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The high-end notebook graphics war is on for 2011. Nvidia was first to fire a shot a few weeks ago, unveiling the GeForce GTX 580M.

AMD has since counterpunched with the AMD Radeon HD 6990M, its new, most high-end laptop graphics card, which the company now claims, as Nvidia did weeks ago, is the "fastest notebook GPU." This time, the edge indeed seems to belong to AMD. The company boasts a 25 percent improvement over the next-fastest notebook GPU. According to slides from AMD showing head-to-head performance benchmarks versus the GeForce GTX 580M, that statement seems to hold … Read more

If T-Mobile's recently reviewed T-Mobile Rocket 3.0 4G Laptop Stick doesn't have what you want, you might want to consider the USBConnect Force 4G modem, which AT&T announced today.

This is a 4G USB modem that enables a computer to access the Internet via either a 4G or 3G network. Similar to the Laptop Stick, the USBConnect Force 4G also includes a card slot and works as a card reader when coupled with a microSD card (not included). It supports cards of up to 32GB of storage, which is a decent amount in case you … Read more

Today Nvidia unveiled its latest high-end laptop GPUs, the GTX 570M and 580M. That's not a huge surprise: the new GTX cards round out the "500 series" of GT and GTX graphics that have been available throughout the year. One feature Nvidia's particularly touting is the GTX 580's Optimus automatic switching, which should offer up "5 hours of battery life in Facebook," in case you measure your juice through social networking.

Nvidia promises that the GTX 580M is the fastest laptop graphics card anywhere, ever--the benchmark comparisons were leveled against the AMD Radeon … Read more

Software made by a Chinese company and used around the world by chemical, defense, and energy companies contains security holes that attackers could exploit to hack into critical systems.

In an advisory issued yesterday (PDF), the Department of Homeland Defense warned of two vulnerabilities in software made by Beijing-based Sunway ForceControl (Google Translate English version). The Chinese company makes SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software, which is used in computer systems that control and monitor manufacturing plants and equipment used by different industries.

Discovered by security researcher Dillon Beresford of NSS Labs, the security holes could allow cybercriminals to … Read more

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany--It's warming up in the Middle East, and as the mercury rises, so does the intensity of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that means the number of seriously injured American soldiers passing through here is also rising every day.

Ramstein is known as the U.S. military's gateway to Europe, since it's where most personnel touch down when deployed here, the Middle East, or Africa. It's also part of the Kaiserslauten Military Community, whose 54,000 U.S. citizens make up the world's largest concentration outside the United States. But it'… Read more

Maybe it's to offset the high price of chicken, but NASA and the U.S. Air Force could soon be fueling their aircraft on jet fuel derived from recycled chicken fat.

Seventeen organizations are participating in Alternative Aviation Fuel Experiment II, or AAFEX II, to see if hydrotreated renewable jet fuel is a viable, eco-friendly fuel for jets.

"It's made out of chicken fat, actually," said Langley's Bruce Anderson, AAFEX II project scientist. "The Air Force bought many thousands of gallons of this to burn in some of their jets and provided about 8,… Read more

When U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Ron Walker dropped his iPhone 4 more than 1,000 feet out of a plane traveling 150 miles per hour, he was pretty sure his relationship with his phone (unlike his contract with his carrier) had just been terminated.

Walker is a jump master who makes sure the plane is in the right position before handing parachute jumpers over to the mercy of gravity. When he leaned out of the plane somewhere above North Carolina to take a look at landmarks below, he says, his iPhone slipped out to take on a new role as a real-life math and physics SAT question.

Once back on the ground, and with the help of MobileMe, a friend, and an ATV, Walker says he was soon reunited with the phone, which he declares was completely unscathed in its Griffin Motif TPU case. He originally shared his story and photos with iLounge.

Walker says he believes the phone's fall may have been broken by leaves and pine needles in the forested area where it landed (rather than the nearby lake or two-lane highway, fortunately.) The iPhone's survival credibility has also been demonstrated through more wet encounters, but I know a good reason to geek-out algebra style when I see one: if an iPhone 4 is traveling at 150 miles per hour on a 3G network and falls 1,000 feet, when does the plane get to Charleston? And does it drop your call?… Read more

The decade-long war is over: EADS North America has conceded defeat to Boeing in the campaign to capture a multibillion-dollar deal to build a new aerial tanker for the U.S. Air Force.

Last week, the Pentagon announced that it had selected Boeing to build the next-generation KC-46A tanker in a long-term arrangement that could eventually be worth $30 billion. For starters, the Chicago-based aerospace titan is getting $3.5 billion to build the first four of a projected 179 of the new tankers. It has to deliver 18 by 2017.

"Boeing was a clear winner," Deputy Defense … Read more