Mexico clash ‘leaves 27 drug cartel gunmen dead’
The Mexican army says it has killed 27 suspected drug cartel gunmen in a clash near the US border.
The army said a patrol came under fire as it approached an apparent training camp that had been spotted during an aerial search.
Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Tamaulipas state.
Tamaulipas has been a major focus of violence between drug cartels competing for control of smuggling routes into the US.
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MEXICO’S DRUGS WARBattling the cartels
On patrol in Mexico’s most dangerous city
‘Family values’ of Mexico drug gang
Beltran Leyva gang
The rival Zetas and Gulf cartels have been waging a bloody turf war there.
Nvidia’s Laptop Graphics Cards to Boost Web Browsing
Nvidia on Friday announced seven new GeForce 400M series graphics cards for laptops, which could provide parallel-processing capabilities to accelerate Web browsing and 3D image rendering.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome have either implemented or will soon include the capability to off-load tasks like rendering of HTML 5 or Flash video content to graphics processors. Nvidia’s new GeForce graphics cards will be faster at processing those tasks than CPUs, which should make Web browsing snappier.
The new graphics cards will be around 40 percent faster than the earlier 300M series at execution of tasks, said Ken Brown, an Nvidia spokesman.
While the CPU remains at the center of running tasks, developers are writing applications to harness the parallel-processing capabilities of graphics processors to speed up applications, said Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research.
Sony Gets In on the Music Streaming Game
The crowded music streaming market just got even more crowded. Sony has announced that it will be launching a music streaming service for the web and many of its devices as well.
Sony Music Unlimited, as the new service will be called, will allow users to access millions of tracks from Sony devices but also over the web. The new product integrates with Sony’s existing video-on-demand service Qriocity.
“‘Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity’ brings together the features cited as most important by music enthusiasts. With access to a huge library of songs through the cloud, users can discover new music through channels personalized to their tastes on multiple devices and without the requirement to manage digital music files,” Sony said in a statement.
“The convenience resulting from this new consumer music experience will further enhance the value of music, thus creating new opportunities for the industry. Details of the service plan will be announced in the future,” it added.
Xbox 360 Vanquish demo delayed
Sega has confirmed that release of the Xbox 360 demo of Shinji Mikami’s Vanquish will be delayed until tomorrow (September 2).
However, the PlayStation 3 release is on track and players will be able to download the demo later today.
Vanquish is currently scheduled for release in Europe on October 22nd, for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.
The intense third-person shooter is the latest game from Resident Evil 4 creator Shinji Mikami.
Sony launches new ebook readers
Sony has unveiled three new ebook readers to compete with Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle
The three new devices – the Pocket Edition, Touch Edition and Daily Edition – are only available in the United States, and feature improved eInk screens with clearer displays, slimmer designs and touch-screen controls.
The Pocket Edition, which features a 5in screen and the same eInk Pearl display used on Amazon’s Kindle, will cost $179.99, while the Touch Edition has a 6in screen, improved display and memory card expansion slots, and costs $229.99. The Daily Edition, which allows users to download books directly to the device via Wi-Fi and the AT&T 3G phone network, has a slimmer, neater design, improved battery life and more storage, and will cost around $299.99.
‘Piranha 3D’ producer responds to James Cameron in a message that’d require 55 Twitter posts
Lesson one in how to handle criticism: If someone insults your film in 89 words, don’t spend 1,374 words fighting back. Especially if the movie in question is Piranha 3D, and especially if you’re fighting against James Cameron. Last week, Cameron told Vanity Fair that Piranha 3D was “an example of what we should not be doing in 3-D.” He continued: “It just cheapens the medium and reminds you of the bad 3-D horror films from the 70s and 80s, like Friday the 13th 3-D. When movies got to the bottom of the barrel of their creativity and at the last gasp of their financial lifespan, they did a 3-D version to get the last few drops of blood out of the turnip.”
First-day sales of Epic satisfy Sprint
Sprint Nextel Corp. said Tuesday that it was pleased with the first-day response to its second phone designed to use its high-speed 4G network.
The Samsung Epic 4G went on sale across the country, attracting lines outside some stores and buzz on Twitter and other online venues where gadget lovers trade opinions. The Overland Park-based carrier does not reveal sales numbers.
Sprint had earlier allowed some customers to reserve Epics, and that allotment was scooped up in four days. Those customers were able to pick up the handsets, along with walk-in customers, at Sprint stores on Tuesday.
Samsung Galaxy Tab Slated for Launch on Verizon Wireless
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is launching on Verizon Wireless to vie for some of Apple’s iPad pie. The tablet computer will be unveiled Sept. 2 at IFA 2010 in Berlin, where Google CEO Eric Schmidt is providing the closing keynote.
Bloggers peeling away the onion layers that comprise Samsung’s Galaxy Tab have learned that the widely anticipated, Android-based iPad challenger is launching on Verizon Wireless.
Boy Genius Report snared this screenshot of a listing for “Sam Galaxy Tab Demos” from Verizon’s internal systems.
A spokesperson for Verizon Wireless declined to confirm the news for eWEEK Aug. 31, but the world should know in the next couple days.
Indonesia’s volcano eruption forces more evacuation
The number of people forced to be evacuated due to the eruption of a volcano in Sumatra island, Indonesia, may rise to 34,000, spokesman of National Disaster Management Agency Priyadi Kardono said on Monday.
On Monday, more than 27,000 people have escaped their homes, he said.
The smoke from the eruption has also disturbed the flight from western area toward main airport, Palonia, in North Sumatra province, Airport Duty Manager at Polonia airport Agus Maulana said.
“Today a plane operated by Susi Air from Sibolga cancels flight to Polonia because of the smoke,” he told Xinhua over phone from the province.
The 2,400-meter high Mount Sibabung erupted for the second time on earlier Monday and spew ash and smoke up to more than 2,000 meters high and they keep enveloping the sky by Monday afternoon.
Apple eliminates iPad delivery delays
Apple appears to have fixed its supply problems for the iPad, after struggling to fulfil orders since the device’s launch in April.
People ordering all six versions of the iPad online are now being given an estimated shipping time of just 24 hours.
When the tablet was first launched, in April, the company ran out of stock almost immediately. In the first 28 days of the iPad’s availability, Apple recorded sales of a million units. After three months, it’s now sold more than 3.27 million.
Research form iSuppli recently estimated that the device would sell nearly 13 million units this year, and a stonking 100 million by 2013.