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Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 review
When Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra notebooks made their first appearance at CES, these 14- and 15-inch laptops seemed like little more than the successors to Acer's TimelineX series. Thin-and-light laptops, complete with optical drive and some likely reasonable prices. While there's no mistaking that DVD burner and mainstream screen size, we now know a few things we didn't then: the 15-inch version you see up there packs NVIDIA's next-gen Kepler graphics... and Acer's calling it an Ultrabook. Acer's branding that there Ultra M3 as an Ultrabook because it's less than 20mm (.8 inches) thin, but given that 15-inch display, numpad, optical drive and graphical horsepower, it's hard to think of this as anything other than a mainstream laptop. If you accept Acer's marketing scheme, though, this is the first so-called Ultrabook to ship with discrete graphics. (We're expecting to see more -- many more -- of these.) As of this writing, at least, we don't have a confirmed price, though Acer has said the pricing for the Ultra series should align with current TimelineX notebooks (which is to say, we're hardly expecting this to be a $1,500 machine.) Until we know for sure, it'll be hard to say how sweet of a deal this is, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about what it actually does. How does the performance stack up against regular 'ol 15-inch laptop? Does it pummel your garden-variety Ultrabooks like you'd expect it to? Join us past the break where we break down exactly what this 'tweener can do.
NVIDIA CEO suggests Kepler GPUs could be headed to future 'superphones'
NVIDIA looking for a piece of next-generation smartphones shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, but CEO Jen-Hsun Huang dropped a few details in a recent email to staffers that's sure to spur at least a little excitement. As AnandTech reports, in addition to marking the launch of the company's new Kepler-based GeForce GTX 680 graphics card, he also looked towards future possibilities for the GPU, noting that "today is just the beginning of Kepler," and that "because of its super energy-efficient architecture, we will extend GPUs into datacenters, to super thin notebooks, to superphones." Not surprisingly, that's about as specific as things got as far as mobile devices are concerned, with no mention whatsoever as to when we might see such Kepler-based "superphones."
Nvidia's next-gen Kepler tech detailed
The realm of PC gaming is terrifying and expensive, and our clumsy hands can't be trusted around anything more fragile than a dual shock. As a result, we generally leave the technical, delicate heavy lifting of PC hardware analysis to our compatriots at Engadget, who are much more coordinated and far less hot-pocket stained than us.Nvidia's newest graphics card, the GTX 680, is claimed to be the "fastest GPU in the world." It features an automatically variable clockspeed that maxes out GPU speed based on heat, "Adaptive VSync technology" for governing rendering speeds in sync with your monitor's refresh rate, and a new "TXAA" anti-aliasing algorithm, which we desperately hope stands for "Turbo Xtreme Anti-Aliasing." Head over to Engadget for its complete breakdown of the card's intricacies. It's even got charts and graphs!
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 review round-up: see ya later, AMD
We've already been hands-on with NVIDIA's first Kepler GPU, but all those fancy features count for nuthin' if the benchmarks don't back them up. So do they? Huh? Do they? NVIDIA told us to expect a 10 to 40 percent performance boost from the $499 GTX 680, versus AMD's pricier Radeon HD 7970, and it appears that was no exaggeration. If you've bought yourself a high-end 28nm AMD card recently, try to hold back those tears until you've glanced over the reviews after the break. Let's just hope for a fairer fight when NVIDIA's mainstream and low-end cards come out to tackle AMD's 7800- and 7700-series -- and hey, some timely price drops could help to balance things too.
Kepler comes of age: NVIDIA unveils GeForce GTX 680 desktop GPU, 600M series for laptops
NVIDIA's next-gen GPUs sure took their sweet time arriving, but the first of the Kepler crew is finally available in stores and its 28nm silicon is just itching to show off what it can do. You may be wondering what the 2GB GeForce GTX 680 brings to the gaming table, and whether it'll put an end to AMD's free run at the top of the food chain. Well, NVIDIA now claims it has "the fastest GPU in the world", with both lower power consumption and a 10-40 percent performance advantage over AMD's single-GPU rival, the Radeon HD 7970, at 1920 x 1080. How can it back up such a boast? Ultimately, everything hinges on independent benchmarks (coming soon in our review round-up), but in the meantime we need to look at NVIDIA's new architecture for clues. Intrigued? Then head on past the break.
