Jam TEC update - 09/02/07 HDD Media Player 2

It's not quite as whimsical as some of Thanko's other gadgets, but those looking for a barebones media player may actually want to consider the company's new HDD Media Player 2, which looks like it should get the job done and do so on the cheap. Naturally, you'll have to supply your own hard drive, but the enclosure will handle most of the media-playing abilities you'll likely want (including DivX and even DVD VOB file playback), and you'll get a decent enough complement of ports, including VGA, component, composite, s-video, and an optical digital audio output. Look for this one to set you back just over $70

Jam TEC update - 09/02/05 LG Arena KM900

Already we saw the LG's new smart phone the ARENA KM900. Some of the specs of this module has been released to the internet. Apparently, this one will boast GSM/UMTS/HSDPA connectivity, along with a high-res 3-inch 800x480 display (no word on resistive or capacitive), and some form of mobile TV, although specifics on that are a bit light at the moment. The phone also apparently measures just 11.5mm thick, which makes it a smidgen slimmer than the iPhone and, as we had heard before, it could be out in Europe as soon as next month

Jam TEC update - 09/02/05 Timex Expedition WS4

The folks at Timex has come up with this new wrist watch will give you so many details. Still not sure is this made for rock climbing, mountain biking, and sumo wrestling, but i already feel stronger, smarter, more aware of the outside temperature, and way better looking. Later on i'll post the specs of this amazing watch

Jam TEC update - 09/01/31

It’s getting harder to make an HDTV that really stands out, but Philips has gone to great lengths (well, widths) with a new set it’s recently unveiled. Forgoing the 16:9 wide-screen aspect ratio most new sets have, the Cinema 21:9, a 56-inch LCD, extends to nearly the same ratio as movies shot in the 2.39:1 format.

Jam TEC update - 09/01/30 Western Digital Unleashes the First 2 TB Hard Drive (WD20EADS)

Western Digital, really? They are launchign the first 2 TB hard drive? I had my money on Hitachi or Samsung. It is seriously cool to see Western Digital releasing such a massive hard drive.

The WD20EADS uses four platters (500 GB each with 400 Gb/in² areal density). The drive also has a 32 MB buffer.

Do we need 2 TB hard drives? Hell yes, and here is why:

1. SLR Cameras are taking over the market. Raw image files can be over 10 MB each! The new Canon 5D Mark ii. It’s a 21 megapixel monster and the raw image files 25.8 MB! Shoot 800-1000 images in a photo shoot. That over 2 GB per shoot.

2. Bluray movies are massive and we love to rip them at high quality. I am spoiled. Avi files and divx can suck a goat. H.264 looks so much better. Plus, I love my MKV files with their embedded audio files and subtitle selections. An avi file (at normal quality) is about 750 MB. My H.264 files are between 1.3 and 2 GB.

3. Games are getting bigger. I don’t really need to talk much about this.

4. Small HD video cameras are on the market. These 720p video files devour your hard drive. The Canon 5D also shoots full 1080p video.It’s so good that it is sinister. 30 minutes of footage takes about 4GB of space.

5. P***… you sick people.

There are several other reasons. I don’t want 2 TB of space, I freaking need it. What are your thoughts on the new 2 TB drive from Western Digital?

I’ll post benchmarks as soon as some surface (or someone will post them in the forum, lol).

Jam TEC update - 08/11/23 Four Eyes USB Stick Combines Everything – Everything! – in One

Four-eyes. A taunt I heard almost daily in school, although curiously it never bothered me. I think I was so relived to be able to see after years of blind squinting at the class blackboard that I just found the name-calling rather sad and pathetic.

Four Eyes is also the name of this USB bookmark. In the manner of our rather disastrous how-to video on hacking novelty USB drives, the folks at IMM stuffed a thumb-stick into these specs in the hope of gleaning some geek-chic. The spex can also be slid betwixt the pages of a real life paper book to save your place, a rather old fashioned notion.

In fact, these glasses leave us rather confused. It's as if the designer, Willie Tsang, took a whole bag of concepts, shook them up like Scrabble tiles and pulled out this rather dyslexic design. Still, while they might be "conceptual", they're not a mere concept. These spectacles, USB stick, bookmark, or whatever it might be, can be had. 2GB and unlimited place-marking for $30.

Jam TEC update - 25/01/09 Extra

Unlike with the upstart HTC G1 or the Apple 3G iPhone, news that Nokia has sold a million of one of its latest phones shouldn't surprise industry watchers.

But the 5800 XpressMusic device from Nokia is no ordinary phone. The phone is the company's first "mass-market" touchscreen device, says Nokia.

Nicknamed the Nokia Tube it is also bundled with the company's 'Comes With Music' subscription service that offers one year of unlimited access to the company's music store catalog.

The 5800 XpressMusic has been closely watched because of its potential to rival Apple's iTunes in popularity, especially in Europe.

The phone, which sports a 3.2-inch screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera and supports Flash-based browsing for the web went on sale in October 2008 in just a few countries including Russia and Hong Kong. The 5800 XpressMusic is went on sale in UK a few days ago and is available in the US only as an unsubsidized and unlocked phone.

