Tech Olive

AMD is rumored to launch the new Radeon HD4890 card, based on the RV790 core, in April. Earlier rumors said that the card would be called the HD4970.

It is said that there will be 2 versions of the HD4890: A normal version and an OCed version. The normal version is likely to have 975mhz GDDR5 memory and the OCed version will have 1GB of built-in memory and is expected to be 25-30% faster than the current HD4870. The card is expected to be $299USD at launch.

Rockstar is offering an unlock-code with the preorder of GTA: Chinatown Wars from Amazon. The code will grant you access to an exclusive in-game car, named the Bulletproof Infernus. It resembles a Lamborghini and is expected to live up to its name in grand style. This means you can drive around anywhere without those bullets slowing you down!

Researchers from Australia, Denmark, and China have combined efforts to show the feasibility of terabit-per-second Ethernet over fiber-optic cables. The solution involves a photonic chip that uses laser light for switching signals, and a form of the exotic material type, chalcogenide.

The groups’ combined efforts are documented in  the February issue of Optics Express, which details a demonstration of 640 Gbps networking and the extension of the same approach to terabit-per-second speeds.

The problem isn’t injecting that much high speed data into an optical strand, called multiplexing, but retrieving data at such high rates. Individual lasers, operated by conventional electronics, can inject dozens of 10 Gbps streams, but in terms of retrieving that multiplexed data at these very very high bit rates, beyond 40 Gbps, electronics is not fast enough,” – Ben Eggleton, research director for Australia’s Centre for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Devices

“It’s years to complete,” Eggleton said, taking these research efforts into a production technology. But these demonstrations “are starting to establish this is a serious proposition.”

This is good news for the IT industry and just shows how much it can progress in such a short time.

As Tech Olive posted earlier this week, the trial against The Pirate Bay happens today. Rather than write about the good and bad of internet piracy and how it can’t be stopped and all that, I have decided to instead provide you a few facts regarding The Pirate Bay that I found to be interesting, taken from various interviews and posts.

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In between gaming, programming, and general life I like to just take a break every once in a while. I like to try something that I don’t normally do. That’s not to say I don’t read. I’ve always got a how-to or guide book in my hand, but not usually a book that tells a story. By chance, two weeks ago, I came upon the book “Dreaming in Code” by Scott Rosenberg, and whilst it needs a bit of buffing, it’s a rather nice read.

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After receiving many comments about how illogical and pointless this would be from my roommate and even our own Jakob Griffith, I was still determined to fit my Elite Xbox 360 controller with blue LEDs rather than the bland green ones. It proved to be a daunting task, but I managed to overcome it all. This was my first time EVER at soldering and what better way to learn than with microscopic surface mount LEDs? Below, I have some photos of my LED replacement journey followed by video tutorials from TheXboxExpert.com that helped me out quite a bit.

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Having never played, or even heard of the first Shell Shock, I was afraid that I might be left in the cold, but I was confident that I could piece together enough information to understand the storyline at least, and I was right. Although the game doesn’t seem to continue or finish anything. You start out as an American soldier in Vietnam by the name of Nate Walker. Your brother, Cal, who is also in the army, gets infected by some sort of biological weapon named Whiteknight that has the power to turn ordinary men into flesh-eating monsters (read: Zombies). You then spend the remainder of the game killing infected and Vietcong troops all while tracking down your brother in the hopes that you can still save him from his beast-like state. All while slowly uncovering the army’s plans for this new weapon.

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The Pitt, one of the two upcoming pieces of Fallout 3 DLC (slated for a March release), will be based in the steel-making industrial district of Pittsburgh, which according to OXM is stunning and unlike any other Fallout 3 environment. The new DLC seems to be bringing loads of new features and content, from new weapons to becoming a slave and working with the Raiders. There’s even the possibility of a cure for the mutations. It promises to be quite an experience.

Are you a fan of the Half-Life games developed by Valve? If you are, then prepare to cry endless tears of happiness. An independent film-making group known as The Purchase Brothers have made a short-film series based on the events in Half-Life 2.

The Escape From City 17 short film series is an adaptation based on the Half Life computer game saga by Valve Corporation. Originally envisioned as a project to test out numerous post production techniques, as well as a spec commercial, it ballooned into a multi part series. Filmed guerrilla-style with no money, no time, no crew, no script, the first two episodes were made from beginning to end on a budget of $500.

And it’s amazing. To watch it yourself, it’s viewable on YouTube. Be sure to watch it in HD!

A recent rumor has Microsoft thinking about giving Windows Vista users a free upgrade to Windows 7 come December 2009. The catch? Users must own a PC with Vista pre-installed, and the system must come with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA). The upgrade only apples to Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate, which can then be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate respectively. Finally, Microsoft says the program does not support multiple upgrades for medium, large, or enterprise customers, according to the document.