Tag Archives: amd

Business, Communication, Community, Life, News, Picks, Science, Security, Social Media, Technology

Do You Appreciate Your Technology?

Gordon asked on Geeks recently: “What do you consider to be this most ignored item of technology?” He talks about how we often take for granted the items we have around us… our gaming consoles, our computers and even our navigation systems. He’s right, you know. Most of us use these items without really thinking about them or appreciating them.

We want the newest technologies. We want things that are better, faster and newer than what we have. But do we stop and think about what we have? Do you appreciate the fact that science has evolved enough to even allow the design and implementation of that smartphone you cannot live without? Do you ever think about those people whose brains are so much more advanced than mine (and perhaps yours) that they can come up with things like this to make our lives easier and more fun?

What piece of technology do you think is the most ignored? What one item do you believe we all tend to overlook – despite the fact that we likely use it every day?

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Electronics, Entertainment, Fun, Games, Hardware, Media Blog, Technology

Eyefinity is Perfect for PC Gaming


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Yes, I like to drive a big truck with the pedal to the metal. Eighteen wheels will be rolling until the break of dawn. I decided to try my hands at playing the Rig’n’Roll game on my sweet ATI Eyefinity setup. Running in 5760×1080 resolution is just… beautiful. I know I use that word a lot, but it seriously applies here.

Eyefinity isn’t just a multi-monitor setup. It’s considered to be a single large surface (SLS). In order to get the full experience for this game (and others) with the Eyefinity technology, I asked Logitech to send along the G27 Racing Wheel. This has a four-speed steering wheel, and flippers that allow me to change gears. There’s up to six gear settings on the gear shift. There are other controls that can be mapped to different views, in conjunction with your Eyefinity setup.

Yes, there are three screens hooked up to this computer. However, the important thing is that the operating system sees it as ONE screen. Eyefinity won’t only work with this particular game. It can make your experience with any game about a hundred times better.

I have to thank the team at AMD for hooking me up so that I can experience the beauty that is Eyefinity in my own home. Playing the game with perfect resolution across three screens this way is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. It’s nearly impossible to translate to you via a video or text. You just have to try it for yourself.

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Hardware, Media Blog, Technology

Eyefinity Setup Review


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I recently attended the 1C Company “nother Night in Moscow 2010″event. While there, I had the opportunity to talk with Shane from the AMD team. We were standing in front of a huge ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor display, giving us the perfect opportunity to introduce you to this technology if you’ve yet to witness what it can do. Playing games (such as those titles from the 1C Company) with a setup such as this is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before.

What’s interesting to me is that the 1C Company approached AMD and asked them to be a sponsor. They were that excited about this technology. At the time, none of their games were able to work with Eyefinity. However, they worked quickly to bring the titles up to speed.

The genius of Eyefinity is that you can connect it to monitor as long as the video card is Eyefinity enabled. You can set them up in three or six-panel configurations. You can choose to use it in either portrait or landscape mode. It’s customizable to fit your needs and lifestyle. Don’t think you’re limited to only playing games with this amazing multi-display technology. Imagine the amount of work you’ll be able to get done if you had this much seamless screen real estate.

I am a person who needs a multi-monitor setup due to the amount of things going on on my desktop at any given moment. I totally get the need for Eyefinity technology to increase productivity. Since I am not much of a gamer myself, it literally astounded me to see how the games spread out so perfectly across the monitors. There aren’t any “gaps” or breaks in what you’re seeing. With many titles, you’ll often even see more of a game than you ever possibly could without the usage of Eyefinity.

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Communication, Community, Life, Security, Social Media, Technology

When are People Strange?

It’s always interesting to read people’s answers to random questions. For instance, I asked on my Facebook page earlier what makes a person strange. The answers were varied as usual. Many community members cracked simple jokes in reply. Still others actually came up with some cool insight into the question.

The absolute best answer had to be the person who stated: “There is really no follow up to that. People really are just strange.” That, folks, is the most truthful statement I’ve ever read! Have a great weekend, all of you strangers.

There’s nothing strange about wanting to keep your computer happy with the best software you can possibly find.

