NVIDIA ForceWare 66.93 Altec Lansing new speaker sets Bluetooth 2 : even faster

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NVIDIA ForceWare 66.93   Posted on 09/11/2004 at 22:17 by Marc

	NVIDIA has just released on line the new ForceWare Windows XP/2000 graphic cards drivers, the 66.93. You can download them on this page. We remind you that the last official version, the 61.77 were released end of July. The innovations are the compatibility with the GeForce 6200, 6600 and 6600GT, the SLI mode, 512 Mb cards and the HDTV via the DVI connector. For bug correction you can refer to Release Note this driver.

Altec Lansing new speaker sets   Posted on 09/11/2004 at 15:32 by Philippe

	Several new speaker sets have been released in the US. The first one is the GT5051 a surround set including three satellites and one subwoofer! Altec is using the same technology as with the ADA310 to emulate a surround sound with frontal satellites. Theses satellites include each two loud speakers: front and rear. The "rear" speakers are actually located on top of the "front" speakers. Altec Lansing's patent-pending Side- Firing Surround™ technology enables vertical stacking and provides the reflected surround sound. Each loudspeaker channel provides 10 Watts RMS. The central channel comes from the horizontal speaker also providing 10 Watts RMS. The subwoofer provides 30 Watts RMS. The noise signal report is reported over 75 db and the maximum sound intensity reach 106 dB. It is however important to notice that the technology used isn’t just a stereo emulation but requires the connection to a 5.1 sound card to work in multi channel. Lets hope that this speaker set will provide an interesting alternative for those who wants to have surround sound without rear speakers (and their wires). . Altec Lansing has also released the MX5020. It is the stereo version of the MX5021 tested in our last 2.1 set comparative test. The MX5020 use the MaxBass technology to compensate the lack of subwoofer. Controls are accessible by opening up the lower part of the right satellite. No remote control is included. Each channel will provide 6 Watts RMS and the maximum sound intensity should reach 95 db. US recommended price: $99.95. And finally, Altec will release new speakers for laptops, the XT1, equipped with MicroDrives.

Bluetooth 2 : even faster   Posted on 09/11/2004 at 08:49 by Vincent

	In the beginning the objective of the wireless Bluetooth technology was to get rid of all cables and peripheral interfaces. Since then the consortium ambitions at the origin of Bluetooth have been reduced: Bluetooth is now only restricted to PDA and cell phones. Yesterday night we received a press release: Paris, 8 November 2004. The Bluetooth consortium (Bluetooth SIG) announces the adoption of the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate). Transfer rate is up to three times higher than with the previous version and electrical consumption has been reduced. Still according to this press release, progresses made on electrical consumption are so consequent that peripherals based on Bluetooth 2 would have a doubled autonomy. The same press release lists the specification main characteristics: Three time superior transfer rate (up to ten time with specific configurations) Reduced electrical consumption More functional multiple links thanks to a larger bandwidth Compatibility with previous versions Lower error rate by bits The first products based on this technology will be available in 2005. The first release will for PC, then audio and finally imaging.