LG hit CES with a splash following its announcement of an HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc combo player made for home entertainment systems. With the set top version in stores, LG has turned its efforts to creating an internal SATA combo drive for computers.
The new GGW-H10N, coded for fashion as ?Super Multi Blue?, is a Blu-ray Disc reader and rewriter with HD DVD-ROM reading capabilities. According to the specifications posted on CDRinfo, the GGW-H10N can record up to 50GB of data on a dual layer Blu-ray Disc. A single layer disc can be burned at 4x speed, writing 25GB in about 24 minutes. Burning of dual layer media, however, will require the burner to back down to a slower 2x speed. DailyTech has more.

Intel and its partners will kick of CeBIT 2007 with the launch of Intel's Bearlake family of chipsets for desktop PCs. The new series introduces support for DDR3 memory, front side bus speeds up to 1333MHz and are designed to support Intel's upcoming 45nm-process CPUs, the Core 2 Duo (Wolfdale) and Core 2 Quad (Yorkfield). Read More

Earlier today DailyTech received it's briefiing on NVIDIA?s upcoming GeForce 8600GTS, 8600GT and 8500GT graphics processors. NVIDIA?s GeForce 8600GTS and 8600GT are G84-based GPUs and target the mid-range markets. The lower-positioned G86-based GeForce 8500GT serves as the flagship low to mid-range graphics card. The budget-priced trio feature full support for DirectX 10 features including pixel and vertex shader model 4.0. NVIDIA has yet to reveal the amount of shaders or shader clocks though. Nevertheless, the trio supports NVIDIA SLI and PureVideo technologies. DailyTech

ntel on Monday introduced its first chip designed specifically for radio-frequency identification technology, indicating the world's largest chipmaker is serious about RFID. Intel's entrance as an RFID chipmaker also lends credibility to the fledgling technology.
The Intel R1000 is a chip for ultra-high frequency RFID readers, and manufacturers of those readers are expected to start making them available as early as next month.
Intel says it has integrated most of the components found in an RFID reader radio -- including those that handle reception, transmission, baseband, modulation and demodulation -- into an 8mm by 8mm chip. The result, says Intel, will be lower costs for RFID readers, which can cost $1,500 or more. I-Week has more.

NVIDIA just cranked up its highest-end Quadro graphics cards a notch or two, rolling out three products, the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600, Quadro FX 5600 (pictured above), and NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS Model IV that the company says represents the biggest leap in performance for its graphics cards yet. One giant leap indeed, because these parallel processing monsters have the rough equivalent of 128 1.35GHz processors cranking away at graphics in a whole new way. More at GizModo

AMD will finally launch its long-awaited 690-series chipset-family tomorrow. Two variants will spearhead the release: the RS690-based mainstream AMD 690G with ATI Radeon X1250 graphics, and the RS690C-based value AMD 690V with ATI Radeon X1200 graphics.
AMD?s 690-family hit plenty of snags along its development cycle. Early roadmaps showed a 2H?2006 launch, however, AMD kept pushing the launch back. Motherboard vendors blamed the delayed launch on AMD for multiple delays with the RS690. AMD?s discrete RX690 variant that was to launch in the same timeframe as RS690 has yet to make an appearance. More @ DailyTech

Intel expects to launch two integrated graphics equipped Bearlake chipsets ? the G35 and G33 Express. Intel G33 Express-based motherboards are currently sampling and expected to launch next quarter with the P35 Express.
Motherboards based on Intel?s G33 Express will support upcoming Yorkfield and Wolfdale 45nm processors. Processors with front-side buses up to 1333 MHz are supported with G33 Express based motherboards. As with the Intel P35 Express, the G33 Express supports either DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 memory. DailyTech has more.

That s a hot baby ! The XPS 710 H2C Edition is billed as a top-of-the-line ultra-performance machine built with the most hardcore of gamers in mind, a niche that Alienware is very familiar with. Not only does the XPS 710 H2C hold the distinction of being Dell's first non-limited edition factory overclocked computer, it also uses Dell's first in-house liquid cooling system to keep it's quad-core power plant cool. The XPS 710 H2C is the most heavily performance-specified XPS system yet, with an Intel Core 2 QX6700 processor, dual GeForce 8800 GTXs, 4 GB of RAM and two Western Digital Raptors in a RAID 0 array, as standard equipment. We recently got our hands on one and we've been putting it through its paces, as it ripped through the benchmarks in our labs. HotHardware

Advanced Micro Devices has inaudibly slashed prices on its desktop microprocessors for the second time in the last four weeks under the pressure from Intel?s Core 2-series chips and seasonally slow first quarter. But while mainboard manufacturers were surprised by the move, they noted that the biggest concern is still AMD?s ability to supply chips.