Electronics, Gadgets, Hardware, Media Blog, Microsoft

What Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Do You Recommend?


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I have three monitors and one large surface, thanks to Eyefinity by AMD. I have these screens connected to a new AMD computer system, which was sent to me by AMD as well. I will be reviewing that system at a later date, so stay tuned for it.

As I set up this new system on the live stream, I realized I didn’t have the right keyboard and mouse to use with it. Sure, I have several keyboards and mice lying around. However, they all have cords attached to them. I prefer wireless systems, so I went shopping. I picked up this Microsoft Wireless Media Desktop set for just about seventeen bucks. It looks great, and works well enough for what I need to accomplish. It looks nice with the monitors, since this set is black. Both components have all of the buttons I need, so what more could I ask for?

I will upgrade the mouse and keyboard combo if I find the right one. This is where YOU come in. What set do you recommend? What do you use? Why do you love it? Leave a follow-up comment to this video. Better yet… leave a video response (if you can) showing off your desktop setup.

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Computer, Electronics, Games, Hardware, Media Blog, Technology

AMD Eyefinity Multi-Monitor for Productivity


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Sometimes, there’s more to the web than a single page. You may want to track conversations on your social media websites while watching a video at the same time. You can easily do this you know. AMDs Eyefinity makes it a snap to connect one computer to multiple monitors – and keep the picture as clear as a bell.

We’ve already shown you what Eyefinity can do for gaming. Did you stop to think what it can do for your productivity? Three screens – all running from the same machine – allowing you to do SO much more.

Running three monitors (such as the setup shown in the video) will maximize your productivity. You don’t have to waste time minimizing and maximizing windows. Everything you need it already open. In addition to running all of the programs you need at once, you can use your setup to expand a single task across multiple screens. Let’s say you’re editing some video footage. Imagine being able to stretch that (in a nice, clean way without distortion!) across three monitors. You’ll be able to see every tiny detail and be able to pinpoint exactly what you’re doing.

All of the things you see running on the screen in the video were being powered by the new Acer Ferrari. The Ferrari is small enough to fit in a purse or attache case, but it’s powerful enough to be a workhorse machine, as evidenced by the triple-monitor setup.

Both Casey and Raymond indicated that it’s hard for them to believe that they get to wake up every day and make money playing with so many amazing new pieces of technology. Casey was quick to point out that what’s astounding to him is the fact that we now have technology devices that are small and light, yet are able to be a powerhorse at home when you need them.

That, my friends, astounds me as well. What about you? Are you excited to see technology such as this? More importantly, are you planning to grab one of these sleek little machines for yourself?

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Business, Communication, Community, News, Security, Social Media, Technology

How to Add More Music to Your iPod or iPhone

If you’re a music fanatic, I bet you’ve griped many times about the lack of space for tunes on your Apple device. With the release of the new version of iTunes today, those rants will hopefully be relegated to the past. Apple has added a feature to reduce the size of the music files on your iPod or iPhone by converting the bit rate to 128 kbps. Most of you will never notice a difference in the quality of what you’re hearing when playing back your selections.

Install the update and begin your sync. Make sure to check “Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC” when you plug in your device. The sync will take longer than usual, because the application will need to convert all of the media to the new specification. You will be rewarded for the wait, though. Your iPhone or iPod will now be able to hold up to twice as many individual tracks as before.

This feature has been available on the iPod Shuffle for a while now, and many of us are happy to see that it has been extended to other popular Apple gadgets. Keep in mind that your original files in iTunes will not change. They will still have the same high quality as they had prior to the changes on the device.

What tech developments have come to your attention today? If you have anything to pass on that we may have missed on this blog, feel free to drop us a line.

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Media Blog, Photos, Software, Video

AMD Fusion Media Explorer


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The AMD Fusion Media Explorer provides you with a very different way to browse through your media. FME allows you to explore your digital media content from either your local machine or online resources such as Flickr, YouTube, and Microsoft Live.

FME lets you experience your media in a 3D application, which helps you to discover related content based on what you’re currently looking at. The application also has Facebook integration, which lets you post and interact with photos of your own… or with those posted by friends.

