Intel to Discontinue Nehalem-Based Xeon 5500 CPUs

Now that the company has introduced its brand new Xeon E5 processors based on the Sandy Bridge-EP architecture, Intel has announced that it will soon discontinue the previous Xeon 5500 CPU series based on the older Nehalem-EP core. Intel announced its plans through a Product Change Notification (PCN) document that was released shortly before the official launch of the Xeon E5 CPU series. This decision affects no less than 16 processors, including five chips from the high-performance W- and X-series, 8 mainstream E-series models, as well as three low-power Xeon 5500 CPUs. The last order date for the processors affected is September 28, 2012, while shipments will continue until March 27, 2015. The boxed versions of these chips will be shipped...

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Dell’s Upcoming 15.6-Inch XPS Notebook Detailed Ahead of Launch

Dell is currently working on a new version of its popular 15.6-inch XPS series notebooks that will be designed to feature Intel’s next-generation Ivy Bridge processors and, most probably, Nvidia Kepler graphics. Some of the specifications of this new XPS range were uncovered by Dell Labs, which has learned that for these notebooks Dell plans to switch to a Full HD 15.6-inch display. This will apparently come packing a special anti-glare coating to make it legible even in direct sunlight, although we tend to believe that a glossy version of the display will also be available. On the inside, the new XPS models will be powered by Intel’s 22nm Ivy Bridge processors, with users being able to choose between the Core i5-3210M and the Core i7-3612QM. Even...

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Linux Kernel 3.2.10 Is Available for Download

A few minutes ago, March 12th, Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the immediate available for download of the tenth maintenance release of the stable Linux kernel 3.2 series.  Linux kernel 3.2.10 incorporates lots of ARM updates, improvements for the ALSA sound system, s390 and x86 fixes, as well as many updated drivers. "I'm announcing the release of the 3.2.10 kernel.All users of the 3.2 kernel series must upgrade." "The updated 3.2.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-3.2.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git;a=summary" - said Greg KH in the email announcement. As usual, the Linux...

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Acer Readies Aspire VA40 Notebook with Ivy Bridge CPUs and Nvidia Kepler Graphics

Besides the Aspire V3 and V5 notebooks that were presented at this year’s CeBIT fair, Acer’s 2012 Aspire range will also include the VA40 series of 14-inch laptops sporting Intel 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs and next-gen Nvidia Kepler discrete graphics. Such a notebook has recently entered into the possession of Chinese website Expreview, which made sure to snap a few screenshots of its configuration before sending it back. These have revealed that the Aspire VA40 laptop in question is powered by an Intel Core i7-3612QM processor, which is one of the chipmaker’s most powerful mobile CPUs, since it packs four computing cores with Hyper-Threading support. The CPU has a base frequency of 2.1GHz, but thanks to Intel’s Turbo Boost technology can reach...

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Firefox for Windows 8’s Metro UI with Internet Explorer’s Integration Level

When made available for the upcoming Windows 8 operating system, Mozilla’s Firefox web browser will benefit from a level of integration similar to the one available for Internet Explorer.  Mozilla has already started the work on the Metro-Style flavor of the application, and they now have a proof of concept.  We already knew that Internet Explorer 10 wouldn’t be the only browser available for the Windows 8 platform. What we didn’t know, however, was to what extent rival applications would be able to take advantage of the OS’s resources.  Apparently, in order to be a Metro application, Firefox, the same as any other browser designed for the Windows 8 platform, will have to take advantage of the entire new WinRT API that Microsoft...

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Samsung Series 5 Ultrabooks Pre-Orders Possible

Samsung's Series 5 ultrabooks may not be any easier to buy than the ASUS UX31A and UX21A Zenbooks, but they are available for pre-order at least.  The 13.3-inch Series 5 has a price of $879 (670.07 Euro), while the 14-inch model bears a price of $917 (699 Euro). The display resolution is 1,366 x 768 pixels.  That said, their other specs are more or less the same, which is not really a shock.  An Intel Core i5-2467M dual-core CPU is backed up by 4 GB of DDR3 memory and a 500 GB HDD with 16 GB NAND flash cache.  Also, two USB 2.0 ports are present, as is USB 3.0, a webcam, Bluetooth 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, a 4-in-1 card slot and, on the 14-incher, an optical disk drive.  There doesn't seem to be any mention of...

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ASUS UX31A and UX21A Zenbooks Use Ivy Bridge CPUs

We don't know when ASUS will release the ultrabooks equipped with Intel's new central processing units, but everything else about them somehow made it to the net. The folks at The Verge scraped together the relevant details pertaining to the Zenbook UX31A and UX21A. These two are powered by the Ivy Bridge central processing units (CPUs) that, some feel, Intel should have launched by now. Nonetheless, the processors are still unavailable, which means that ASUS won't start selling these two products before they show up. It also means that there is no set availability date at the moment, even though the prices are known. Speaking of which, the UX31A and UX21A will sell for $1,050 and $1,100, respectively, which translates into 800.42 Euro and...

