Photoshop CS4 to get GPU acceleration-coming soon..

Santa Clara (CA) – GPU acceleration is one of the most significant trends in today hardware industry, opening the doors to an entirely new class of software. It appears that the next Photoshop will be one of the first mainstream applications that will tap into the GPU for a speed up. And, at least from what we have seen during a first demonstration, the progress is simply stunning.



We have been saying it for a while now, mainstream applications need GPU acceleration to ring in the next major evolutionary step in software development. Far too long we have been stuck in a cycle of programming that relies on increasing clock-speeds, brings acceleration with new CPUs and a slow-down with new software releases. Even if Photoshop supports multi-core CPUs, it is one of those applications that always are very time intensive to use and especially if you are a professional user and work with huge images, then you are very familiar with “The Great Wait”, which typically describes the time lost when opening a big file or when applying a filter.



But there appears to be a very effective solution on the horizon, a solution that is most likely more effective than anything else we have seen before and in our experience using Photoshop over the past 14 years. During a demonstration at Nvidia’s headquarters in Santa Clara, we got a glimpse of Adobe’s "Creative Suite Next" (or CS4), code-named “Stonehenge”, which adds GPU and physics support to its existing multi-core support.

So, what can you do with general-purpose GPU (GPGPU) acceleration in Photoshop? We saw the presenter playing with a 2 GB, 442 megapixel image like it was a 5 megapixel image on an 8-core Skulltrail system. Changes made through image zoom and through a new rotate canvas tool were applied almost instantly. Another impressive feature was the import of a 3D model into Photoshop, adding text and paint on a 3D surface and having that surface directly rendered with the 3D models' reflection map.

There was also a quick demo of a Photoshop 3D accelerated panorama, which is one of the most time-consuming tasks within Photoshop these days. The usability provided through the acceleration capabilities is enormous and we are sure that digital artists will appreciate the ability to work inside a spherical image and fix any artifacts on-the-fly.



According to information we were given, all of these new features are part of the next-gen Photoshop, which should be a part of the “CS Next” suite. The package is expected to be released on October 1.

source [ TG Daily ]

Windows 7 Features Revealed

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7


Here's what Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer revealed about Windows 7 at All Things Digital a few minutes ago. The biggest "feature" is the touch and multi-touch integration, which takes many of its roots from Microsoft's Surface Table, and will be available as an interface options for other apps. Here's some more stuff they pulled out, which we captured in photos here. More »

source [ gizmodo ]

Top 13 Most Expensive Cell Phones

GoldVish Le Million - $1.3 million

We were supposed to have a tie in first place, both the GoldVish LeMillion and the Diamond Crypto Smartphone costs approximately the same US$ 1.3 million. BUT, as the Guiness World Record gives that to GoldVish, I’ll take their word.
It is made with 18-carat white gold, mounted with 120-carats of VVS-1 graded diamonds, and was introduced during the Millionaire’s Fair, last year, in Moscow.

Diamond Crypto Smartphone - $1.3 million

The Diamond Crypto Smartphone has a platinum body, covered with 50 diamonds including ten which are a rare blue diamond. The navigation key and the company’s logo are made of rose gold.

Bucheron for Vertu Cobra - $ 310,000

This is a special two-carat pear-cut diamond, a one-carat round diamond, two emerald eyes and 439 rubies totaling 21 carats, all Vertu phones also link up to a special concierge service with information about travel, entertainment, restaurants and events.

Sony Ericsson Black Diamond - $ 300,000

Unlike the other phones in this list, this cellular phone is actually a power-packed phone that comes equipped with 400Mhz Intel Xscale CPU, 4-MP digital camera, touch screen feature, SIP technology for VOIP, 2.0″ 256K TFT screen and IEEE 802.11g WiFi support.

Vertu Diamond - $ 88,000

All platinum with encrusted diamonds, limited edition, only 200 were made. As the other Vertu phones, give access to the special concierge service.

Vertu Signature - $ 81,000

There are actually 934 diamonds encrusted in the body of this gold made phone, sum that to more 48 other diamonds in the keypad (why didn’t they 18 more diamonds, and made a 1000 diamonds cell phone?)

Motorola SLVR L7 - $ 75,000

I did not found any other information on this phone, besides its price.

Samsung SPH-E3200 Diamond Crusted - $ 54,000

This one has 240 diamonds, and was auctioned in a Korean site.

Motorola V220 Special Edition - $ 51,800

Austrian designer Peter Aloisson, has taken a standard Motorola, studded it with 1,200 diamonds and added a keyboard inlaid with 18 carat gold.

Gresso Black Aura Collection - Up to $13,000

The phones from Gresso are made with 200 years old–the age of the African Blackwood on each phone’s case, the most expensive model features an 18-carat gold front panel.

Gold Edition Nokia 8800 - $ 2,700

Not much to say about it, other than it is a Sirocco phone all made of 24-carat gold.

Mobiado Professional EM - $2,200

Made from ebony wood, hard-anodized aluminum and has titanium buttons, limited edition of 200 units.

Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene - $1,250

You can’t expect anything but an original design from Bang & Olufsen, so, you have the Serene.

Smallest projector

Earth Trek, a Hong-Kong based company, recently released the world’s smallest handy projector, the 90-805R mini projector. Our little device features a card slot (SD/T-flash card), built-in lithium battery (1-2 hours), built-in speaker, MP4 player, and provides a 22" diagonal projection. It measures 105x58x25mm and weighs 160g.

source[akihabaranews]

Solar powered iPhone?

It's possible that Apple's future just got sunnier.

Employees at computer, phone and software company Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) have filed a patent to place solar cells on portable devices, Trade the News reported Monday.

Outfitted with such technology, Apple’s devices, like the iPhone, could have photovoltaic cells stacked underneath LCD touch screens, thus maximizing the area available for harnessing the sun.

The filing said that information regarding the performance of a device’s solar cells could be displayed on the main screen next to info for battery power, text message alerts and time of day. Or this information could also appear on top of the solar cells themselves, which are likely to display some version of the Apple logo.

In any case, Apple's new technology could herald the next generation of wireless mobility. Without the need to electrically charge devices--either via outlets or USB cables--users could at last start to break free from on-the-grid power connections.

Apple is certainly not the one in this field field. Mobile product manufacturers have looked at solar energy for some time, as consumers demand more battery power from portable devices.

One related product is the 6.4-ounce Solio Mg, $200, from Better Energy Systems. Its three magnesium blades fan out to reveal solar panels, which can store enough power to charge most phones and PDAs twice; an hour of clear sun will give most cell phones 25 minutes of talk time or an iPod an hour of playing time. It takes ten hours of direct sun to fully juice the device.

Also, the world’s first solar bag--the Voltaic Systems’ Generator laptop bag--is covered in solar cells and can charge a laptop. It generates up to 14.7 watts after a day of direct sunlight, can carry a 17-inch Apple Powerbook and comes with adapters that allow other electronics, such as cell phones, to be charged.

source[www.forbes.com]

Kobe and the Jackass crew

To see is to believe!..again!