nvidia

iPhone 5S rumors arrive amid iPhone 5 deals

CNET Update needs a smarter wrist:

In this episode of Update:

- Examine the alleged iPhone 5S photos posted to MacRumors.

- Find the iPhone 5 at Virgin Mobile next week -- or get one for free with a Best Buy trade-in deal.

- Color your world with these new Galaxy S4 models.

- Explain your feelings with pictures on Facebook comments.

- Save $50 on the discounted Nvidia Shield portable gaming device.

- Ponder how Sony could improve the SmartWatch with a new model coming next week.

CNET Update delivers the tech news you need in under three minutes. … Read more

Here's why Nvidia's $299 Shield gaming handheld is a steal

My gut reaction to seeing the $299 price tag of Nvidia's Shield gaming handheld: way overpriced.

And that was after Nvidia cut the price of the Android-powered device -- which will be available June 27 -- by $50 on Thursday.

But in reality, the Shield may end up being a relative bargain for folks who want a dedicated gaming device. It comes down to the video games available on Android. Many are free, or cost 99 cents. An "expensive" game would run you $10.

Now compare that with the Nintendo 3DS or PlayStation Vita. An average 3DS … Read more

Nvidia trims price of Shield gaming device to $299

Gamers eyeing Nvidia's Shield will be able to buy the device on June 27 to the tune of only $299.

Officially unveiling the date and the price drop via a blog on Thursday, Nvidia explained why it cut the cost from $349.

We've heard from thousands of gamers that if the price was $299, we'd have a home run.

So we're changing the price of Shield to $299.

If you've already pre-ordered Shield , you'll be charged the new, lower price. You will only be charged $299 when the product ships.

Demoed at CES 2013 … Read more

Nvidia to license its graphics technology to device makers

Could Apple tap Nvidia for graphics power in its mobile devices? Maybe, now that the chipmaker has decided to license its graphics technology.

Nvidia on Tuesday said it would begin licensing its GPU cores and "visual computing" patent portfolio to device manufacturers -- a new business model for the company. The technology could appear in a full range of products from phones to supercomputers, the company said, with products likely emerging in 2015, given design and testing requirements.

"It's not practical to build silicon or systems to address every part of the expanding market," David … Read more

Nvidia's graphics brawn powers supercomputing brains

Nvidia, trying to move its graphics chips into the supercomputing market, has found a niche helping engineers build brain-like systems called neural networks.

For years, the company has advocated the idea of offloading processing tasks from general-purposes central processing units (CPUs) to its own graphics processing units (GPUs). That approach has won over some researchers and companies involved with neural networks, which reproduce some of the electrical behavior of real-world nerve cells inside a computer.

Neurons in the real world work by sending electrical signals around the brain, but much of the actual functioning of the brain remains a mystery. … Read more

Chinese supercomputer tops the charts -- two years early

Performing more than 33 quadrillion calculations per second, a new Chinese supercomputer called Tianhe-2 arrived two years earlier than expected to claim the top spot in a list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world.

The Top500 list, updated twice a year at the International Supercomputing Conference, measures performance for mammoth systems typically used for jobs like modeling nuclear weapons explosions and forecasting global climate changes. And the Chinese machine, at the National University of Defense Technology, is more mammoth than most.

The Tianhe-2 has 32,000 Xeon processors boosted by 48,000 Xeon Phi accelerator processors for … Read more

Game change: iOS 7 welcoming game controllers is a big deal

With one small feature, iOS 7 might introduce the biggest change in iOS gaming since the App Store.

There's something I've wished for on both the iPhone and iPad for years: a true, universal, dedicated game controller. iOS 7 has granted my wish: indeed, one of the small but very significant additions to the next mobile OS announced at WWDC allows for third-party controllers. It's funny this happened to be announced during E3, because it just might be the trigger to change the mobile gaming industry.

Why it's big Third-party accessory-makers have tried making game controllers … Read more

Nvidia: Next-gen consoles still can't keep up with our chips

Nvidia doesn't seem happy with news that Advanced Micro Devices has all but won this generation's console cycle.

The company pointed out Wednesday in an interview with The Verge that, while the next-generation consoles are notably more powerful on the graphics side, they still can't compete with the chips Nvidia is producing on the PC side.

"I'm glad the new consoles are here," Nvidia Senior Vice President Tony Tamasi told The Verge. "If for no other reason than to raise the bar." He also pointed out to The Verge that his company'… Read more

PC gaming is the dark horse of E3 2013

While most eyes at E3 2013 are on the new Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One consoles, it was only one year ago that PC gaming took center stage. It was at E3 2012 that the current Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles were looking more than tired, and many of the best games on display, from XCOM to Metro: Last Light, presented themselves best on high-powered PC hardware.

In 2013, despite the massive marketing and engineering effort that is going to the new living room consoles, no one expects even the PS4 or XB1 to be able to match … Read more