Maybe this could spur a US telecom carrier to pick up this device for its network.

Jam TEC update - 24/01/09 ATi Radeon 4000 Series Mobile

The ATI is now mobile. They have put out the 4000series chipset to the portable devices. Anyway the series will include

• HD Radeon 4830M
• HD Radeon 4850M
• HD Radeon 4870M
• HD Radeon 4850×2M (Yes, an x2 for notebooks)

Prices are unknown at this point.

Jam TEC update - 10/01/09 CES Special Epi 1

The Chargepod V2™ is the world's most versatile and powerful multi-device charger and docking system for PC / Mac laptops and mobile devices. It utilizes a three-sided functional design to support simultaneous operation on all sides of the device:

Side 1: Charges one PC/Mac laptop.

Side 2: Charges three small devices such as a cell phone, MP3 player, PDA, Bluetooth headset, digital reader, NAV unit, etc. and one high input device such as a video camera, portable DVD player, digital camera, etc.

Side 3: Has a 3-port USB 2.0 hub for data transfer such as downloading music, data files etc. or for connecting various peripheral devices to your PC/Mac laptop such as a keyboard, mouse, jump drive.

Chargepod V2 utilizes device-specific adapters - the same ones used for the award-winning Chargepod - so you can customize it to meet your exact needs.

Performance

• Can charge a laptop computer, 3 small devices and support up to 3 peripheral USB devices - at the same time.
• It fits in your hand and comes with a carrying case for all the components, making it fit perfectly in a laptop or travel bag.

Compatibility

• Works with hundreds of laptop computers and thousands of mobile devices such as iPods, cell phones, Bluetooth headsets, PDAs, digital cameras, navigation units, mp3 players, digital readers and portable gaming systems
• Uses the same device adapters as Chargepod

Jam TEC update - 09/01/04 GTX 295 Official now

We already knew more or less all we needed to know about NVIDIA's GTX 295, however, despite being already in sale, the company has decided now is a good time to grace the model with a press release. The GTX 285 has been given the formal treatment too -- despite not being available until next week. If you missed the earlier specs, the $499(ish) 295 includes dual 55-nm GT200 GPUs and supports nearly 2GB of memory, while the $399 285 makes do with but one processor and an undisclosed RAM ceiling (though the upcoming Winfast, pictured above, comes with 1GB and one yellow robot). Again the 295 is up for order now, while slightly more budget conscious gamers will have to wait until January 15 for the 285.

Jam TEC update - 07/01/09 Logitech Gaming Board

Flush with the success of its G13 Game Board, Logitech is now creating a whole series of peripherals that will all work together to celebrate the seventh letter of the alphabet. The G-series line includes a new $199 G19 keyboard, offering a 320 x 240 color LCD mounted on top and 12 "G-keys" that can have up to three macros assigned to each. Next up is the $129 G35, a 7.1 surround-sound headset with integrated "voice-morphing" options for those who'd rather sound like a space squirrel than domestic gamer. Finally, there's a new flavor of the G9 Mouse, dubbed the G9x, which loses the photo-overlay in favor of a maximum DPI of 5000 -- that's a whole 1800 more than before! Those extra dots will set you back $99 when the G9x releases in April, while the keyboard and headset should come about a month earlier.

Jam TEC update - 06/01/09 SAPPHIRE ATOMIC HD 4870 X2

Bringing the highest levels of graphics and gaming performance ever seen in the PC, SAPPHIRE Technology - the leading innovator of ATI-based graphics solutions - is now introducing the amazing single slot, liquid cooled ATOMIC Edition of its HD 4870 X2.

	2 GB of GDDR5 memory
	2.4 teraFLOPS of GPU power
	DirectX® 10.1
	1600 stream processing units
	2 x 256-bit memory interface
	24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering
	Dual mode ATI CrossFireX™ multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance
	PCI Express® 2.0 support
	Dynamic geometry acceleration
	Game physics processing capability

Redefine HD Gaming

• The fastest HD4870 x 2 in the world
  At 800MHz engine clock and 1000MHz(4.0Gbps) memory clock, Atomic HD4870 x 2 is the world’s fastest HD4870 x 2 card.
  
  
• Single slot closed loop liquid cooler
  Liquid coolant in the SAPPHIRE HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC is circulated through the graphics card cooler and a chassis mounted radiator by a pump assembly which fixes onto the standard system CPU mountings (both AMD and Intel mounts supplied). The graphics cooler, CPU cooler and radiator are connected in a closed loop by high quality flexible yet tough Teflon tubing and attached to each module with interference fit barbed joints that are sealed for life. This arrangement is easy to install, and efficiently cools the system CPU even in enthusiast systems where it is common to raise CPU speeds. The pump and sealed joints have been independently tested to 50,000 hours MTBF.
  
  
• 2.4 teraFLOPSof compute power
  This is the most powerful graphics card available today with nearly two billion transistors and 1600 stream processors.
  
