 Hello
all. Welcome back to another action packed episode of HiTech Edge. In this issue,
I touch on a variety of subjects some of you may have heard about and some of
you may have not. This month’s H.T.E. will take you from Area 51 all the way to
the search for life in outer space. Speaking of space, we are also taking an early
peak at Sony’s attempt to shoot for the moon: the Playstation 3. Looks like someone
wants to revolutionize the home console gaming industry… again.
We at HiTech Edge are working to bring you all the good little tidbits of information concerning cool gadgets, home entertainment, and any other pertinent information dealing with advances in technology. But HiTech extends to more than just toys for grown-ups. That is the reason I thought I’d share the Darwin mission with you.
If there is ever an area or item you would like to read more about, I urge you
to contact me. You can do this by clicking on my picture or by clicking
here. I also invite feedback from any of you who have something to say or
ask or point out.
Well kiddies, I hope you enjoy this month’s edition (especially the Darwin mission section), and I look forward to visiting you all next soon.
Until then.
CSR and the HiTech Edge crew.
Area 51 exposed.
Probably not the Area 51 you were hoping for, but this one is awesome just the same. PC Gamers, don’t you hate not being able to game on the go? With the current crop of laptops available to the public, being a mobile gamer who would like to run their games in glorious3d has never been easy. Laptops were not built with the gamer in mind.
That is, until Alienware joined the fray. Not only did Alienware address this shortcoming, they eliminated it. With the introduction of the Area 51, the laptop gaming gap has been filled. Included in this bad mutha are all the ports, connections, and enough gaming hardware to make a tower PC blush. The drawback? The price. With a hefty $2659 price tag, becoming a mobile gamer is not casual purchase, but if you have the resources and desire the ultimate (only?) gaming laptop, Alienware has answered your call.
Take a look here.
What is Lindows?
Anyone wanna combine the usability of Windows with the open source of Linux? Welcome to the world of the Lindows OS. Lindows give you the ability to run many Window’s based applications at a fraction of the price.
The ultra-stable Lindows OS can be found on computers at a much lower cost than Windows based PCs (try $279). For all of you who want an inexpensive machine to run most if not all of your apps. on,
read more here.
PS3 Rumblings
Just when you thought it was safe to retire from the game console purchasing wars, Sony up and announces the specs for the processor in its upcoming Playstation 3. And let me tell you, when I say specs, I mean specs.
To say Sony is aiming high is an understatement. They are shooting for the moon. The “gun” that will help them achieve this lofty goal is a technology called Cell. The goal of the Cell powered processor is to include multiple chips within a single unit. This multiple chip architecture will give the PS3 approximately 100 times more power than a 2.5 GHz Pentium 4 CPU. Sony also has plans for the PS3 to function not only has a game console, but a complete home entertainment console as well.
Find out some of Sony’s goals here.
Blu Ray Special
How would you like to pack 20+ gigs worth of information onto one disc? Its a ridiculous idea right? Seeing how removable storage is currently limited to an 8 gig max (DVD discs), the concept seems kind of far-off. Well, not any longer.
Toshiba, Sony, JVC, and Panasonic have announced the development of formats that should almost triple the storage capacity of removable storage. The formats have the capacity of up to 27 gigs (Toshiba is actually working on a competing format that gives 20 gigs worth of storage). Both of these formats are based on the blue laser concept. Coined by Sony as “Blu-ray technology”, this type of storage will allow users to copy much more data than is currently possible.
Read more about the “Blue Laser Group” here.
ATI’s Graphics Beast
Last month, I introduced you to Nvidia’s G-Force FX graphic card. The card is an answer to ATI’s Radeon 9700 pro, which I also commented on. This time, I am going to delve a little further into ATI’s beast of a graphics card.
As stated last month, these high-end cards cost around $400 and are not meant for the casual PC user. But if you are into gaming and/or video editing, this card is the king of the mountain, for now. I could spend the rest of the article raving about the 9700’s impressive array of hardware stats, but unless you are tech geek, that can get kind of boring and confusing. Let me put it to you like this, if blazing graphics and incredible-looking game play is what you are going after, this card is at the top of the heap. And the 9700pro beat the FX in benchmark tests. Here’s a quote concerning the 9700: “…the Radeon 9700 harnesses a tremendous amount of raw power that's especially noticeable at higher resolutions.”
Read more here.
The Search Continues
Is life out there or are we the only ones around in this vast universe? Well, Europe’s answer to NASA would like to find out. The ESA (European Space Agency) is planning on using spaced-based telescopes to look around a little.
The mission, called Darwin, hopes to locate other Earth-like planets in our surrounding galaxy and universe. Using a mid-infrared observation technique, the Darwin mission hopes to analyze the light given off by extrasolar planets and then compare the light to the Earth’s own lighting signature. Through this method, ESA hopes the “fingerprints” left by these planets will help prove whether or not life is present on the planet in question. The innovations by the world’s space agencies never cease to amaze. For a more in depth explanation,
please
check out the ESA’s website.
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