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Script: Zocial

Zocial is a beautiful collection of CSS3-based buttons that can be used to redirect users to a specific social profile or to login with one of their social memberships. Zocial takes all the overhead and headache when needing custom styled buttons. Sometimes the simplest page elements, like buttons or typography, make the entire difference between an artistic page and a patched up template. Zocial can produce simple text buttons, icon buttons or a combination of both styles for a maximum visual effect (see image above). This new release of the Zocial set does not utilize images anymore and was completely open-sourced by its author, along with the custom-built font used to recreate the various logos. Because it uses the aforementioned font,...

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CeBIT 2012: Biostar Presents TZ77EX3 and TZ77EX4 Intel 7-Series Motherboards

Taiwanese hardware maker Biostar was also present at this year’s CeBIT fair, where the company showcased a couple of LGA 1155 motherboards based on Intel’s Z77 Express chipset, namely the Biostar TZ77EX3 and TZ77EX4. Just as its name suggests, the TZ77EX4 is the more feature-rich model of the two since it comes with a more powerful 13-phase VRM as well as with some extra options. 12 of these phases are used by Biostar to power the CPU, while the extra phase was added to feed the four memory slots. The board’s expansion features include three PCI Express x16 slots, one PCIe x1 and a pair of regular PCI slots, as well as eight SATA ports. Four of these support SATA 6Gbps transfer speeds, two driven by the Intel Z77 chipset while the other...

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Alienware M17X R4 to Feature Nvidia GTX 675M or Radeon HD 7970M Graphics

Dell is preparing a major graphics hardware update for the fourth generation of the popular Alienware M17x gaming notebook which will reportedly be available with next-gen 28nm AMD and Nvidia graphics cards. Users who will want to go for Alienware’s 17.3-inch notebook will have the option of choosing between the AMD Radeon HD 7970M and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M or GTX 675M graphics cards. According to the Dell Labs website, this GPU upgrade will also be accompanied by a series of new display options. The list includes the usual 1920x1080 Full HD and 1600x900 HD+ panels, but also a new 3D-enabled 1920x1080 Full HD screen with WLED backlighting. No matter which one of the three LCD panels one choses, these will be connected to the GPU via...

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Gigabyte GB-AEGT All-in-One PC Supports 400W Desktop PCIe x16 Graphics Cards

Gigabyte has recently announced a new all-in-one barebone desktop system, dubbed the GB-AEGT, which was specially designed to support high-performance CPUs and desktop PCI Express x16 graphics cards with a maximum TDP of 400 Watts. The system is actually based on a thin Intel H61 mini-ITX motherboard that is installed right under the AIO’s 24-inch 1920x1080 resolution Full HD display. According to Gigabyte, users can populate the board with Intel Sandy Bridge processors sporting a TDP as high as 95W, but also with a regular desktop graphics card. The GB-AEGT has enough room to support dual-slot GPUs with a maximum TDP of 400W thanks to the inclusion of a full size PCI Express x16 slot and a clever thermal design. Up to 8GB of system memory...

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iOS 5.1 Battery Life - Better or Worse

iPhone customers plagued by battery life woes have been expecting iOS 5.1 like the second coming, but has it fixed the problem? According to some of the people writing on the Apple Support Communities forums, not really. Although there are arguably fewer complaints now than there were when iOS 5 was released, it appears that iOS 5.1 still hasn’t resolved the problem for some users. Here’s one concerned customer asking fellow Apple fans if they are having a similar experience: “Hello, after having the feeling the Battery is sucked out by the new iOS, the problem is still there in 5.0.1. And now in 5.1 its getting more worse. Even my girlfriend mentiond it. So i am carefully asking the community: Are you experiencing the same batterydrain...

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Nvidia Kepler GK104 GPU Die Size Exposed – Report

The die size on Nvidia’s highly anticipated GK104 “Kepler” GPU was exposed recently by a Chinese website that apparently entered into the possession of an image depicting the company’s next-gen 28nm graphics core. The picture, published just earlier today by Expreview, has the GK104 GPU standing next to a G92b graphics processor, which we already know it has a die size of 231 square millimeters. Since the Kepler GPU pictured looks to be only slightly larger than the G92b, it seems that Nvidia’s new chip will be a great deal smaller than the company’s current Fermi GF110 and GF114 cores. This also seems to be confirmed by some measurements revealed by Expreview, which state that the Kepler GPU packaging measures 40mm x 40mm, while its die...

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