Hasta La Gadget!

Dell has just taken the wraps off a brand new addition to the Alienware family, hailing it, rather poetically, as “a serenade to raw gaming power.” It’s called the Alienware Aurora, and it’s staring at you with a Cylon-like grin in the image above. Beneath its menacing veneer lurks Intel’s six-core, 3000 series Core i7 CPU, an X79 Express chipset and quad-channel DDR3 memory, all of which are kept in check by Dell’s liquid cooling and active venting technologies. The gaming rig also supports both multi-display and 3D configurations, with GDDR5 memory-laced graphics cards. In case you’re not satisfied, you can always get under the hood and tinker with it yourself, without even busting out your tool belt. The Alienware Aurora is available now for prices starting at $2,200, so hit up the source link for more details.

Dell unveils Alienware Aurora gaming rig, will serenade you for $2,200 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been keeping an optimistic eye on the progress of Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (FeRAM) for a few years now, not least because it offers the tantalizing promise of 1.6GB/s read and write speeds and crazy data densities. But researchers at Purdue University reckon we’ve been looking in the wrong place this whole time: the real action is with their development of FeTRAM, which adds an all-important ‘T’ for ‘Transistor’. Made by combining silicon nanowires with a ferroelectric polymer, Purdue’s material holds onto its 0 or 1 polarity even after being read, whereas readouts from capacitor-based FeRAM are destructive. Although still at the experimental stage, this new type of memory could boost speeds while also reducing power consumption by 99 percent. Quick, somebody file a patent. Oh, they already did.

Ferroelectric transistor memory could run on 99 percent less power than flash originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, they’re not depicted to scale — but don’t they look sweet? In addition to the Memory Vault, SanDisk also chose today to freshen up its SDXC and USB flash products, which should start appearing in candy stores from October. Top billing goes to the Extreme Pro SDXC with 95MB/s reads and purportedly world-beating 90MB/s writes, starting at $110 for 8GB and topping out at 64GB for untold dollars. The Mobile Ultra range for microSDXC-equipped phones and tablets also goes up to 64GB, with 30MB/s transfer rates and a starting price of $25 for 4GB. Then there’s the tiny Cruzer Fit and pocket-friendly Cruzer Switch USB sticks starting at the $20 mark, plus a dime for good luck. Click the PR after the break for more sugary details.

Continue reading SanDisk outs Extreme Pro SDXC, Mobile Ultra microSDXC, new Cruzer USB sticks

SanDisk outs Extreme Pro SDXC, Mobile Ultra microSDXC, new Cruzer USB sticks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Quantum computing has a long way to go before becoming truly mainstream, but that certainly hasn’t stopped us from indulging in dreams of a qubit-based existence. The latest bit of fantasy fodder comes from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where researchers have become the first to combine a quantum processor with memory mechanisms on a single chip. To do this, Matteo Mariantoni and his team of scientists connected two qubits with a quantum bus and linked each of them to a memory element, capable of storing their current values in the same way that RAM stores data on conventional computers. These qubit-memory links also contained arrays of resonators — jagged, yet easily controlled circuits that can store values for shorter periods of time. The qubits, meanwhile, were constructed using superconducting circuits, allowing the UCSB team to nestle their qubits even closer together, in accordance with the von Neumann architecture that governs most commercial computers. Once everything was in place, the researchers used their system to run complex algorithms and operations that could be eventually used to decode data encryption. The next step, of course, is to scale up the design, though Mariantoni says that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, thanks to his system’s resonators — which, according to him, “represent the future of quantum computing with integrated circuits.”

Researchers wed quantum processor with quantum memory, quaziness ensues originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SandForce, the company behind the companies that make some of the best SSDs on the market, is at it again — this time demoing 24nm NAND flash from Toshiba at the Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara, CA. An SF-2000 processor was matched with the new shrunk-down storage, a 6Gb/sec SATA connection, and jammed inside a 2.5-inch enclosure to deliver 500MB/sec read and write speeds. It’s not the fastest we’ve seen, but the big news here isn’t the data rates — it’s the potential for cheaper SSDs. The smaller manufacturing process means Toshiba will be able to squeeze more storage out of the same wafer of silicon and, hopefully, shrink those still somewhat bloated prices. Check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon

SandForce demos 24nm flash from Toshiba, cheaper SSDs on the horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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