I must have missed this story, but on Wednesday NVIDIA named the chairman of Stanford University's computer science department as its new chief scientist, a particularly important position for the world's largest graphics chip supplier as it wages a technological war with Intel. Bill Dally will replace David Kirk, a renowned scientist in his own right, who will become an Nvidia fellow. Good luck to both as they enter their new positions!

“Bill is legendary in the computer industry,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of Nvidia, in response to an e-mail query Wednesday. “He has made fundamental contributions, from parallel computing architectures to interconnects to low power designs to super fast I/Os” Huang said. “I expect him to contribute at all of those levels and more. And he will take forward David's work of building Nvidia research into one of the most regarded labs in the world.”

We shouldn’t have to mention that America’s biggest sporting spectacle of the year is just days away now, but if you haven’t ran out and secured a pair of 3D glasses for Sunday’s viewing of Super Bowl XLIII, now would be an excellent time to do so. Sometime during the game, a commercial sponsored by DreamWorks Animation, Intel and NBC will air, and it will feature a 3D trailer of the highly anticipated Monsters vs. Aliens film. Said movie — which is set to launch into cinemas this March — was DreamWorks’ first

This afternoon I received an e-mail from Gilbert Fiorentino, the CEO TigerDirect, and he wanted to clear the air on the various reports regarding the reason that EVGA products are no longer being sold on TigerDirect.com. In the official statement below he states that TigerDirect pulled the plug on EVGA products due to a number of mitigating factors. It now looks like EVGA and TigerDirect both claim to be the party that called it quits. Not much else to report other than the fact that this subject has industry insiders all hot and heavy with ideas as to what it going on. As far as EVGA and TigerDirect are concerned in our books, both companies have moved on to greener pastures and neither wants to looked kicked to the curb.

TigerDirect constantly evaluates our vendor partners for maximum customer satisfaction while being able to meet the company's revenue and profit goals. While we have enjoyed a long relationship with EVGA, there are mitigating factors which make the ability to sell EVGA products prohibitive at this time and we decided to discontinue the relationship. The fact remains that we may sell EVGA products in the future. I can assure you that there is no 'mystery' beyond the above facts.

ELSA Japan and Lucidlogix have announced an an agreement to deploy Lucids HYDRA based chip in ELSA Japan High Performance products. The companies have teamed up to transform high performance computing in the Japanese marketplace. For the first time, a product based on Lucids HYDRA technology will be used in a new line of ELSA Japan high performance systems for the HPC, broadcast and medical markets.

We are pleased to partner with ELSA, which has the reputation for providing leading performance computing solutions to the Japanese market. ELSAs selection of Lucid products for graphics and high performance computing platforms demonstrates our commitment to deliver a unique and powerful parallel processing architecture, said Offir Remez, President of Lucid. HYDRA technology will allow ELSA to combine multiple GPUs on one device, for efficient, high performance in compute intensive, large scale visualization scenarios.

The Mach Speed 2GB Raven MP3 Player delivers superior sound in a sleek new design for improved mobility and portability. Not only will it play all of your favorite songs, but the Mach Speed also doubles as a USB flash drive and is capable of storing your files. Take it anywhere to listen to music and store data. With 6 hours of life on a single AAA battery and a portable design, you can take your music anywhere. This deal ends Monday at 12:00pm ET.

You need the TRIO Onyx 4GB Portable Media Player. With a 1.8-inch TFT full color LCD screen, you’ll always see what track you’re on. No squinting, no hunting for a light source at night! The Mach Speed TRIO is capable of playing MP3, MP4 and WMA formats, and even the AMV movie format. And this petite MP3 player packs a tiny frame with capable capacity! You can even browse through your JPEG and BMP photos, all thanks to the bright, beautiful LCD! This deal ends Monday at 12:00pm ET.

It’s tough out there for just about everyone these days, but AMD, NVIDIA and Intel could be facing some rather huge hurdles in particular. According to a detailed excerpt from a newly released Jon Peddie Research study, the graphics market in Q1 and Q2 of 2009 are forecast to be especially slow. In fact, it’s noted that those two quarters will “probably [showcase] the worst Q1 and Q2 decline we’ve seen since the Internet bubble burst of 2000.”This grim outlook comes hot on the heels of a somewhat surprisingly

This won’t be the first time we’ve heard the words “Dell” and “smartphone” in the same phrase, but considering the source here, we’re much more inclined to believe something substantial is going on this go around. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell, the Round Rock powerhouse known almost entirely for its customizable desktop and notebook PCs, could invade the cellphone market as early as next month. According to “people familiar with the matter,” who are curiously unnamed in the report, the outfit

In the business world, that amorphous concept called “consumer confidence” is measured in dozens of metrics, algorithms, and white papers. In the real world, there are Super Bowl ads. So, unsurprisingly, if you look at the lineup of Super Bowl ads from tech companies this year, the outlook isn't sunny.

Virtually all the electronic and digital brands running ads at this year's game between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers have advertised at the Super Bowl in past years: domain giant GoDaddy, job search sites Monster.com and CareerBuilder, brokerage house E-Trade, and online auto marketplace Cars.com. There's a hype-filled new ad about “smart grid” innovation, but it's run by General Electric, parent company of this year's Super Bowl broadcaster NBC.

apanese electronics maker Hitachi Ltd. predicted it would post a massive net loss this fiscal year and said it will slash about 7,000 jobs as part of a global restructuring plan. Battered by plunging demand, the company forecast Friday a net loss of 700 billion yen ($7.7 billion) for the fiscal year through March 31, a stark reversal from the 15 billion yen profit it forecast in October.

Hitachi, which makes everything from home appliances and TVs to IT systems and medical equipment, also cut its operating profit projection by 90 percent to 40 billion yen. The company blamed sharply falling sales in most of its main businesses including electronic devices, power and industrial systems, and consumer products. “Economic stagnation is expected to persist for the foreseeable future, making revenue expansion unlikely,” Hitachi said in a statement.