in just a few short hours at the 8th All Things Digital conference, also known as D8. You never know what’s going to happen at D, and we do not have a full schedule of events yet, but our esteemed colleague Joshua Topolsky has touched down in beautiful Los Angeles, and he’ll be liveblogging the Jobs interview right here. We hope Walt and Kara have an awesome list of questions (they usually do) — and remember — we’ll be on hand for plenty of other events too, including an interview with Microsoft mad man Steve Ballmer. Tune in, right here. We’ll see you on the other side!

Things kick off around 6PM PT (or 9:00PM ET), so check out our liveblog landing page right here for the main event.

Reminder: Steve Jobs on stage at the D conference — we’ll be there! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Still haven’t dropped a speedy solid state drive into your PC? SanDisk might just tempt you with its latest batch. At Computex 2010 the memory manufacturer announced its fourth-generation SSD lineup, consisting of the laptop-sized SSD G4 and the diminutive SSD P4 — those tiny mini-SATA netbook boards you see chilling outside Jefferson’s posh, nickel-plated mansion. The former will arrive in up to 256GB capacities with 220MB / sec read speeds and 160MB / sec writes (a sizable bump from prior numbers) while the latter range in size from 8GB to 128GB. Both feature the usual set of marketing buzzwords indicating speed and reliability, and both are slated to enter the OEM market in Q3 2010. That said, considering SanDisk’s recent track record here, we wonder if the company meant third quarter next year. PR after the break.

Continue reading SanDisk works it harder, unveils G4 and P4 solid state drives

SanDisk works it harder, unveils G4 and P4 solid state drives originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

To kick off the World Science Festival (WSF), to be held at various venues throughout New York City this week, a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope, the size of a tennis court, was unveiled this morning in Battery Park in lower Manhattan.

The World Science Festival consists of 40 events (talks, performances, readings, and more) in diverse subjects, including some exploring the relationship between science and music, visual art, and faith. They include a gala in Lincoln Center tonight to honor Stephen Hawking, and events featuring luminaries such as neurologist Oliver Sacks, Mars rover project leader Stephen Squyres, SETI researchers Jill Tartar and Seth Shostak, artificial intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky, physicist Kip Thorne, and even some non-science notables such as cartoonist Jules Feiffer and actor Alan Alda. Also, science-oriented street festival will take place next Sunday in Washington Square Park. The first World Science Festival, in 2008, drew 120,000 people to its events.

More about the Webb telescope after the jump.