Brooke Crothers over at CNET Networks got a chance to speak with NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang this week about why NVIDIA is going after Intel so publicly. It seems that Jen-Hsun is upset that Intel been dropping hints about its upcoming high-end graphics chip, called Larrabee, with relatively few specifics. “Larabee is a PowerPoint slide,” Huang said. “I haven't met a product on my PowerPoint slide that I don't like. You know, they're floating Larrabee out there just to put a shadow over us, cast a cloud over us. They've already slipped it two years from the time they talked about. They would love to slip it another four years and leave a cloud over me.” It looks like Jen-Hsun has put his boxing gloves on and is in it to win it. Since I used the 'in it to win it' line, we'll keep our fingers crossed that Jen-Hsun has better luck than Hillary Clinton with that saying.

Huang will tear into Intel when he thinks it's warranted. And Intel may have reason to be worried about the content of Huang's candor. Despite Intel's colossal size and and clout, Nvidia–not Intel–supplies the defining chip for the most savvy computer users: game enthusiasts. They depend on Nvidia graphics chips to deliver the spectacular visuals of games like Crysis. And few people will deny that computing is becoming more visual. The GPU is essentially a parallel-computing engine that is extremely efficient at running visual (and scientific) software–that is, many of the popular graphics, video, and photo applications now running on PCs.

In what has to be mixed news for anyone who uses a BitTorrent client, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the U.S. District Court awarded the judgment to the Motion Picture Association of America, the MPAA announced late Wednesday. The court entered a default judgment against the operators of TorrentSpy in December, saying they had destroyed evidence related to an MPAA lawsuit against them. Ahh, TorrentSpy, we hate to see you go – at least you didn't take down your member though.

Last May, another judge ordered TorrentSpy to keep server logs, user IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and other information in support of the MPAA's lawsuit against the site. Cooper ruled in December that TorrentSpy had ignored that order.

Playing video games does not turn children into deranged, blood-thirsty super-killers, according to a new book by a pair of Harvard researchers. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, a husband-and-wife team at Harvard Medical School, detail their views in “Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do”, which came out last month and promises to reshape the debate on the effects of video games on kids.

The pair reached that conclusion after conducting a two-year study of more than 1,200 middle-school children about their attitudes towards video games. It was a different approach than most other studies, which have focused on laboratory experiments that attempt to use actions like ringing a loud buzzer as a measure of aggression. “What we did that had rarely been done by other researchers was actually talk to the kids. It sounds bizarre but it hadn't been done,” Kutner said.

AMD is planning to launch its 45nm server processor Shanghai in the second half of this year, which features HyperTransport 3.0, instruction-per clock enhancement (IPC) and will have its L3 cache increased from 2MB to 6MB, while the company will launch a six-core server processor codenamed Istanbul in the second half of 2009. The processors will fit with the current Socket F1 (1207) and will feature the company's Direct Connect Architecture.

In 2010, AMD expects to introduce its third-generation AMD Opteron processor socket G34 platform, which will offer features including DDR3 memory capabilities and AMD's RD890 chipset for non-coherent HyperTransport 3.0, along with an additional HT link. The company will also launch socket G34-based processor codenamed Sao Paolo in the first half of 2010, the processor will incorporate DDR3 memory, an additional HyperTransport 3.0 link and six-core design, while a 12-core processor codenamed Magny Cours will also leverage these features and launched in the first half of 2010.

Circuit City, the electronics retail chain, has effectively put itself up for sale. Circuit City announced today that it has hired Goldman Sachs & Co to help explore strategic alternatives, and would allow the video rental company Blockbuster to examine its books in its unsolicited takeover bid to acquire Circuit City.

The announcement indicated that some progress for Blockbusters bid, which is valued at more than $1 billion in cash. Many on Wall Street have called the deal a long shot, in part because of the difficulty of financing it.

MSI has just announced a brand new ultra small form factor PC, dubbed the Titan 700.  The tiny machine features a 2.0GHz VIA C7 processor, a mini-ITX motherboard, and a compact case with a volume of only 3.1L. The motherboard’s CN700 norhtbridge sports a VIA Graphics (S3) UniChrome Pro IGP, and other features include a slim optical drive, and AC’97 audio.  The unit’s 60W PSU hints at the Titan 700’s miniscule power requirements. The full press release with pics and complete specifications are

In our ongoing effort to make it easier, and maybe even more fun, for all of you to get your HH fix – no matter where you are or what you may be doing – we’ve decided to setup a Twitter feed that’s constantly updated with our news stories and articles.  It’s available right here, if you’d like to check it out.   And while we’re on the subject, we might as well remind you of all of the other ways to access HH.  Of course, we have standard RSS feeds for our articles and news.  But we’ve also

Two lawsuits mean a small credit ($45) will be due to Canadian owners of older iPods: first-, second- or third-generation iPods purchased before June 24, 2004.Apple agreed to a settlement covering both claims. The deal has to be finalized in court in Montreal on May 26 and in Toronto on June 20.As many as 80,000 Canadians could be eligible, including 11,310 Quebecers, said Montreal lawyer Philippe Trudel, who represented Lenzi.A Toronto firm that handles public relations for Apple Canada did not return a call

Microsoft had all sorts of trouble with the reliability of its XBox 360. Tales of the “Red Ring of Death” gave potential buyers pause, and Microsoft spend a small fortune replacing defective units. One of the main reasons the game console was so fragile is that the 90nm scale GPU ran very hot. 65nm chips to the rescue!Microsoft will make available its Jasper version of XBox360 game consoles in August this year and has contracted dedicated chipmakers to build chips for the latest machine. Contracts for manufacturing,

A bill to ratchet up the penalties for illegally copying and distributing copyrighted music and movies, or infringing on all sorts of other trademarks and service marks, has breezed though a House Committee. The bill would direct the Executive branch to create a department headed by an “Intellectual Property Czar” inside the Justice Department whose sole directive is to find and prosecute copyright infringement. Penalties for copyright infringement would also be increased dramatically, including confiscation