USB 3 first benchmark – it’s here, and it’s fast

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

The first USB 3 external hard disk has arrived in the PC Pro Labs – a pre-production sample courtesy of our friends at Asus – and initial impressions are simply excellent.

The chart above may need a little explaining. The first two groups of results show how long it took, in seconds, to copy a folder of 3,000 small files, totalling 300MB in size, back and forth between a RAM disk and an external hard drive using various connections. The 650MB results are based on the same process using a single 650MB file.

The USB 2 and USB 3 figures were obtained by simply connecting the external drive first to a USB 2 port and then to a USB 3 one. The eSATA figures are from the A-Listed Iomega Professional External Hard Drive. (more…)

How Dixons is (under)selling Windows 7

Monday, November 2nd, 2009

If you’ve been into a Dixons Group shop lately (i.e. PC World or Currys Digital), you’ll have seen the place festooned with posters and displays declaring that the arrival of Windows 7 means it’s “time for a new PC”.

From a marketing point of view, it’s an obvious message for Dixons to be pushing. But in reality, as we all know, one of the great merits of Windows 7 is that most of us don’t need a new PC to run it. I use it happily on an old Advent laptop with 1GB of RAM and a Pentium Dual-Core processor; David Bayon runs it on his Atom-powered Samsung NC10 netbook. If there was ever an edition of Windows that didn’t mean “time for a new PC”, this is it.

With Microsoft getting so much right in Windows 7, it’s a disappointment to see it permitting (perhaps even supporting) such a misleading marketing slogan. And I think it’s a mistake. In the coming years Windows is going to be increasingly threatened from multiple directions — by a buoyant Apple, by emergent operating systems such as Chrome OS and by cloud-based mobile computing. Surely as the battle grows Microsoft will want its best foot forward, in the shape of a satisfied user base. The last thing it will want is to be weighed down by still-lingering resentments over Vista.

Yet this slogan seems designed to deliver precisely that outcome. Dissatisfied customers won’t appreciate being told they must write off their old PC to escape their unsatisfactory OS. Many who can’t afford a new PC will stick with Vista and remain disgruntled with it. And those who know the truth – that any machine that runs Vista will run Windows 7 better – will resent Microsoft’s apparent collusion in an attempt to get them to waste money on an unnecessary new PC.

Microsoft and me: my Windows 7 launch party

Monday, October 26th, 2009

On Saturday my girlfriend and I hosted an official Windows 7 Launch Party. This might sound like an inappropriate way for an independent journalist to spend an evening; but, as I’ve noted before, the party agreement left hosts free to praise, deride or ignore the OS as they saw fit. So, just as a bit of fun, I thought: why not? (more…)

Nvidia responds: There’s cash in CUDA

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Some companies take a very laid back approach to the press. I could publicly allege that Itanium was a front for a money-laundering operation and I doubt I’d hear a peep of complaint from Intel.

Actually, that might explain a lot. But I digress.

The point is that Nvidia, unlike Intel, is acutely tuned in to what people are saying about it — and can be quick to respond. (more…)

Reports of CUDA’s death exaggerated?

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

In my last post I suggested that DirectX 11’s extensive GPGPU support could mark the end of the road for CUDA. And I do expect that mass market GPU applications will quickly move to DirectX rather than restricting themselves to a single architecture.

But the other day I was discussing DX11 with Bit-Tech editor Tim Smalley, and I found him very reluctant to write CUDA off just yet. He pointed out that CUDA retains one big advantage over DX11, in that developers can knock up CUDA routines directly in C – or Fortran or even Matlab – without having to deal with the DirectX API. (more…)

All eyes on Nvidia as GTC kicks off

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

After last week’s Intel Developer Forum, it’s now Nvidia’s turn. Later on today the company will open its three-day GPU Technology Conference in San Jose – a more formal affair than last year’s flashy “Nvision” expo, but still a high-profile international event, and one which yours truly is lucky enough to be attending.

(The picture, in case you’re wondering, is a strange engine-type affair that’s been set up at the entrance to the delegates’ hotel, apparently to welcome us as we arrive. I guess that’s how they communicate with one another down here in the Valley.) (more…)

Can Microsoft Security Essentials beat Norton?

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

What do Microsoft and Symantec have in common? The obvious answer is that both are offering a new security package. In Symantec’s case it’s Norton Internet Security 2010, which I looked at a few weeks back. Microsoft, meanwhile, is today due to release Security Essentials, its free replacement for OneCare, formerly codenamed Morro.

They’re also both companies dogged by the sins of products past. (more…)

IDF graffiti: best of the boards

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

As I mentioned in my last post, the venue for last week’s Intel Developer Forum was dotted around with whiteboards, on which delegates were invited to share their visions of the future. This may have seemed like an invitation to disaster, but by the end of the conference there were some quite entertaining (and occasionally insightful) contributions on display.

Here – with apologies for the ropey photography – are some of my favourites…

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Gelsinger’s ghost hovers over IDF

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

The European anti-trust case isn’t the only controversy hanging over this year’s IDF. The sudden departure of well-liked senior VP Pat Gelsinger last week, after 30 years with Intel and with no real explanation, has been the subject of much gossip among delegates – and a grassroots graffiti campaign.

Now, before you imagine that IDF has been overrun by vandals, let me explain that Intel has installed whiteboards all around the conference centre, and has invited attendees to use them to share their visions of the future. It’s on these boards that the graffiti have been appearing. Some visitors have obligingly written up their hopes for new technology: a few arty types have even provided illustrations. (more…)

Intel kicks off IDF with an own goal

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Greetings from San Francisco! Back in the UK, I know most of you are probably gearing up to go home for the day; but out here it’s 8.15 in the morning and the Intel Developer Forum starts in 45 minutes. Over the next three days we’ll be learning more about 32nm CPUs, scoping out the successor (already) to Nehalem and – inevitably – enjoying more talk about Larrabee, Intel’s multi-core x86-based graphic system, now coming up to a glorious three years of development with no release in sight.

Still, leaving that aside, Intel’s doing pretty well right now. With Lynnfield barely out of the traps and a die-shrink already rumoured before Christmas, it’s clear that the company is, right now, at the top of its game in terms of innovation and engineering.

Which is why I was amused this morning when my very first interaction with IDF – the registration process – exposed a glaring security slip.

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