Rumored NVIDIA GTX 680 specs surface online, photos prove it does indeed exist
As NVIDIA readies its 28nm family of Kepler graphics cards, more and more details are starting to trickle out. Just yesterday, NVIDIA teased an Acer Ultrabook packing a mysterious new GT640M card based on the Kepler architecture. Today, we're seeing information about the GTX 680 surfacing on multiple sites. China-based PCOnline posted specs it claims to have received from an internal NVIDIA source, including a 1,536 CUDA core count, 1,006MHz core frequency, 195W TDP and 6Gbps memory. If it turns out to be true that it supports 2GB of 256-bit GDDR5 VRAM, that would fall short of AMD's Radeon HD 7970, whose 384-bit bus serves 3GB of GDDR5 memory. Then again, these specs don't quite match what was previously rumored, so perhaps there's still room for some surprises. No word on a release date or price, so for now you'll have to make do with parsing those source links.
Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 brings an NVIDIA Kepler GPU to the ultrabook party
Acer unveiled several new Ultrabooks at CeBIT last week (we spent time with the V5 and V3) but its M3 may be the most special one of all. NVIDIA mentions it will not only be the first with a discrete GPU -- beating Lenovo's T430u to the punch -- but that the included GeForce GT640M is based on the long-awaited 28nm Kepler architecture. That should give it enough power to run the latest games while still remaining true to the ultrabook tag with a 20mm thick frame and (promised) 8 hours of battery life thanks to Optimus technology. The 15-inch Aspire Timeline M3 Ultra also breaks the mold by squeezing in a DVD drive for games you can't get from Steam, along with options for either a hybrid hard drive / SSD or SSD-only storage setup. Neither company has included a pricetag in their joyful announcements, but these no-compromise packages are expected to begin shipping later this month.
NVIDIA's 2012 Kepler lineup revealed (possibly)
As usual, it seems like whenever a big chip company wants to keep those key details under wraps, someone leaves a spreadsheet lying in a bar. Of course, the following information could be the product of a vengeful former employee mashing at a keyboard, so let's agree that these are rumored details until further notice. NVIDIA's whole range of Kepler-powered graphics cards will be PCI-E 3.0 compliant, with the GTX690 topping the group at $999 when it arrives in Q3 of this year, while the modestly-priced GTX640 will retail for $139 when it arrives in May. If you'd like to drill down into the specifics of all eight cards purportedly on offer for 2012, we've got all the details in a handy chart nestled just after the interval.
T-Platforms to build ten petaflop supercomputer for Moscow State University
In post-Soviet Russia, massive supercomputer programs you. (Sorry, we had to.) Recently, Russia's Moscow State University contracted with high-performance computing company T-Platforms to create a ten petaflop cluster that'll be operational in 2013. The computer would fall just short of the fastest supercomputer on Earth (the Japanese K Computer, which is rated at 10.51 petaflops) and will incorporate a mixture of different node types to achieve the ten petaflops. T-Platforms will reportedly build the nodes from Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge Xeon processors and NVIDIA's next-generation Kepler GPU coprocessors, and Intel's Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture could also be included if it's available during construction. The reason for the project? Unknown officially, but we're guessing it's just another reason for Putin to rip his shirt off and celebrate.
NVIDIA rebadges GeForce 500M chips in preparation for Ivy Bridge release in 2012
NVIDIA has released a new range of mobile graphics chips that bring the features of last year's 500M series down to a lower price point. Keen-eyed observers might notice the GT635M is remarkably similar to the GT555M, albeit with slightly faster memory bandwidth. The GT630M is a dead ringer for the GT540M/GT550M and the 48 CUDA core GT610M could be the GT520M if you squint at it in bad light. It's all rather detailed and low-key, but NVIDIA reminded us that it'll launch "something more exciting" around the time Ivy Bridge makes its debut in 2012 -- very possibly those 28nm Kepler chips we've been drooling over for a while? [Thanks, Omar]
Volunteer scientists discover two possible planets, tell NASA it missed a spot
Proving it's not all about edu-mah-cation, a group of casual star-gazers has stumbled upon what might well be a pair of new planets. Following on from gamers' success with complicated medical puzzles, an army of 40,000 online volunteer astronomy nerds signed up to the Planet Hunters project to help mine through NASA data. One of the possible planets they discovered is roughly two and a half times the size of Earth, while the other a whopping eight times bigger than this revolving ball of blue and green we call home. The project uses data from NASA's Kepler telescope, which registers fluctuations in brightness as objects pass in front of distant stars -- a setup that's helped scientists discover 1,235 potential alien planets in its first four months. Obviously, though, the technology isn't perfect, which is where the project's muggle volunteers (assisted by Oxford and University of Chicago researchers) come in. They've been combing through NASA's readings and are now sifting through the next 90 days of Kepler observations. [Image credit: NASA]
NVIDIA's Kepler GPU still (kinda, sorta) on schedule for 2011 debut
Back in September of last year NVIDIA pledged that the successor to Fermi, Kepler, would arrive in 2011. Since then, things have been rather quiet on the next-gen GPU front. In fact, rumors have started to circulate that the 28nm-based chip would be pushed back to 2012. Turns out those rumblings aren't entirely inaccurate. While the latest polygon pushing silicon will start being churned out before it's time to buy a new calendar, final products won't start shipping until next year, as a company rep told TechSpot. Kepler's descendent, Maxwell, is still expected to land sometime in either 2013 or 2014, but there's plenty of time for that timetable to slide back a bit too.
