Let's boost our sales
by Fuad Abazovic Monday, 20 October 2008
We've learned that a few Nvidia partners will ship Far Cry 2 bundled with some of their more expensive cards. This should look similar to the Crysis bundle that a few partners made last year but we also learned that this time, Far Cry 2 won't cost partners that much. Nvidia is kind of desperate to boost the sales and has to use all the tricks it has in its sleeve. Nvidia's chips are inferior to ATI's and therefore they have to either drop the price and include the candy in the bundle, if not both. What goes around comes around, and Nvidia has to learn how to survive as a graphics underdog and this is not the position where Nvidia feels comfortable.
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Monday, October 20, 2008
Holy f**k, Microsoft covers up ‘undesired’ words
Patents new audio censoring software
By Kelly Fiveash, 20th October 2008
Microsoft has gained patent rights to a technology for censoring speech. An automatic censoring filter, available in real-time mode or a batch mode, processes an input audio data stream containing speech and then alters “undesired words or phrases” to make them “unintelligible or inaudible”. The software giant was awarded patent number 7,437,290 by the US Patent and Trademark Office last Tuesday (14 October). Presumably the tech is intended to soothe the ears of sensitive souls who prefer a beep to a word such as ‘fuck’ slipping out during a live broadcast. Or in call centres, if a shirty employee goes off the rails and starts swearing at the customer, the software could censor anything deemed offensive or to not be toeing the company line. This tech in fact moves on from the crude beep sloppily employed to mask what Microsoft repeatedly refers to as “undesired words” heard in live recordings. Instead, the auto censoring filter uses a lattice comprising either phonemes and/or words derived from phonemes for comparison against corresponding phonemes or words included in undesired speech data.
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By Kelly Fiveash, 20th October 2008
Microsoft has gained patent rights to a technology for censoring speech. An automatic censoring filter, available in real-time mode or a batch mode, processes an input audio data stream containing speech and then alters “undesired words or phrases” to make them “unintelligible or inaudible”. The software giant was awarded patent number 7,437,290 by the US Patent and Trademark Office last Tuesday (14 October). Presumably the tech is intended to soothe the ears of sensitive souls who prefer a beep to a word such as ‘fuck’ slipping out during a live broadcast. Or in call centres, if a shirty employee goes off the rails and starts swearing at the customer, the software could censor anything deemed offensive or to not be toeing the company line. This tech in fact moves on from the crude beep sloppily employed to mask what Microsoft repeatedly refers to as “undesired words” heard in live recordings. Instead, the auto censoring filter uses a lattice comprising either phonemes and/or words derived from phonemes for comparison against corresponding phonemes or words included in undesired speech data.
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Toshiba grabs a billion dollar slice of Sandisk
Good friends make memories together
By Sylvie Barak: Monday, 20 October 2008
IN A BID TO fend off its bitter rival, Samsung, Japanese memory maker Toshiba says it will buy $1 billion of equipment from joint venture partner, Sandisk, currently the unwilling object of the South Korean firm’s takeover desire. With prices of NAND flash dropping through the floor, Sandisk shares have also taken quite a tumble, dropping 50 per cent in the last year and leaving the firm vulnerable to unwanted advances. Sandisk has bravely fought off two previous offers by the world's biggest memory chip maker, with Samsung offering to pay $26 a share. Sandisk shares are currently valued at only $15.51 and the firm is also expected to announce a big dip in Q3 earnings today, something which may well drive its stock prices down further. Obviously in no mood to let Samsung get its paws on key patents, Toshiba is hoping that flashing its cash may be enough to stave off a Samsung takeover of Sandisk a while longer.
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By Sylvie Barak: Monday, 20 October 2008
IN A BID TO fend off its bitter rival, Samsung, Japanese memory maker Toshiba says it will buy $1 billion of equipment from joint venture partner, Sandisk, currently the unwilling object of the South Korean firm’s takeover desire. With prices of NAND flash dropping through the floor, Sandisk shares have also taken quite a tumble, dropping 50 per cent in the last year and leaving the firm vulnerable to unwanted advances. Sandisk has bravely fought off two previous offers by the world's biggest memory chip maker, with Samsung offering to pay $26 a share. Sandisk shares are currently valued at only $15.51 and the firm is also expected to announce a big dip in Q3 earnings today, something which may well drive its stock prices down further. Obviously in no mood to let Samsung get its paws on key patents, Toshiba is hoping that flashing its cash may be enough to stave off a Samsung takeover of Sandisk a while longer.
Read more here -->Link
Report: Circuit City Mulling Closing 150 Stores, Massive Job Cuts
This one is going to hurt
By Jason Mick - October 20, 2008
Circuit City, the nation's second largest electronics retailer, has been struggling badly in its attempt to compete with industry leader Best Buy. It replaced its chief executive last month and withdrew its financial outlook for the entire year citing traffic declines, stronger competition and a weak brand, along with a particularly large second quarter loss. Since Q2 2007, Circuit City has only been profitable for one quarter. Now a Wall Street Journal report, citing sources close to the company, says that drastic measures may be taken to put the electronics retailer back on course. Circuit City is reportedly considering closing 150 stores and cutting thousands of employees. The move would allow Circuit City to liquidate $350M USD in assets and possibly avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The cuts could help Circuit City pay off its leases on its various properties, including its abandoned sites and then renegotiate leases on the remaining stores.
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By Jason Mick - October 20, 2008
Circuit City, the nation's second largest electronics retailer, has been struggling badly in its attempt to compete with industry leader Best Buy. It replaced its chief executive last month and withdrew its financial outlook for the entire year citing traffic declines, stronger competition and a weak brand, along with a particularly large second quarter loss. Since Q2 2007, Circuit City has only been profitable for one quarter. Now a Wall Street Journal report, citing sources close to the company, says that drastic measures may be taken to put the electronics retailer back on course. Circuit City is reportedly considering closing 150 stores and cutting thousands of employees. The move would allow Circuit City to liquidate $350M USD in assets and possibly avoid Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The cuts could help Circuit City pay off its leases on its various properties, including its abandoned sites and then renegotiate leases on the remaining stores.
Read more here -->Link
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