DailyTech had the opportunity to sit down with NVIDIA insiders and discuss upcoming chipset technology. NVIDIA's nForce 590 Intel chipset might not have grabbed as many headlines as the company would have liked in 2006, but that will not deter the company from giving it another shot in 2007.
MCP73 is NVIDIA's headline integrated graphics chipset for Intel in 2007. It will come in no less than three flavors. The main chipset, dubbed MCP73P, is a 1333MHz front-side bus chipset. A cut down version of the same chipset, dubbed MCP73PV, will only feature a 1066MHz FSB. Our sources would not reveal the third chipset, although is it likely a derivative that does not feature integrated graphics.......

AMD is preparing the rollout of its first quad-core processor, an Opteron processor based on the Barcelona core. Meanwhile, Intel is developing an answer to Barcelona: The company is lining up 45 nm server and desktop processors and will revive Hyperthreading in 2008 with the Nehalem core.
Sources indicated that Intel acknowledges AMD's claim that the company has developed a "true" quad-core processor, while Intel is relying on a dual-die package with two dual-core processors at this time as well as 45 nm Penryn quad-core CPUs. However, the company also believes that AMD's decision to integrate the memory controller into the CPU has a downside and forces the manufacturer to compromise cache size and stick to only two memory channels..........

VIA?s latest chipset roadmap unveils two new chipsets for Intel processors ? the PT960 and PM960. These new chipsets are designed with Intel?s Core 2 architecture in mind, supporting front-side-bus speeds up to 1333 MHz. Intel expects to launch its 1333 MHz front-side-bus Core 2 Duo E6x50-series processors later this year. DailyTech

Here are the specifications of the upcoming DX10 chipsets: Source: SiliconInvestor

Inq reports:NVIDIAN Geforce 8800 GTS cards with 320MB of memory are already in the hands of some lucky reviewers.
The card is set to cost ?299 and make DirectX 10 a bit more affordable at least before the G86 comes to try to take over the word.
A Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB should not end up much slower than its 640MB brother but the reviews will see the light of day in the next few days. Nvidia just needs to wave the flag and say that the NDAs are lifted off.

Intel may claim its 45nm processors will be in production in H2, but it appears desktop chips may not actually launch until Q1 2008, if the latest roadmap to leak out of the chip giant is to be believed.
Intel has two 45nm CPUs in the pipeline: 'Yorkfield', the sucessor to today's four-core Core 2 Extreme and Core 2 Quad, and 'Wolfdale', the future Core 2 Duo. According to a roadmap published by Japanese-language site PCWatch, all both chips do not appear until Q1 2008. Read more at RegHardware

TechReport reports: Last week, rumors predicted that Sapphire and Palit would both release Radeon X1950 GT graphics cards early next month. Palit announced its card earlier this month, and Sapphire has now introduced its flavor of the new Radeon X1950 GT. The Sapphire card features 36 pixel shader processors, a 500MHz core clock speed, and 256MB of GDDR3 memory running at 600MHz. Those specs aren't a whole lot worse than those of the Radeon X1950 Pro, which runs at 575MHz with 690MHz memory. Both the Radeon X1950 GT and the Radeon X1950 Pro reportedly use the same 80nm RV570 graphics processor, as well.

Intel announced the next revolution in Microprocessor fabrication by replacing Silicon Dioxide gates with High-K dielectric metal gates. Microprocessor industry analyst David Kanter who contributed a lot of the information in this piece had this in-depth analysis on what this means for Intel and AMD. I spoke with David Kanter or Real World Technologies and came up with the following roadmap of the two chip giants for the next two years: Read on at ZdNet

This week Intel presented the first working 45nm Penryn processors to the press. These processors will become available in the second half of this year. ?Being first to high volume with 65nm process technology and the first with a working 45nm chip highlights Intel?s leadership position in chip technology and manufacturing,? said Bill Holt, vice president, general manger, Intel Technology and Manufacturing Group. Head over to DV Hardware for more info and photos.

[H]ardOCP reports that ASUS has four new motherboard models specifically designed for use with Windows Vista. The motherboards include features like the AI Remote, AP Trigger, ScreenDUO and the ASUS Accelerated Propeller (ASAP).
Official Asus announcement infos

Leap ahead, these two words drive focus at Intel. Their job is to find and drive the next leap ahead around technology, education, culture, manufacturing, and more to continuously encourage their customers, partners, consumers, and businesses to join them as they continue to take exciting leaps forward. After the incredible launch of Intel's Conroe series it's not too easy to follow that up. But make no mistake as at the end of last year, Intel has launched the world's first quad core desktop processor. The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 is based on the new Kentsfield core, and actually features two Core 2 Duo processors packed together in one single chip featuring a total of 8MB of L2 cache.