  
• 2GB GDDR5 Memory
  With 2GB of GDDR5, the fastest and most advanced memory technology available today, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 delivers almost two times the memory bandwidth of the previous generation.
  
• Extreme DirectX®10.1 Performance
  Play today while preparing for tomorrow with state-of-the-art DirectX 10.1 graphics capabilities.


• Unparalleled Anti-Aliasing & Anisotropic Filtering
  High performance anisotropic filtering and 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) smooth jagged edges and create true-to-life graphics, for everything from grass to facial features.
  
  
• Superior Scalability with dual mode ATI CrossFireX™ Technology
  ATI CrossFireX™ technology with quad GPU support in dual mode offers superior scalability so you can take your game to new heights.
  
  1. As of August 12th, 2008, the ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 is the fastest, most powerful graphics card based on the 3DMark Vantage v.101 extreme top score of 6920.
  2. The ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 with GDDR5 memory has memory bandwidth of 230GB/sec in comparison with the ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2 with GDDR3 memory with a memory bandwidth of 128GB/sec.
  3. AMD’s product warranty does not cover damages caused by overclocking, even when overclocking is enabled via AMD OverDrive™ software.
     
     
• Go Beyond HD Video
  Add an ATI Radeon HD 4870 Series GPU to your PC and watch the latest Blu-ray and HD movies play with incredible fidelity –upscale to nearly twice the display resolution of HD content.* Take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities. Sophisticated new features within ATI Avivo™ HD technology provide a truly responsive experience. Support for the latest audio visual interconnects ensures you can take advantage of the latest display technology.
  
  
• Unified Video Decoder 2
  Unified Video Decoder 2 frees up your CPU for other tasks so you get The Ultimate Visual Experience™ for even the most processing-intensive content, including VC-1, H.264 and now MPEG-2. Also, take full advantage of Blu-ray functionality with dual-stream, picture in picture (PIP) capabilities.
  
  
• Upscale Beyond 1080p
  Watch the hottest Blu-ray movies or other HD content at full 1080p display resolution and beyond.
  
  
• On-chip HDCP
  On-chip HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) makes life easier by allowing you to playback HDCP protected content.
  
  
• HDMI
  Enjoy the latest audio technologies using HDMI with 7.1 digital surround sound support. Also, xvYCC support allows the user to enjoy a wider range of color when connected to a capable HDTV.
  *Note: HD capable monitor required
  ** Note: Playing HDCP content requires additional HDCP ready components, including but not limited to an HDCP ready monitor, Blu-ray or HD DVD disc drive, multimedia application and computer operating system
  
  

Break-through Efficiency

• Dynamic Power Management
  The ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 graphics cards feature ATI PowerPlay™ technology and provide the best of both worlds, delivering high performance when needed and conserving power when the demand on the graphics processor is low.
  
  
• Energy Efficient Manufacturing Process
  Second generation 55nm chip uses the industry’s most energy efficient manufacturing process.
  
  
• Best Performance Per Watt
  The ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics cards deliver up to 2x the performance per watt of the previous generation.
  
  1. ATI PowerPlay™ technology consists of numerous power saving features. Not all features may be available in all ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series graphics cards.
  2. The ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 delivers 8.8 GigaFLOPS per Watt, compared with the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 which delivers 4.8 GigaFLOPS per Watt.

System Requirements

• PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
• 650 Watt or greater power supply with one 2x3-pin PCIe® power connector and one 2x4-pin PCIe® power connector is required (1K Watt with two 2x3-pin and two 2x4-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)1
• Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products
• Certified system cases with good airflow and cooling are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedcases for a list of Certified products
• Minimum 1GB of system memory
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• DVD playback requires DVD drive
• Blu-ray™ playback requires Blu-ray drive and full 1080p display requires a 1080p-capable monitor
• For a complete ATI CrossFireX™ system, a second ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2 graphics card, an ATI CrossFireX Ready motherboard and one ATI CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect cable per graphics card (included) are required

Jam TEC update - 09/01/04 Nvidia Will be King Again

Nvidia’s nasty Dual-GPU card will be here on January 8th. The GTX-295 is going to be fast, but will it be fast enough to be worth the money ($500)?

It beats the 4870×2 by 15 fps in Far Cry 2, 5 or 6 fps in Crysis Warhead, about 4 fps in Fallout 3. So, it is barely faster in most games. However, it is twice as fast when playing Dead Space (212fps at 1920×1200 vs. 110 with the 4870×2).

Here are some specs:

• 55 nm Fabrication Process
• 575 Mhz Core
• 1242 Mhz Shader Clock
• 1792 Video Memory (wtf!)
• 1000MHZ (2000 Mhz DDR) Memory Clock
• 448-bit per GPU
• 224 GB/s
• Power: 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 pin power connector
• 289 Watts Max Power

If you are playing Dead Space you should definitely look at this card. I also anticipate that the performance delta between this and the 4870×2 will grow as newer games are released and as Nvidia improves drivers.

I would not upgrade if you have a 4870, GTX 260, or better. However, if you always have to have the fasting thing, this is it.
Here are some images