Fusion Media Explorer doesn’t stop with pictures, though. Music is another thing that you can browse – and discover – with this software. The AutoDJ feature will automatically create a playlist for you from the same genre or artist you are listening to. Click on one song, and let AutoDJ do the rest.

You can also find the videos, movies and television shows you want to watch using the integrated search engine or 3D Ribbon. Watch your selected content on a full screen, or send it to the Mini player so that you can continue surfing the Web while your choice is playing.

While this program is already available, you can download the newest version in beta form and check out the improvements for yourself.

Thanks go to everyone at AMD for helping me to attend the SXSW conference, and for taking the time to showcase so many of their new technologies for our community. http://chris.pirillo.com

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Adobe, Electronics, Hardware, Media Blog, Technology

Flash Video is Better With AMD and ATI


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There are a lot of people making and watching videos online these days. When I visited the AMD campus in Texas during the SXSW conference recently, Casey showed me how AMD is helping people all over the world enhance their Flash experience. Adobe Flash 10.1 is a collaborative effort between Adobe and the team at AMD.

This new version of Flash takes advantage of the benefits that are enabled through AMD’s ATI Stream technology. This provides viewers with improved playback, reduced usage of their CPU, and longer battery life due to the comination of using all of the resources found in both their CPU and GPU.

The GPU is a much more efficient way of processing video than the CPU is. As we move more to a mobile lifestyle, your battery will wear down faster if you are processing video using your CPU. AMD wanted to make this much more efficient, and take advantage of different components of the computer or mobile system.

In addition to better battery life, the video footage will actually look better. With hardware acceleration enabled, videos are sharper and are much clearer. You’ll even see more vibrant colors. Even the whites are whiter using this technology.

You can experience this for yourself right now. Make sure you have the updated video driver from AMD installed. Then, of course, you’ll need to download and install the beta of Adobe Flash 10.1 to your system.

Thanks to the team at AMD for the help they provided to me to attend SXSW, and for all of the time they spent with me to discuss what’s new and exciting at AMD / ATI.

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Games, Hardware, Media Blog, Technology

AMD Eyefinity Multi-Monitor for Gaming


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Playing games is fun, but sometimes one screen is just not enough. Wouldn’t you have a much better experience if you were using three screens? With AMD’s Eyefinity, you can easily run three screens off of one graphics card. I spent a little bit of time with Casey while I was at AMDs campus in Texas recently. Casey is the Director of Product Marketing for the graphics side of their company. He wanted to share with us the advances made with Eyefinity, and how it can improve your gaming experience, along with your productivity.

The Eyefinity project allows you to expand your gaming experience from one monitor to three. Many of you are now trying to point out we’ve had multi-monitor capability for awhile now. That may be true, but there were drawbacks. We were pretty limited to two monitors. Also, the dual-monitor setup didn’t always work for gaming. Sure, it would work to extend your desktop. However, as soon as you fired up that favorite game you’d be stuck on only one screen again.

What AMD has done is to re-architect their video card to where they can treat the entire three-screen resolution as one single large surface. Instead of seeing it as three separate panels, the operating system will now see it as only one. It’s difficult to explain, because you honestly have to see it in action for yourself. It’s very fluid, with an amazing performance.

Casey also showed me the Eyefinity 6 Edition. This single graphics card can effectively run SIX monitors. Yes, I typed that correctly. SIX. MONITORS. It was insane to see that in action up close and personal, let me tell you. There were six 24″ displays, each running with 1900×1200 resolution.

Some people may wonder why they would want three – or six! – monitors. Why can’t you just use one huge 50″ television, instead? It’s all about resolution, my friends. With one large TV, you’re going to have this huge picture, but it’s not going to be very clear. With multiple smaller screens, such as those Eyefinity runs on, you’re going to have an amazing picture, and it will be seamless… not stretched out beyond recognition.

Eyefinity is an amazing advancement in both gaming and productivity technology. Until you see it for yourself, you’re honestly not going to be able to understand it. Seeing it in this video gives you an idea. But having it running right in front of you is on another level entirely.

I have to thank the folks at AMD for bringing me to Texas for the SXSW conference, as well as for all the time they spent with me to answers questions from our community.

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