VoIP Coming Soon To iPhone 3G

Apple iPhone users may soon be able to make calls without using cell phone minutes as Global IP Solutions announced Monday a software developer's kit that enables voice over IP on Apple's handset.
Developers will be able to use VoiceEngine Mobile to build standalone VoIP applications for Apple's App Store, as well as applications that integrate real-time VoIP communication into iPhone games, chats, social networking, and more.

"The popularity of the iPhone, along with the emergence of various applications and faster connectivity, makes it an ideal platform for developing applications that incorporate quality real-time VoIP, giving consumers real-world communication experiences like in-game, multi-person chat," said Emerick Woods, Global IP Solutions' CEO, in a statement.

Users hoping to utilize the iPhone 3G's high-speed network for VoIP calls are out of luck, as the VoiceEngine Mobile will only work on Wi-Fi hotspots. This is due to Apple's agreement with its exclusive U.S. carrier AT&T (NYSE: T) to remove applications that violate the mobile operator's terms of services. VoIP calls on a 3G network could potentially eat into AT&T's voice revenue.

This agreement also recently came up when Apple removed a tethering application from its App Store. The application, Netshare, allowed customers to use the phone's 3G data plan on a computer. Although Apple has not confirmed it, it is widely believed that Netshare was pulled because it conflicted with AT&T's terms of service for the handset.

While there have been other VoIP applications for the iPhone from companies like Fring, those often required "jailbreaking" the handset.

In India iPhone 3G will cost Rs 31,000

Last week Bharti Airtel and Vodafone announced that they will launch iPhone on August 22.

The above pricing is exclusive of the rental plan the phone will come bundled with.

Reports indicate that the 8 GB version of the 3G iPhone will cost Rs 31,000, while the 16 GB version will cost between Rs 36,000–37,000.

In a statement, Bharti said that millions of Airtel subscribers will be able to purchase the iPhone at Airtel's Relationship Centres from August 22.

"iPhone has been an iconic technological revelation of this year and Airtel has been at the forefront of innovation and customer delight in the Indian telecom sector," Sanjay Kapoor, President, Bharti Airtel mobile services, said.

iPhone is embedded with all 3G features and is twice as fast as the existing mobile phones. The phone also has in-built GPS system, which facilitates as navigation and positioning tool.

AMD Launches World’s Fastest Graphics Card ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2

AMD today announced the world’s fastest graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2, advancing visual computing ever closer to eye-definition computing gaming and cinematic experiences and delivering a whopping 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power. Also announced today is the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 graphics card, delivering blistering performance at a compelling price point.

These cards comprise the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series, combining two ATI Radeon HD 4800 series GPUs with a more advanced cross-GPU connection based on the PCIe 2.0 standard, plus two gigabytes of memory – the most in any currently available consumer graphics card. These technologies combine to make the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series perfectly suited for the most demanding games, able to deliver astonishing frame rates at extreme resolutions and image quality settings.

The secret behind this speed is a new generation 2 switch and a sideport interface that comes with the 4870X2. Although there are no current applications that will benefit from the sideport, AMD says that they will be developed in the future, meaning that there will be performance increase in certain stream computing applications. It should be the case to do so, as the card is able to offer up to 2.4 terraflops of compute power.

The capabilities of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series were on display yesterday in New York City, where leading experts from the game development community and Hollywood joined AMD to discuss and demonstrate eye-definition computing computing. Eye-definition computing is the art and science of achieving visual computing experiences that seem optically real. The tremendous computational 2.4 teraFLOPS horsepower of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series makes computing experiences that approach eye-definition computing possible. The first application of eye-definition computing computing, demonstrated by AMD in New York yesterday, is Cinema 2.0, the fusion of digital people, places and things, rendered with real-time interactivity. Cinema 2.0 shows the power to digitally create interactive environments and characters that seem optically real in either a video game or digital cinema context. With the help of leading content creators, AMD demonstrated the first “virtual” actor to be rendered in real-time in perfect, lifelike detail, via the incredible processing power found in the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series.

Based on an advanced 55nm design and leading DirectX 10.1 support, the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series delivers engineering elegance and the industry’s most compelling feature set. The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 is immediately available from e-tailers worldwide priced at USD $549 SRP, while the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 is scheduled to be available in September at an estimated price of USD $399.

The world’s fastest graphics card

The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 delivers unsurpassed graphics horsepower, setting a new performance bar for visual computing with 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power on a single card. It is also the world’s first graphics card to include 2GB of ultra-high bandwidth GDDR5 memory. The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 features two GPUs based on a second generation 55nm technology and clocked at 750 MHz, with a combined 1600 stream processors.

Engineered to be the world’s fastest graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 was built with efficiency, scalability and performance in mind, delivering four times the performance efficiency AMD high-end GPU offerings released just one year ago.

New levels of performance under $400

Setting a new performance standard in graphics cards priced under $400, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 provides the power to play today’s most demanding titles at ultra-high settings. Like its big brother, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 features 1600 stream processors, and two GPUs clocked at 625 MHz. The ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 features 2GB of GDDR3 memory.

Ecosystem Support

The ATI Radeon HD 4800 series is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies offering custom designs of the products. Building high-performance versions of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 X2 series products are, ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GECUBE, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), Jetway, MSI, Palit Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology and VisionTek.