SETI suspends search for alien life, E.T. weeps in the silent dark of space
Our progress toward intergalactic fellowship has suffered another blow, as SETI suspended operations of its Allen Telescope Array. Funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the array is a collection of radio dishes that scan the skies for signs of life; now it'll be in "hibernation" mode until 2013, when the institute's new round of funding begins. SETI hopes to raise $5 million to bring the Array back online before then, while it continues to use other telescopes around the world, including the Hubble Space Telescope. The budget woes are especially bitter given the number of recently identified alien planets – NASA's Kepler mission found 1,235. If any of them are broadcasting the next Wow! signal, let's hope it doesn't fall on deaf earthling ears.
Visualized: 1,235 potential alien planets
The tiny black dots set against their glowing host stars above represent 1,235 potential alien planets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. With any luck, at least one of them has never heard of Justin Bieber.
NVIDIA reveals Fermi's successor: Kepler at 28nm in 2011, Maxwell in 2013
Not a lot of details to be had, but NVIDIA wants you to know Fermi isn't the company's be-all, end-all GPU -- "hundreds of engineers" are already hard at work on Codename Kepler, expected to go to production this year and ship in 2011. Kepler's based on a 28nm process, we're told, and will thankfully deliver an estimated 3 to 4 times the performance per watt compared to Fermi, and hopefully run cool. If you built your last PC to last, however, you might wait for Maxwell in 2013, supposedly bringing a sixteen-fold increase in parallel graphics-based computing just two years after that, including advanced features like the ability to autonomously process some content independent of a CPU. Update: Does this roadmap mean we should expect new GPUs from NVIDIA every two years? Jen-Hsun Huang wouldn't commit to that, but said that there will be "mid-life kicker" product launches in-between each new NVIDIA chip to keep the wheels turning.
NASA's discovered hundreds of planets where aliens might live
The Kepler spacecraft, which is rooting about outerspace checking for habitable planets has apparently discovered 706 possible candidates by monitoring for subtle changes in brightness. Up next astronomers will run the results through a battery of other tests, identifying the most likely candidates. After that? A reality show featuring seven NASA astronauts in a competition to find the first actual ALF, or Cylon, Yoda or E.T. We're there, dude.
Kepler Motion brings 800bhp using dual-engine hybrid magic
Since we're already on the topic of fairy dust, how about a new all-wheel drive supercar that can purportedly thrust you from nought to sixty in 2.5 seconds? New startup Kepler Motors is about to unveil its first vehicle and its ambition is nothing short of staggering. Employing a 550bhp Ford Ecoboost petrol engine to drive the rear wheels and a 250bhp electric motor for the front pair, this machine also comes with a carbon fiber chassis and carbon ceramic brakes to really make the theoretical numbers look ridiculous. Of course, it's still only a concept for the Dubai International Motor Show, but production plans are already set for 2011. You'll just have to make sure to be among the 50 richest people interested in owning one, because that'll be the entire production run.
Inilex offers GPS vehicle monitoring via email / SMS
Apparently, tracking your kid's every footstep with that undercover cellphone you "gave" him / her as a generous birthday present just isn't good enough for some overly protective (or paranoid) guardians, as Inilex's "Kepler Advantage" device gives parents the means to keep watch over any ill-advised joyrides your devious ones may take. The GPS-enabled unit is meant to be stashed covertly within an automobile to track every movement it makes, and if the whip just so happens to break out of the user-set "virtual fence" (or exceed a set speed limit) you'll immediately receive an email or text message alerting you to start crafting an adequate form of punishment for whenever they (hopefully) return. Additionally, the device is being marketed to vehicle fleet managers who seem to have a hard time receiving (and keeping) their stock, and while analysts aren't too sure that the $600 to $1,100 tracker will oust LoJack from its thief-deterring palace in the marketplace, Inilex hopes to do just that. Currently, the outfit has just 5,000 customers, but if it were us worried about unsolicited movements of our vehicles, we'd just install one of the many omnipresent eyes below the rear-view mirror and catch 'em red handed.[Via SmartMobs]
