NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), the world leader in visual computing technologies, today announced the industry’s first hybrid technology for PC platforms—Hybrid SLI™—that addresses two critical issues: increasing graphics performance and reducing power consumption. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology will be incorporated into a wide variety of graphics and motherboard desktop and notebook products that the Company is rolling out for both AMD and Intel desktop and notebook computing platforms throughout 2008.

“From the introduction of programmable GPUs to the rapid adoption of our multi-GPU SLI technology, NVIDIA has repeatedly pioneered and innovated to solve difficult problems for the industry. We believe Hybrid SLI technology is one of the most important innovations we’ve come up with to date,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA. “Hybrid SLI delivers new multi-GPU technology to a large segment of the PC market, delivering consumers a level of PC graphics performance and power efficiency never before seen.”

First disclosed in June 2007, NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology is based on the Company’s market-leading GeForce® graphics processor units (GPUs) and SLI multi-GPU technology. Hybrid SLI enables NVIDIA motherboard GPUs (mGPUs) to work cooperatively with discrete NVIDIA GPUs (dGPUs) when paired in the same PC platform. Hybrid SLI provides two new technologies— GeForce Boost and HybridPower™—that allow the PC to deliver graphics performance for today’s applications and games when 3D graphics horsepower is required, or transition to a lower-powered operating state when not.

For lower energy consumption and quieter PC operation, HybridPower allows the PC to switch processing from a single GPU or multiple GPUs in SLI configuration to the onboard motherboard GPU. HybridPower is most useful in situations where graphics horsepower is not required, such as high definition movie playback on a notebook platform or simple e-mail or Internet browsing on a desktop. It is also beneficial for those users who want a quiet operating state with reduced thermals and noise. For notebooks, HybridPower can also dramatically extend battery life by up to 3 hours. When a game or application is started that requires the additional 3D horsepower, the PC can automatically transition back to the discrete graphics cards and power up the 3D capabilities all transparent to the end user.i

For applications where 3D performance is required, GeForce Boost turbo-charges 3D operation by combining the processing power of the traditional NVIDIA GeForce-based graphics card with that of the second GPU integrated into the motherboard core logic. In media-rich applications, both GPUs work in tandem to render the combined images with the end user benefiting from the increase in performance and frame rate. For typical games and 3D applications, GeForce Boost can kick in automatically, resulting in a greatly enhanced consumer experience.

NVIDIA is the recognized market leader for GPU desktop and notebook solutions for both Intel and AMD platforms and has a full lineup of Hybrid SLI-capable graphics and motherboard products planned for 2008. New Hybrid SLI-capable products include the upcoming NVIDIA nForce 780a SLI, nForce 750a SLI, and nForce 730a media and communication processors (MCPs) for AMD CPUs, which will be released next month, as well as the new GeForce 8200—the industry’s first micro-ATX motherboard solution with an onboard Microsoft® DirectX® 10-compliant motherboard GPU. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI notebooks as well as desktop products designed for Intel CPUs will be available next quarter.

For more information on Hybrid SLI technologies, including GeForce Boost and HybridPower, please visit http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli.html

Preventing the global warming, many people have the green conscious in the brain! Energy saving has been become an important environmental issue in recent years. The leading brand of SFF, Shuttle Inc. continually develops the energy-efficient product to meet ENERGY STAR specification and make efforts on providing green solutions. Shuttle SP35P2 Pro proves it the qualifications.

ENERGY STAR was established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in1992, which is a labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient computing products. US EPA recently has revised computers specification up to 4.0. The new specification requires the computers must equipped with more efficient external or internal power supply and expected to reach 65% energy efficiency than current computer.

80 PLUS certified power supply means it meets at least 80% energy-efficiency, which is over 33% efficient than standard power supply. That is the reason for Shuttle products are qualified by Energy Star 4.0 and starts the new century of eco-SFF. In the future, Shuttle will adapt all the models to ENERGY STAR 4.0 specification to keep up the trend toward environmental protection.

Creative Technology Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products, today announced two new micro boom boxes to its award-winning MP3 player family: the Creative ZEN™ Stone and Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker. The Creative ZEN Stone with Built-in Speaker will be available this month in a 2GB model priced at S$79.00 (US$49.99). The Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker, which adds a vibrant screen, FM radio, voice recording, clock with stopwatch and customisable equaliser settings, will be available this month in a 2GB model for S$99.00 (US$59.99). New Creative ZEN MP3 players are on display this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in the Creative exhibit #30642 in the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The 2GB models of the Creative ZEN Stone and Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker can carry up to 500 MP3 or WMA songs*, and the players also support Audible files, ideal for listening to audio books in the car or with family. The Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker also supports AAC files, including unprotected iTunes. Available in elegant matte metallic black, dark blue, pink or champagne colours, the new Creative ZEN players feature a smooth, contoured design for a natural, comfortable fit in the hand. A translucent silicon skin with a clip is included in the box, and a sporty armband and ultra-portable keychain with a tiny case that carries the player are available separately.

“The ZEN Stone and ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker free you from having to wear headphones to listen to your portable music. It is a great way to be able to enjoy your music when you’re on a walk or in a group and you want to enjoy a conversation or hear what’s going on around you,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “It’s hard to believe that such incredibly small players can have a speaker that sounds so good, enabling you to listen to music together with a friend without headphones.”