Apple releases iPhone 2.0.1 Software

The iPhone / iPod touch 2.0.1 software update should not be mistaken for the 2.1 build issued to developers two weeks ago. 2.0.1 is, however, out in the wild and ready to hit your iPhone / iPhone 3G / iPod touch to make your device work a tad better, and faster.

To download and install the 249.2MB update, connect your iPhone or iPod touch to your Mac or PC and select it in iTunes. Then hit the "Check for Update" button. iTunes will initiate a grueling backup of your existing iPhone's software before installing the the update.

Following reports saying iPhone users were experiencing camera shutter bugs, as well as some issues with the accelerometer, Apple was expected to release a minor update to fix these problems, and other minor ones on a very short notice. While no one could confirm that the two major problems are fixed after installing the update, AppleInsider has posted some user-discovered changes in iPhone/iPod 2.0.1 which include the following:

Apple does not always specify the changes it makes in minor software updates. As such, the company leaves users guessing and trying to decipher those changes on their own. Some user-discovered changes in iPhone/iPod 2.0.1 include:

• You can now drag an app icon across multiple pages in one motion, rather than having to drag it, drop it, pick it up again and drag it over to next page, and repeat.
• Contacts are now more responsive.
• After installing 2.0.1, each successive backup is much faster.
• Apple may have changed the calibration of the iPhone's reception "bars" while connected to a 3G network to reflect a stronger signal than before.
• Keypad loads quicker.
• Screen rotation in Safari appears to be smoother.
• Some apps may ask to be updated after the firmware upgrade.

Motorola Atila - Moto’s touchscreen answer to Apple’s iPhone 3G

This time we’ve got the brother-in-law to the Motorola Alexander — no QWERTY keyboard — with a pretty decent spec sheet. This one is codenamed Atila, and if you haven’t caught on to Motorola’s code names for Windows Mobile devices, they are all named after great conquerors; Alexander, Atila, Ghenghis, etc. The Atila is actually the first Motorola device that will have tri-band UMTS/HSDPA.

The reference to Attila the Hun, the Hungarian king in the 5th century, is more than obvious, so Motorola seems to be seriously preparing itself for re-conquering the mobile market.

The American manufacturer will need good-looking and well-featured new handsets. And if we look at Motorola Atila, we discover exactly a device of this kind.

The design of Atila is somehow a mix between BlackBerry Bold, LG Dare and Apple's iPhone, so the result could have only been a nice handset.

Like the Alexander, Motorola Atila will run on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Unlike it, the Atila does not have a hardware QWERTY keyboard, being a touch-only Pocket PC.

The first good thing about the new Motorola is that it brings quad-band GSM connectivity (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) with GPRS and EDGE, and tri-band HSPA connectivity (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz). This makes the device capable of working about anywhere in the world, as long as there's at least a GSM network deployed. Moreover, the 3G connectivity should allow the handset to achieve data transfers of up to 7.2 Mbps in downlink or up to 1.8 Mbps in uplink.

Specification

• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
• Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850MHz/1900MHz/2100MHz)
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 1.8Mbps HSUPA
• 1130mAh battery
• 2.8″ QVGA 240 x 320 screen
• Wi-Fi b/g
• Qualcomm 7201 A chipset
• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

World’s First 2.5Gbps DDR3 SDRAM Develops by Elpida

Elpida Memory today announced that it had developed the world’s first 2.5Gbps (bit per second) 1-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM. The new memory device has an optimized design based on a copper interconnect process and new circuit technology that not only enables faster speeds but also an ultra-low voltage operation of 1.2V while conforming to DDR3 specifications.



In upgrading a system’s overall performance it is important to strike a balance between the data transfer rate and power consumption. Server and PC makers who use DDR3 are increasingly demanding the freedom to choose an optimum data rate and a supply voltage that can meet various kinds of system requirements. In response to this demand Elpida’s new SDRAM can meet DDR3 standard 1.5V as well as ultra-low 1.35V and 1.2V voltage requirements. In addition, it achieves data rates of 2.5Gbps at 1.5V and 1.8Gbps at 1.2V, considerably faster than the current industry standard of 1.6Gbps at 1.5V.


Key features of the new DDR3 SDRAM:

• Characteristics that achieve a next-generation DDR3 data rate over a range of voltagesData rate: 667Mbps-2.5Gbps; voltage: 1.2V-1.5V
• Common-die solution for fast operating speed and ultra-low voltage operationOne chip enables a wide range of operating voltages and operating speeds suited not only to new low-voltage/high-speed systems but is also compatible with existing standard 1.5V systems. A product that meets customer demand for all kinds of system designs.
• 25% faster than products with aluminum interconnects and consumes as much as 22% less power.

The new DDR3 SDRAM uses a copper interconnect process that is superior to aluminum in terms of transmission characteristics. By taking maximum advantage of these characteristics during the design phase new circuitry can be developed that enables even faster products that continue to need little power. As a result, the new product’s ability to operate at an ultra low voltage of 1.2V can contribute to lower power consumption, which is especially important in the case of large-memory capacity extended-use sever applications. Also, for high-end PCs geared to high-speed operations an operational speed of 2.5Gbps enables a significant system performance upgrade.

The new copper interconnect-based DDR3 SDRAM is intended for applications in the areas of servers and high-end PCs. Sample shipments are scheduled to begin by the end of August. Also, Elpida plans to use a process shrink to enable the new memory product to achieve even faster speeds and lower voltage.