AMD Is Releasing 3 New AMD Radon GPUs

 

amd-gpu.jpgRumors are afloat about a Dell buyout for AMD, , but AMD is still making its own news. The company is ready to launch three new GPUs. AMD is shipping the new AMD Radeon HD 6450, 6570, and, 6670 GPUs to PC manufactures. They’ll also be sold online and in retail stores. HP, Dell, and other manufactures are ordering the new GPUs for the upcoming PC models.

All three support DirectX 11 and multiple-display, run faster, and have a cooling system attached. Besides that, the GPUs will be pretty much the same as the previous ones AMD has put out before. AMD has not released the price of the new GPUs.

Via Hot Hardware

Reporter’s Grammy Speech Flub Not a Stroke

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When L.A. TV reporter Serene Branson launched into a string of unintelligible gibberish during the Grammys on Sunday night, viewers quickly leapt into action, uploading the thing all over the Web and tweeting about the bizarre spectacle. The video went viral at a mind-spinning rate. And then people began to worry. Perhaps the odd flub was something more than just a tongue-tied reporter. People started bandying about the term “stroke” a lot.

After several days of speculation, Branson addressed the video on her station, KCBS. The reporter had been checked out by doctors at the UCLA  Medical Center, earlier in the week. They did a brain scan and blood work, ruling out the possibility of a stroke.
During the interview, Branson revealed that she had started to get a headache prior to event. “At around 10:00 that night I was sitting in the live truck with my field producer and the photographer and I was starting to look at some of my notes,” Branson explained. “I started to think, the words on the page are blurry and I could notice that my thoughts were not forming the way they normally do.”
And then she went on air. “As soon as I opened my mouth I knew something was wrong,” she continued.
The incident, it turns out, was actually the result of a migraine. Branson has suffered from them since she was a child, but, she told doctors, this is the first time she had one of this magnitude. 

Facebook Adds Gay-Friendly Relationship Options

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Facebook this week added two new relationship statuses that will make it easier for gay users to define their situations on the popular social network. “In a Domestic Partnership” and “In a Civil Union” will be added to the list, alongside “Single,” “Married,” “Engaged,” In a Relationship,” “In an Open Relationship,” “Divorced,” “Separated,” and “Widowed.”

The new statuses are now available in the U.S. and are set to be rolled out in addition countries, soon. Says Facebook, “This has been a highly requested feature from users. We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook.”
Mashable points out that the site also teamed up with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) last year, to help curb gay-targeted cyber bullying on the site.
Now that wasn’t so complicated, was it?

Cardboard Flash Drives Let You Throw Away Your Data

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Most people don’t use USB flash drives for disposable information: after all, there’s e-mail for that – but if you’re looking for a cheap alternative to giving out traditional plastic flash drives, the designers at Art Lebedev (you know, makers of the now famous Optimus Maximus Keyboard) have an idea: what if you could buy a sheet of cardboard flash drives, rip one off, drop some data on it, and then hand it out or get rid of it when you’re finished? Thus, the cardboard flash drive was born. 
They’re still a design, but Art Lebedev has mockups of 8GB and 16GB versions of the things, that come in neat little rows connected with perforated cardboard for easy separation and a blank space on the top you can use to print the name of your company or a reference to the data you have on the drive. Presumably using cardboard creates less waste in the long run, because the cardboard is recyclable and breaks down naturally, while thick plastic housings will be around for thousands of years. 
Still, it would be difficult to resist the urge to hang on to a 16GB flash drive, even if it were made out of cardboard. There’s no timeline for whether these will ever be a real product or how much it would cost if it were, but it’s not hard to see people who would want to use these to replace press kits or business cards at trade shows.

5 New Panasonic Camcorders To Be Released This Year

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Panasonic is releasing a line of camcorders in all sizes, colors, and even quality–five new models, in all. The company hasn’t offered a release date or prices yet.