It is easy to add music to your Creative ZEN Stone or Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker. Just drag and drop your music files to the player and choose "Play" or "Random" and listen up to 20 hours of your favourite songs from a single charge of the built-in battery. There is no driver installation necessary to add music. You can also connect headphones to the players when you want to listen to music privately.

Pricing and Availability

The Creative ZEN Stone and Creative ZEN Stone Plus with Built-in Speaker are available in Singapore in January 2008 at retail stores including The CREATIVE Stores at Marina Square, Plaza Singapura and International Business Park, online store at sg.store.creative.com and authorised dealers at the suggested retail price of S$79.00 (US$49.99) and S$99.00 (US$59.99) respectively. For more information about Creative and its award-winning family of portable media players, please visit www.asia.creative.com.

Intel Corporation unveiled 16 products today at the International 2008 Consumer Electronics Show at Las Vegas - including the company’s first 45 nanometer (nm) processors for Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology based laptops.

All of these new chips include the company’s new transistor formula and 45nm manufacturing process that boost a PC’s speed, reduces power requirements, saves on battery life, helps the environment and comes in smaller packages for more fashionable and compact computer designs. With the introduction of the new processors, Intel will be offering a total of 32 desktop, laptop and server processors based on these industry-leading innovations.

The company also highlighted how it will take advantage of its transistor and manufacturing advances to spur a category of small form-factor, low-powered, high-performance devices that deliver broadband Internet access “in your pocket.” The processors are up to 25 percent smaller than previous versions so computer makers can create sleek, new designs for consumers ranging from stylish all-in-one desktop PCs to smaller notebooks.

Among the 16 new products, 12 are designed for new laptops and desktops products and four are for servers. All are now lead-free1 and, starting this year, halogen-free2, making the processors a more eco-friendly.

“The new products we’re announcing today provide consumers and businesses with the benefit of sleeker and higher-performing laptops and more powerful and fashionable PCs that deliver for the most hard-core gamer, high-definition enthusiast and just about every other consumer demand,” said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, mobile platforms group, Intel. “And later this year, Intel will begin delivering the mobile Internet with much smaller, lighter and powerful Internet-enabled devices that ultimately will fit right into your pocket.”

Intel Adds Mobile Processors to Line-up
Intel is shipping five new mobile processors, enabling breakthrough performance and improved battery life, providing consumers with the ability to be more productive or just enjoy their digital entertainment while on the go. Helping to extend battery life is also a new Intel Core microarchitecture design feature for advanced power management state called Deep Power Down Technology that reduces the power of the processor when it’s not running data or instructions to the laptop.

The processors are the foundation for the company’s popular Intel® Centrino® technology for laptops, and deliver improved content and video capabilities with HD DVD* and Blu-Ray* support with an optional third-party decoder. Centrino-based notebooks also come with the Mobile Intel® 965 Express Chipset and wireless networking including the optional support for 802.11n networks with Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N.
Intel has also added new video and graphics capabilities with Intel® HD Boost that includes Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4) for speeding up workloads including video encoding for high-definition and photo manipulation.
Intel will also use this mobile technology foundation and energy-efficient performance to enable a variety of smaller, cooler and quieter, stylish desktop designs. These computers, including the increasingly popular “all-in-one” category, provide the performance to run a variety of digital media and the latest software simultaneously, as well as enhanced high-definition video and smoother playback using Intel® Clear Video Technology.

More Mobility on Tap: in Your Pocket; Wireless WiMAX
Pushing the power of the full Internet “in your pocket,” Intel’s strategy for using low-power Intel Architecture platforms that drastically reduce CPU and chipset power, and package size continues to gain momentum. Intel plans to ship in the first half of this year its first-generation low-power platform chipset that will help deliver a range of ultra mobile and mobile Internet devices from a growing ecosystem of customers.
Intel also continues to work closely with carriers around the world to deploy mobile WiMAX networks. These networks will help deliver true high-speed mobile Internet experiences to a variety of digital devices starting later this year.

Mainstream Desktop PCs Get 45nm Performance and Efficiency Boost
Building on its November 2007 introduction (the Intel® Core™2 Extreme quad-core processor QX9650), Intel announced three quad core and four dual core 45nm-based processors for mainstream desktop PCs arriving later this month and throughout the first quarter of the year.
The new Intel® Core™ 2 Quad and Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor offerings will speed the transition to Intel’s newest processor line and multicore adoption, and are arriving at a time when digital and high-definition content, including photos, home videos, music, television shows and social networking, continues to grow exponentially.

Consumers will realize more performance at a variety of PC purchase prices as these processors feature a range of clock speeds, large L2 caches, and also come equipped with Intel® HD Boost (SSE4 instructions). These 45nm processors are also a requirement for computer-makers carrying the Intel Core™2 Processor with Viiv™ technology brand, making it easier for consumers to select a great entertainment PC with Intel’s most innovative technologies.
Dual core desktop processor-based PCs using these new processors begin shipping this month; quad core-based systems plan to arrive later this quarter.
The company also introduced four Intel Xeon processors for servers and workstations; they are expected to ship this quarter.