At long last, the new PlayStation 3 is a reality. At a press event today in Germany, Sony announced that it would be shipping a slimmer, sexier PS3 console at the beginning of next month, and while it wouldn’t gain any functionality from the 80GB PS3 that we’ve come to know and love, it wouldn’t lose anything either. Better still, those who buy in will be seeing a capacity bump (120GB) and a lower MSRP ($299), which Sony has needed to present for quite some time. The new PS3 features a matte finish, a noticeably

In December, the iPhone managed to push its way into the top 5 Flickr cameras, overall. Now it seems the device has managed to push its way past the Canon Eos Rebel XTi, according to Flickr’s Camera Finder. However, it doesn’t appear that it maintained that lead. Since the LA Times wrote about it, a newer graph seems to show that the iPhone and the Canon Eos Rebel XTi are neck and neck again. I wouldn’t put any stock in this being something intentionally done by Flickr to satisfy the (as the LA Times puts it)

AMD today announced that according to the latest industry data, notebook manufacturers have chosen ATI Mobility Radeon Premium graphics processors to drive more than half of todays discrete graphics notebooks. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4000 graphics processors power more than half of today's notebooks! The data for mobile discrete graphics reveals a 36.5% market share gain, and 87.27% more units sold quarter-over-quarter through the first six months of 2009. AMD now holds the Number 1 position with an overall 53% mobile discrete market share.

AMD has worked diligently to introduce technology that gives people an incredibly compelling visual experience on a notebook platform, and the latest market data showing the phenomenal uptake of ATI Mobility Radeon based notebooks validates the quality of both our products and that experience, said Matt Skynner, Vice President & General Manager, GPU Division, AMD. Were moving into the back-to-school and holiday seasons, and theres also the upcoming Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. AMD continues to provide the solutions for the mobile discrete market and ATI Mobility Radeon based notebooks.

Asus may not be the first name that pops to mind when thinking about WLAN routers, but the company is definitely doing its best to compete with the likes of Netgear, D-Link and Linksys. The RT-N13U is an all-in-one router that just so happens to do more than provide wireless Internet access. The stylish device doubles as a shared print server, giving you the ability to print out your receipts and such from the comfort of your couch, bed, etc. Even better, the device fully supports 24/7 downloads even when the

The SAPPHIRE HD 4650 AGP video card brings the features of the highly acclaimed ATI Radeon HD 4000 series to the users of older PC systems with the AGP graphics bus. In addition to dramatically increased graphics performance, this means support for all the latest generation of games with DirectX 10.1 and the ability to smoothly play HD and Blu-Ray DVDs with the built-in hardware UVD decoder. It also allows users to accelerate tasks such as video transcoding (converting video formats to play on portable devices) and other new applications supporting ATI Stream technology.

With its 320 Stream processors, 128-bit memory interface and 1GB of on-board memory, the SAPPHIRE HD 4650 AGP brings the power of the latest graphics architectures to the AGP bus. This new card supports 24x custom filter anti-aliasing (CFAA) and high performance anisotropic filtering. Connected via the standard AGP bus with support for AGP 8x/4x, the SAPPHIRE HD 4650 brings exciting new levels of performance and image quality. The board has 2 DVI connectors and TV-out and is supplied with a variety of connectors to simplify use with any type of monitor. Display on an HDMI device such as flat screen TV is also supported with a dongle supplied, but due to limitations of the AGP bus, audio over HDMI is not supported.

Rage is an upcoming first-person shooter and racing video game in development by id Software. It will use the company's new id Tech 5 engine. The game was announced on August 2, 2007 at QuakeCon and this trailer was just released last week at Quakecon 2009.

Information available so far indicates that the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic world similar to that of movies such as Mad Max 2. In an interview with GameSpot, designer Tim Willits revealed that the game is set in the near future following the (fictional) impact of 99942 Apophis. Influences on the driving and racing gameplay include games such as MotorStorm and Burnout, according to another Willits interview by Shacknews. Players will be able to upgrade their cars with money won from races.

In the 2009 rankings for PC makers, which are set to be released Tuesday, the brands whose rankings saw the most improvement were Compaq and Gateway. Compaq's score of 74 represented an increase of 5.7 percent, the largest gain among computer makers in the last year, and equaling the highest customer satisfaction ranking for the brand–owned by Hewlett-Packard–since 1996. The Acer-owned Gateway brand also saw an uptick in satisfied customers, attaining a score of 74, a 2.8 percent increase from last year. The study asks 80,000 consumers to rank brands based on expectations of the product, previous experience, and comparison to an ideal version of the product. For PCs, a score of 78 out of 100 is considered good.

“My guess is price has something to do with it,” said Claes Fornell, director of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan, which conducts the study. “(Compaq and Gateway) machines are typically priced somewhat below competition. Other than that things are stalling a bit in the industry, not moving one way or another.”

According to a new scientific paper published in the latest issue of the respected journal Nature Nanotechnology, it would appear that engineered DNA origami tends to self-organize, when placed on silicon substrates. The find could have major implications for the design of better circuits and more advanced computer processors, the BBC News informs. The new structures could, for instance, serve as a scaffolding for electrical components situated just six billionths of a meter away from each other.

The breakthrough with the new method will be that DNA itself will be used to store and handle data. Other investigations have already revealed that the organic acid is able to do simple mathematical equations as well, when inside a test tube or in simple bacteria. But the new technique relies on manufacturing the needed shape of DNA from scratch, as was the case with the new triangles. In order for the anticipated progress in computing to take place, experts will undoubtedly have to use revolutionary, new materials, such as carbon nanowires and graphene, which by definition operate better at the nanoscale.

Micro-Star International (MSI) has decided to take the initiative among global vendors to launch netbooks based on Pine Trail-M in December 2009 although Intel reportedly has decided to postpone offering of the Pine Trail-M platform from the originally scheduled October 2009 to the first quarter of 2010, according to industry sources.

MSI intends to beat global vendors by launching the new platform ahead of schedule and to avoid having to immediately compete on price, the sources claimed. MSI's new netbooks are expected to adopt Windows 7 operating system and features touch screen capability. PC vendors including Asustek Computer and Acer have all already developed Pine Trail-M netbooks, but most of them have agreed to follow Intel's schedule, the sources noted.

WD today introduced a new version of its popular WD TV media player. The new WD TV Mini Media Player now enables playback of RealNetworks, Inc.'s RealVideo content and provides a more affordable way for consumers to play their stored digital content in up to 1080i HD resolution directly on their HD television. The WD TV Mini Media Player is available now at select retailers. MSRP for the WD TV Mini Media Player is $99.99 USD.

“For those who desire an easy, affordable and portable solution to enjoy their digital media on their TV and who have content in RealVideo format, the new WD TV Mini Media Player fits the bill,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's Branded Products Group. “The new WD TV Mini Media Player unlocks the content from their PCs and storage devices and makes it simple for people to enjoy their media on their home theater system, without the need to spend time configuring a complicated device or transcoding files to make them compatible.”