The HM-TA20 is a basic Flip-style camcorder that is water proof, can work day or night, and be used a Webcam, though it does lack zoom capabilities. HM-TA20 has a sister model called HM-TA2 that nearly the same, only not waterproof. It also come with a handy tripod. The HX-WA10 is a pistol styled camcorder that has a touchscreen, can take pictures, and is water/dust/drop proof. It also has two sister models called HX-DC10 which is not drop/dust or water proof, while the HX-DC1 is lower quality, cheaper, and does not have a touchscreen.

Via Engadget

People of Walmart Blog Sparks Controversy

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What began life as a small Tumblr blog roughly a year ago has blossomed into the latest Internet phenomenon this week, spending a good chunk of the day offline, due to traffic. People of Walmart is a collection of some of the um, less visually appealing folks who frequent the mega-retail chain. It’s a great place to go if you love to check out the butt cleavage of overweight people pushing shopping carts.
Of course, with a site built around poking fun at regular people, controversy isn’t far behind success. The Long Island Press is reporting one woman’s fight to have unapproved pictures (which, let’s be honest, is almost certainly all of them) taken off the site after the blog referred to her mother as, “a Canadian member of the division of the trench coat mafia.” Yeah, that’s a pretty rough one.
Having public photos removed from the Internet is a lot easier said than done, of course. 

Richard Pryor Tending Bar at the Star Wars Cantina (Video)

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Anyone else having kind of a crummy week? Good news: more funny videos on the Internet! Here’s one that’s been making the rounds, lately. It was taken from Richard Pryor’s short-lived NBC variety show (which also featured the likes of Robin Williams, Sandra Berhard, and others), which was pulled from the station when the content was deemed too risqué after a handful of episodes.
In this clip, Pryor plays the bartender of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Now, the set itself looks like a pretty standard bar from our own galaxy, but the suits, on the other hand, are all authentic, on loan from Lucasfilms. 
Video after the jump.

Skype to Disgruntled Nokia Employees: Please Apply

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Nokia just can’t catch a break. Just last week, over a thousand Nokia developers walked off the job in protest over their company’s new partnership with Microsoft to bring Windows Phone 7 to Nokia’s mobile devices. Google’s response was less than subtle: “we’re hiring, come on over!” 
Now Skype is joining the chorus as well. Skype’s CEO, Tony Bates, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week that “There is going to be tremendous talent out there,” and that “Our primary engineering focus just so happens to be somewhere between Finland, Estonia and Stockholm, so you can imagine that’s a great opportunity and we’re hiring.”
Ouch. On the bright side, those Nokia engineers tasked with Symbian as their active project won’t have to look far to find new work. On the other hand, Nokia likely won’t be winning any “best places to work” awards in the immediate future, given the employee outrage. 
[via Reuters]

Intel Releases Core i7-990X Six-Core Chip

intel_core_i7.jpgIntel is stepping back up to the plate with the release of the new Core i7-990X chipset. The newest chipset has six chips in one chip, and it’s considered to be the fastest chip yet. Built for high-end laptops, along with desktop computers, Intel will charge $999 for 1,000 units.

The Core i7-990X belongs to what Intel calls the Extreme Edition chipset family. This new chipset can work with LGA1366 motherboards, as well as other motherboards. Since Intel has released the newest chipset in the Extreme Edition, Intel is slashing prices on the older models from the same family.

I’m happy to see that Intel is doing well, even after the flub with Sandy Bridge. Hopefully the rest of this year will go a bit more smoothly for Intel.

Via XBit Labs

Borders Files for Bankruptcy, Closes Stores

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Remember the days when we were bemoaning the loss of small mom and pop stores to the likes of giant retail chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders? Who have thunk that, not too many years later, those stores would themselves by facing a grave threat to their existence?
After years of getting kicked around by the likes of Amazon.com and the Internet in general, Borders this week filled for Chapter 11 in New York. The retail giant also announced plans to shutter 30 percent of “under performing” retail locations, according to Bloomberg.
The company is undergoing a number of management changes and job cuts, in order to reorganize its debt. “Borders Group does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor,” Mike Edwards, the company’s president said in a statement, adding that the move give Borders, “time to reorganize in order to reposition itself to be a successful business for the long term.”