Micron PCM (Phase Change Memory) for Mobile Devices

Micron announced today the availability of the world’s first mobile phase change memory in a dual-chip/multi-chip package for mobile devices. There is a lot to say about PCM memory, but the shortest definition is that it is a flash memory replacement with very high write speeds and great durability. Like we just said, phase change memory (PCM) is a direct competitor to flash storage technology, but it can also act like a RAM chip. There was a lot of research done in this field and slowly, but surely, companies involved in PCM research gave up on using it as a RAM alternative and concentrated on building a viable storage alternative. The two main advantages PCM has over NAND is the fact that write speeds are greatly increased,...

Read more »

Windows Phone 8 to Pack Mass Storage Features

One of the great new features that Windows Phone 8 might bring along is rumored to be support for mass storage. Through this capability, users will be able to connect their handset to their PC without the need to install the Zune software to be able to access files on the mobile phones. Other smartphone operating systems already feature the capability, enabling users to easily move files back and forth between phones and computers. According to WPDang, Windows Phone 8 will come with this feature as well, in addition to offering support for removable microSD memory cards. This might also change users’ ability to install applications coming from unofficial sources, rumor has it. However, with Microsoft promising...

Read more »

Raspbian OS for Raspberry Pi

We've written about the raspberry Pi with pretty much every occasion we got, so we're obviously not going to skip on such a relevant occurrence as the appearance of a new OS for it. Based on the Debian, the Raspbian operating system is optimized specifically for the $35 / €28.60 device. The main asset is the faster web browsing, courtesy of improved floating point operation processing, but the applications, kernel and firmware will be upgraded as well. Go here to see where and how to download the file (it is an SD card image, to make everything nice and easy). Other operating systems are available as well, based on a Linux core. If you don't have one of the Raspberry Pi credit card-sized PCs yet, you can finally get...

Read more »

Office 2013 Features To Arrive on Windows Phone 8

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled to the world its brand new Office 2013 productivity suite, set to become commercially available sometime in the beginning of the next year. The application brings along a brand new user interface, along with various features based on cloud connectivity, and new social capabilities. Designed for use on desktop PCs, as well as on tablets running under the new Windows 8 platform, the application will arrive on Windows Phone 8 handsets as well, though in a completely different form. In a recent blog post explaining some of the main cloud features of Office 2013, Microsoft also noted that some of these capabilities would be delivered to Windows Phones as well. One thing that is certain at...

Read more »

ColorFire Eyefinity XStorm Radeon HD 7850 Pro X6 Video Card

We met ColorFire’s first cards here and here and we were quite impressed with Colorful’s new brand. Today, the company has yet another high-quality product that features AMD’s Eyefinity technology in its most complete implementation. The new card is called Colorfire XStorm 7850 X6 Eyefinity Pro and is based on AMD’s Radeon HD 7850 design. Radeon HD 7850 is AMD’s product name for the 800 Mhz version of the “Pitcairn” GPU. Pitcairn comes with 1,280 shaders and 80 texture units all using GDDR 5 memory running at 4800 MHZ effective speed. ColorFire has decided to outfit its new card with six mini DisplayPort connectors that can connect to HDMI, DVI or D-SUB slots using the proper adapters, as Overclockers.ua report. The...

Read more »

AMD Piledriver FX Quad Core Processors

As we’ve just reported here, AMD is rushing to clean up after the Bulldozer mess and most processors based on this architecture will EOL in December 2012. The Bulldozer based FX models will be replaced with Vishera parts based on the enhanced Piledriver architecture. We’ve already reported here about the 8-core FX 8350 Piledriver processor and we’ve confirmed it here, but now it’s time for our readers to meet AMD’s new quad core lineup. The new processors are FX 4300, FX 4320 and FX 4350. The former will be the slower quad core Vishera part at launch and will work at 3800 MHz and the Turbo boost will be able to clock it at a full 4 GHz. It comes with a total 8 MB of cache  and sports a 95 watts TDP. The middle quad...

Read more »